scs
Member
I was going to type this all out in caps because I'm so happy, but that would be hard to read.... anyway. I just wanted to share my recent success in 'taming' my male panther chameleon, Sebastian.
When I first brought Sebastian home, he was shy and never came out of his cage. He eventually warmed up and didn't run away from us, but he never really came towards us unless we had food
I looked through threads and blogs on this site, and I made a plan: for a week I sat near his cage for a couple hours almost every day. Whether it was reading or watching a movie, I was hanging out by his cage. I then made a habit of leaving the door open when I was sitting next to the cage.... but had no luck. On a stroke of genius-ness, I put a branch in a U-turn shape right at the threshold to the unknown. And next thing I know, well... right after lining that branch with wax worms, he puts his foot outside!!!!
So, beings that I'm a high-schooler, I was only able to try again on the weekends, because school had started. Soon enough he came out again with two feet!!!!!
Today, I realized that the branch extending from the U-turn to the desk next to his cage was leading downwards. And almost everywhere it says that chameleons like to be above you. So I created a spiral going up the side of the door frame, and lined it with waxworms. Sebastian started slowly, but then all at once he was completely outside of his cage, eating one worm after the other. Now, he didn't go all the way up the spiral, but he went entirely out of the cage by his own free will and that really is huge for one of the most solitary pets a person can own!!!!! I'm so happy that he trusts me (I was sitting a foot away the whole time)!!!!!
My plan for the future is to wait until he's come out completely on his own a few more times, and then maybe replace the branch with my arm
I just wanted to let you guys know that it is very very possible to 'tame' a chameleon even with a busy schedule. It does take an incredible amount of patience, but it is very possible!!!! Reading all of those blogs about how many hours you have to put into taming a chameleon can be pretty disheartening, so I just wanted to share a success story!
PS: the reason why I used waxworms is because they are sort of limp and stay on the branch much, much better than mealworms or any other feeder I have available to me.
When I first brought Sebastian home, he was shy and never came out of his cage. He eventually warmed up and didn't run away from us, but he never really came towards us unless we had food
I looked through threads and blogs on this site, and I made a plan: for a week I sat near his cage for a couple hours almost every day. Whether it was reading or watching a movie, I was hanging out by his cage. I then made a habit of leaving the door open when I was sitting next to the cage.... but had no luck. On a stroke of genius-ness, I put a branch in a U-turn shape right at the threshold to the unknown. And next thing I know, well... right after lining that branch with wax worms
, he puts his foot outside!!!! So, beings that I'm a high-schooler, I was only able to try again on the weekends, because school had started. Soon enough he came out again with two feet!!!!!
Today, I realized that the branch extending from the U-turn to the desk next to his cage was leading downwards. And almost everywhere it says that chameleons like to be above you. So I created a spiral going up the side of the door frame, and lined it with waxworms. Sebastian started slowly, but then all at once he was completely outside of his cage, eating one worm after the other. Now, he didn't go all the way up the spiral, but he went entirely out of the cage by his own free will and that really is huge for one of the most solitary pets a person can own!!!!! I'm so happy that he trusts me (I was sitting a foot away the whole time)!!!!!
My plan for the future is to wait until he's come out completely on his own a few more times, and then maybe replace the branch with my arm
I just wanted to let you guys know that it is very very possible to 'tame' a chameleon even with a busy schedule. It does take an incredible amount of patience, but it is very possible!!!! Reading all of those blogs about how many hours you have to put into taming a chameleon can be pretty disheartening, so I just wanted to share a success story!
PS: the reason why I used waxworms is because they are sort of limp and stay on the branch much, much better than mealworms or any other feeder I have available to me.
