Help!!

S

SydSydx3

New Member
Okay so, I live in Florida and I was out with my mom in the car and a giant veiled ran and stopped right in front of the car. Being an animal person, and having had a veiled before, I jumped out and picked him up and I brought him home. Hes about full size and much bigger than my last chameleon who never even opened it's mouth at me. He has a healthy coloring, and ate the crickets I put in for him, and in general seems really healthy and mustve been someone's previous pet. In the road he was so bright but when I picked him up he got black, which I would assume is because I scared him.
(Ive named him Rango due to the fact I found him wandering the road on an adventure.)
Anyways, I got him home and held him in the car and he didn't bite me once nor even open his mouth. I bought a cage and set it up and put him in and now he wont let me touch him at all! He opens his mouth REAL BIG and puffs up about to bite me.
Being that he is bigger than my last veiled I dont know if his bite would hurt and it's starting to scare me. I really want to be able to handle him at some point.
Reading some of the posts on here it looks like I should probably start by giving him some time to adjust to his environment and go from there, but I just want to be prepared on knowing how to get him to not bite me. Like, How long should I give him to adjust? What do I do when he opens his mouth? HOW CAN I MAKE HIM NOT BITE ME? Also, any more basic handling info could be very helpful. Im looking forward to enjoying the presence of my new friend...
 
if im not mistaken there are wild veiled and oustalets chams thriving in florida.the only way to make him not bite you is dont put your hand close enough...u could start by offering a few bugs by hand or cup.hopefully then he will start to see your hands as good things.it will take alot of patience and he may or may not ever let you handle him without him trying to bite you...some just dont tolerate it
 
Oustalets, yes but veileds here usually never survive to get his big and definitely not in the area I found him. As for handling, I only have hope because he was fine before. I think he just wants to be left a lone a bit and ill definitely try the hand feeding thing, thank you.
 
Can you post a pic of the chameleon and the set up you have for him? Do you have uvb light, and basking light? What are you housing him in?
 
Congrats on finding your new friend! He will need a few weeks to suddle in for sure. Most chams are very territorial and your hand entering his cage is entering his territory. Usually once you get the Cham out of it's cage they mellow out and stop trying to bite. Now for getting him out there is a few different ways, one good way is to use a stick for them to climb on then slide the stick with him on it out of the cage. Also always slide your hand under his chest first and keep moving towards the belly, never grab from the back, this will scare him and possible injure him. Along with this try hand feeding, start getting him to relate your hand with food.
 
carol5208 said:
Can you post a pic of the chameleon and the set up you have for him? Do you have uvb light, and basking light? What are you housing him in?
Click to expand...

I have a very large screen cage with a 5.0 basking bulb and a daylight bulb. I'll get a pic up soon:)
 
Tanner Grisak said:
Congrats on finding your new friend! He will need a few weeks to suddle in for sure. Most chams are very territorial and your hand entering his cage is entering his territory. Usually once you get the Cham out of it's cage they mellow out and stop trying to bite. Now for getting him out there is a few different ways, one good way is to use a stick for them to climb on then slide the stick with him on it out of the cage. Along with this try hand feeding, start getting him to relate your hand with food.
Click to expand...

Sounds good to me. I'll give him about a week to settle and then try that.
 
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carol5208 said:
can you post a pic of the chameleon and the set up you have for him? Do you have uvb light, and basking light? What are you housing him in?
Click to expand...
 
Wow that is amazing! I would give him a couple weeks to adjust and I agree on hand feeding him. I would also take the substrate out of the enclosure though and is that a water bowl i really can't tell from the picture. What do you have to feed him?
 
Raphael1047 said:
Wow that is amazing! I would give him a couple weeks to adjust and I agree on hand feeding him. I would also take the substrate out of the enclosure though and is that a water bowl i really can't tell from the picture. What do you have to feed him?
Click to expand...

The substrate is there to make it cleaner for me and I made sure it is healthy substrate and not anything he can choke on. No I don't have a water bowl I use a spray bottle every hour and moisten the leaves. I'm used to reptiles so I have calcium dust and crickets for him and he already ate them. I'll get another dozen for him tomorrow.
 
he's a fine looking lizard, will need time to get used to the"cramped" conditions. remember he had free reign to do what he wanted before you.

i wish you all the luck in the world, take your time read the resources available here and take your time.
i have a jackson that still doesn't want to come out of his cage after 6 months, i still love him i just observe him.
 
dom1959 said:
he's a fine looking lizard, will need time to get used to the"cramped" conditions. remember he had free reign to do what he wanted before you.

i wish you all the luck in the world, take your time read the resources available here and take your time.
i have a jackson that still doesn't want to come out of his cage after 6 months, i still love him i just observe him.
Click to expand...

He seems to have been someone pet and was very scared in the wild when I found him. I don't know how long he was out there but he was on an open road and I'm so glad I found him. I don't think many people would've jumped out of the car. I'm happy nobody hit him.
Thank you:)
 
Looks pretty good! Only thing I would add is some horizontal branches at different hights through out the cage. You can cut some branches to size or use dowl rod and fasten them in place using thumb tacks pushed through the screen into the ends of sticks. Then just use some vines to connect them all.
 
I wouldn't rule out him being a wild veiled! They really are growing in number in Florida, and I know a couple people that collect them heavily for research and they find quite a few in various regions of southern Florida.

At any rate, I would treat him like a wild chameleon. So imagine that he's been living without people his whole life, so approach him with a lot of patience. And - important!- treat him like he's in quaranteen. While he's settling in I would scoop up some poop and take it to a vet to get tested for any guests. You don't want anything he has to spread to your other chameleons, just to be safe.
 
Tanner Grisak said:
Looks pretty good! Only thing I would add is some horizontal branches at different hights through out the cage. You can cut some branches to size or use dowl rod and fasten them in place using thumb tacks pushed through the screen into the ends of sticks. Then just use some vines to connect them all.
Click to expand...
Got that actually. Little branches all across. He climbs all over.
 
Olimpia said:
I wouldn't rule out him being a wild veiled! They really are growing in number in Florida, and I know a couple people that collect them heavily for research and they find quite a few in various regions of southern Florida.

At any rate, I would treat him like a wild chameleon. So imagine that he's been living without people his whole life, so approach him with a lot of patience. And - important!- treat him like he's in quaranteen. While he's settling in I would scoop up some poop and take it to a vet to get tested for any guests. You don't want anything he has to spread to your other chameleons, just to be safe.
Click to expand...

He's currently my only chameleon but I will and his behavior suggests he was a pet. He recognized the cricket feeder I had immediately and came to it. Also, I was not in any area with trees. It was all road and I was a little farther north.
 
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