How do i tame my baby chameleon

[PdragonChameleons]

How do tame my baby chameleon when ever i get my hand close he puffs up and hisses he even strikes at

 

[carol5208]

How long has he been in your care? If you just got him, I would give him a few weeks to get used to things. If you have had him more than a couple of weeks, then I would try getting him to climb out on a branch. What I do is get them on the branch and then sit down with the branch on my lap and let them check you out and get used to you. The more you do it, the more he will figure out that you are not going to eat him or hurt him! Chamelelons can be very territorial in their cages so if you can get him out of the cage, you may have a better chance of taming him outside of the cage. Try to hand feed him also so he can associate your hand with something good.

 

[PdragonChameleons]

How long has he been in your care? If you just got him, I would give him a few weeks to get used to things. If you have had him more than a couple of weeks, then I would try getting him to climb out on a branch. What I do is get them on the branch and then sit down with the branch on my lap and let them check you out and get used to you. The more you do it, the more he will figure out that you are not going to eat him or hurt him! Chamelelons can be very territorial in their cages so if you can get him out of the cage, you may have a better chance of taming him outside of the cage. Try to hand feed him also so he can associate your hand with something good.

I have had him for 4 weeks

 

[MoyaChan]

I think that after four weeks you can slowly and gradually try to get closer. As above said, let him climb onto you, don't try to grab him or force him too much. It's important that you keep your hand above him, not under him, bc that way he's never going to want to climb on your hand.
Also, if you've gotten past the period where he hisses at you, you can try to gently rub under his chin, or just touch there a bit with your finger, he'll genuinely want to climb.
And what was also mentioned, if he associates your proximity with getting food, he won't be afraid so much.
It's important to go little by little and be consistent. You need to be really patient, Chameleons are never going to be like dogs or cats, no matter how much you love him.

 

[jajeanpierre]

How do tame my baby chameleon when ever i get my hand close he puffs up and hisses he even strikes at

Not that it really matters, but what species of chameleon, how old and is he a captive bred?

Taming is the same, really, for all animals. Basically, you are trying to create a relationship where the animal loses it's fear of you.

Four weeks may not be long enough to even start trying to desensitize your chameleon to you.

Think about what is happening to him from is point of view.

His puffing up, hissing and even trying to strike are all defensive fear responses. He is afraid for his life. Keep that thought in mind--what ever you are doing is making him afraid he is about to die.

You are also conditioning him to respond to you as a mortal threat. I can't emphasize enough that he views you as a predator and right now, from his point of view, his interactions with you are near-death experiences. A response to a threat to his life will take a heavy toll on his endocrine system and ultimately his immune system. Constantly ramping his fear is a severe stressor.

Every time you elicit such a strong fear response, you are training him (and his brain) to respond to you that way. Every behavior has a consequence that does one of three things--it either increases the behavior, maintains the behavior or decreases the behavior. Likely, when he puffs up and tries to strike, you back off. His behavior worked. He will learn that puffing, gaping and striking are effective strategies to get you to go away. If you didn't back off and, say, just grabbed him and forced yourself on him, you will have overwhelmed him. The term for that kind of desensitization is "flooding." It's a method that has been proven to not be effective in the long term and does tremendous damage to the learner.

So, the goal is to make him not afraid of you. The trick is to be extremely observant. Keeping records help so you know exactly where and under what circumstances elicit a fear response. Your goal is to never elicit a fear response.

You want to find the space where he finds you a threat. It might be 8 feet away or it might be 8 inches away. Find that line and record it. You know when you have crossed that line at the first sign that he is stressed, well before the puffing/gaping/lunging behavior. Learn what relaxed looks like and learn the instant that changes to the very start of stress. It's a subtle change, but experiment and learn what that looks like.

Once you know where the line is when he starts to become uncomfortable with your presence, don't cross it, and if you do, back out of that zone.

Food is your best friend. Even that man-eating wild-caught chameleon I posted about the other day will look forward to me opening his cage to put food in as long as I am careful about how close I go to him. Believe me, he is terrified of me and switches from eagerly anticipating what I bring him to being afraid for his life really quickly and easily. (I have never worked to tame him, by the way.)

I like silk worms for this because they don't move much when you put them in the cage. It is easy for your chameleon to associate your hand with yummy silkworms.

Start with a hungry chameleon. Open the cage door and observe the reaction. Don't go further if you get a fear response. Hopefully, he allows you within several inches of him, and if he does, start by just putting silkworms near him at about that line where he becomes uncomfortable. Eventually, he will allow you to put them closer to him as he becomes more comfortable in your presence. You can also put the worm a little closer to him (a stress) but quickly back out of his comfort zone.

There are many ways to do this. Being very observant and looking at the target behavior from his perspective will guide you. Good luck.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I think that after four weeks you can slowly and gradually try to get closer. As above said, let him climb onto you, don't try to grab him or force him too much. It's important that you keep your hand above him, not under him, bc that way he's never going to want to climb on your hand.
Also, if you've gotten past the period where he hisses at you, you can try to gently rub under his chin, or just touch there a bit with your finger, he'll genuinely want to climb.
And what was also mentioned, if he associates your proximity with getting food, he won't be afraid so much.
It's important to go little by little and be consistent. You need to be really patient, Chameleons are never going to be like dogs or cats, no matter how much you love him.

I need to comment on this not as criticism but so everyone understands what is really happening from the chameleon's point of view.

If you are getting him to move because your hand is over him or you are touching him, you are using fear to move him. He is fleeing your hands. In the above, the target behavior is getting him to move onto your hand. The stimulus for that behavior is fear. You are giving him a choice--move onto the scary hand away from the imminent danger of being captured and eaten, or stay put and be eaten.

Fear is not a tool I like to use when training anything. Just be very aware of what you are doing and the impact it could have on your animal.

 

[MoyaChan]

I need to comment on this not as criticism but so everyone understands what is really happening from the chameleon's point of view.

If you are getting him to move because your hand is over him or you are touching him, you are using fear to move him. He is fleeing your hands. In the above, the target behavior is getting him to move onto your hand. The stimulus for that behavior is fear. You are giving him a choice--move onto the scary hand away from the imminent danger of being captured and eaten, or stay put and be eaten.

Fear is not a tool I like to use when training anything. Just be very aware of what you are doing and the impact it could have on your animal.

Now I don't really understand what you're saying. I wasn't saying to put your hand under the cham and lift it. But it's and instinctive thing tgat they grab the thing that lets them climb higher. Also I think I wrote that touching them is only suggested when they're not afraid of your proximity any more and they got used to your hand being around them.
I just don't really get which part of my answer is threatening for the cham?
Thanks for clearing it up

 

[jajeanpierre]

Now I don't really understand what you're saying. I wasn't saying to put your hand under the cham and lift it. But it's and instinctive thing tgat they grab the thing that lets them climb higher. Also I think I wrote that touching them is only suggested when they're not afraid of your proximity any more and they got used to your hand being around them.
I just don't really get which part of my answer is threatening for the cham?
Thanks for clearing it up

From your original post:

"It's important that you keep your hand above him, not under him, bc that way he's never going to want to climb on your hand. "


"Also, if you've gotten past the period where he hisses at you, you can try to gently rub under his chin, or just touch there a bit with your finger, he'll genuinely want to climb."

If you put your hand over top of him to encourage him to move (onto your other hand) you are applying an aversive, something he works to avoid. Basically, you are scaring him onto your other hand. The same goes for your using your hand to touch him so he moves away from you.

Perhaps what you wrote wasn't what you meant, but from what you wrote, I only see aversives and negative reinforcements used. (A negative reinforcement is something used to increase a behavior--getting on your hand--using a stimulus that the animal tries to avoid or escape from.)

I also want to emphasize that most situations in the real world are not set up to accommodate training that is completely devoid of aversives. We all use them at varying intensities. I just think we should be more aware of our use and reliance on aversives in training situations and try to eliminate them whenever possible.

 

[MoyaChan]

From your original post:

"It's important that you keep your hand above him, not under him, bc that way he's never going to want to climb on your hand. "


"Also, if you've gotten past the period where he hisses at you, you can try to gently rub under his chin, or just touch there a bit with your finger, he'll genuinely want to climb."

If you put your hand over top of him to encourage him to move (onto your other hand) you are applying an aversive, something he works to avoid. Basically, you are scaring him onto your other hand. The same goes for your using your hand to touch him so he moves away from you.

Perhaps what you wrote wasn't what you meant, but from what you wrote, I only see aversives and negative reinforcements used. (A negative reinforcement is something used to increase a behavior--getting on your hand--using a stimulus that the animal tries to avoid or escape from.)

I also want to emphasize that most situations in the real world are not set up to accommodate training that is completely devoid of aversives. We all use them at varying intensities. I just think we should be more aware of our use and reliance on aversives in training situations and try to eliminate them whenever possible.

Yeah now I see what you meant, but I think it's a misunderstanding and thanks for pointing tgat out. I never meant to use two hands in any of this processes. I never even have two hands at the same time in her terrarium. Obviously never want to scare her.
What I failed to say was that, using one hand only, you keep it slightly above-in front of the cham, like diagonally, if it's more understandable what I'm trying to say... My point would have been that if you keep your hand under the cham, she won't bother to go there bc she has a perfect place on top. If you provide a place, with your hand, that seems higher, she's going to want to go there.
From my experience, at least.

 

[garyl]

Newbie here and having some of the same problems with my 2 chams,I mostly bring my hand in front of them and if they hiss I try and rub belly or back ,it works most of the time,once I get them out they ok and sometimes don't want to get back in there house,I take them out at least twice a day ,female is less aggressive male he gets very aggressive

 

[colbertchameleon]

Try keeping the door open for 5-10 minutes before going in the cage. This might give your Cham time to adjust more to getting out. Of course supervise the cage so he/she doesn't escape.

 

[jajeanpierre]

Newbie here and having some of the same problems with my 2 chams,I mostly bring my hand in front of them and if they hiss I try and rub belly or back ,it works most of the time,once I get them out they ok and sometimes don't want to get back in there house,I take them out at least twice a day ,female is less aggressive male he gets very aggressive

I guess you didn't take in a thing I wrote.

Your chameleon is hissing at you because it is afraid. If you rub it and force yourself upon it when it is in this state you risk all the fall out associated with using flooding techniques. One of the side effects of using flooding to desensitize, is that the fear often return stronger than the original fear. It is common for there to be a marked increase in aggression.

When you flood an animal and give it no chance of escape they often shut down. That might be what you are seeing when you say that "most of the time, once I get them out they are okay."

Are these babies?

 

[PdragonChameleons]

I guess you didn't take in a thing I wrote.

Your chameleon is hissing at you because it is afraid. If you rub it and force yourself upon it when it is in this state you risk all the fall out associated with using flooding techniques. One of the side effects of using flooding to desensitize, is that the fear often return stronger than the original fear. It is common for there to be a marked increase in aggression.

When you flood an animal and give it no chance of escape they often shut down. That might be what you are seeing when you say that "most of the time, once I get them out they are okay."

Are these babies?

Its a panther chameleon cb he is about 3 months old

 

[jajeanpierre]

Its a panther chameleon cb he is about 3 months old

PdragonChameleons, my comments were directed to Garyl, not you.

Three months is a really, really young baby. They're pretty tiny and fragile, too. I think he will get used to you pretty quickly as long as you don't force yourself on him and make him afraid you are going to eat him.

I've never found a baby anything to be particularly easy to tame. Babies of all animals are pretty much wild things. They're spooked by everything, much more flighty than an adult. It won't matter if you try to tame him now or in six months. What will matter is if you are giving him lots of fearful experiences with you. Think of it as if you have a bank account of "trust." You deposit good experiences but withdraw from your "trust" account when he has a negative experience with you. You need the positive experiences to be greater than the negative ones.