I Cant Get Jay Jay to eat out of my hand!

[gngorman]

He is 3 months old, veiled chameleon. I cannot get him to eat out of my hand for anything. He just runs everytime i put my hand in his cage. Any tips?

 

[bugboy]

if hes got a favorite food item id try that. i got my veiled to take from me using butterworms, now he wont leave my fingers alone. if he continues to refuse that might just be the way he is and i would stop trying for a week or two just to keep him from getting too stressed out.

 

[summoner12]

I have found that it helps not to look at the cham or the food..... and to keep the item in front of your face between you and the cham so it has to look at the food and you at the same time..... this saves them from looking at you, food, the cage, the room then back at you and then the food.... you'll notice when they aren't sure they keep the eyes moving checking everything out.

 

[gngorman]

The only thing i have fed him so far are crickets, he is to young for mealworms and i would like to get some roaches that cannot climb slick surfaces, and that cannot fly is there any?

 

[panthercham]

The best advice I can give is to leave him alone! You have only had him for around 2 weeks and he is still a youngster and you are stressing him if he running from you and you are actually making the trust bond with you longer by forcing the issue. You need to give him time and privacy to get used to you and comfortable in his surroundings. These critters are shy and live a solitary life.

Mine took a good 4 - 5 weeks to get used to being around me and me feeding them etc. I didn't try any hand feeding for the first 2 months. Don't try a force the issue as it will only make the whole process a lot longer. He will get used to you....eventually....they are all on their own time schedule

 

[pssh]

Dubia and Turkish roaches can't climb slick surfaces or fly.

Don't force it, not all chams will eat from your hand. It's not required (or even natural!)

 

[boj3434]

I would just wait some chameleons take awhile to eat but just move very slowly and it could take a few minutes the first couple of times. I would just try something else that might help get him going. If you can get silkworms they would be good to try and hand feed but my chameleon loves superworms and they move around like they are crazy when you hold them in between your fingers. Just dont rush things when you start forcing your chameleon to do anything from hand feeding to holding it cna really stress them out.

 

[AlexPalmer]

You might want to try handling him first as well. I have two pygmys but I've only handled one since the other one's gravid and I don't want to stress her out. I don't go out of my way to handle him, it's just when he's like stretched between two branches where he doesn't want to let himself swing down, so he just sits there. I just let him walk on my finger and if he doesn't no biggie.