Interacting with your chamm and giving them outside time?

[SipeCsus]

Hello fellow chamm lovers? I was wondering is it good to interact with your chamm and how often should i handle her? I do put her outside on some plants i have in my backyard so she could be exposed to natural sunlight about 2-3 times a week for about an hour? Is this okae for her? She really loves the outdoors and her colors are amazing wen shes outside? Any input is greatly appreciated..

 

[GrimsbyPatchwork]

Hi there. Chameleons only have a basic brain that mostly decifers its surroundings as threatening or non threatening. It also recognises food and body language apart from a few others.

Having said that, they do not feel emotions such as love or friendship so interaracting with your cham Is definitely not beneficial however depending on how your cham sees you it might not cause any harm...if your cham does not see you as a threat it's OK but if your cham gets really stressed when handled, you should probably leave it alone..

Chams are not domestic animals, they are visual animals.

Its great that you are taking her out in the sun as it does them a lot of favours, and I understand that you have to handle her to take her out...

A good idea would be to build her an outdoor enclosure to minimise handling...always keeping in mind that them temps are good for her.

Start a thread in Enclosures and supplies should you decide to...I'm sure you will be bombarded with help

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the forums. I interact with my chameleons everyday. They all free range in my house and we too go outside everyday. Here in South Florida we have nice weather year round. You just have to watch her every single moment that you have her outside or she will escape or a bird or cat could get her. You might find this article attached below interesting.
http://thechameleonfarm.blogspot.com/2013/03/raising-social-chameleons.html

 

[SipeCsus]

Wow seems like everytime i log onto here i learn new things.. Kinda sadd that my chamm cant love me or hate me.. Lol but i will concider building her an outside enclousure specially since summers right around the corner.. And i definantly keep an eye on her wen shes outdoors, specially wit all these damm birds nd all.. Thanks for the input..

 

[Juliaf3]

Wow seems like everytime i log onto here i learn new things.. Kinda sadd that my chamm cant love me or hate me.. Lol but i will concider building her an outside enclousure specially since summers right around the corner.. And i definantly keep an eye on her wen shes outdoors, specially wit all these damm birds nd all.. Thanks for the input..

Well they could love you or hate you in a sense. If they view you as a threat, this could be like hating you. They will try to bite and run from you. If they don't see you as a threat, and your presence means good things like treats, a nice warm misting, or if they love outdoors and know that your presence means they get to go outdoors they may come to you when you open the cage, even reach to crawl onto you. This could be considered love.

It's all just how you see it. They will never snuggle like a dog, but some chameleons will definitely associate you with good things and want to go to you when they see you. You can encourage this by doing things like I said earlier. Make sure when you are present, only good things are associated with you. If every time he sees you, you are grabbing him up like an apple on a counter, chances are he will associate you as a threat. If that makes sense. You don't hold or pick up a chameleon. You simply support them, and they crawl on to you.