My chameleon attacked me

murtasma

murtasma

New Member
Anytime I get near my 4 month old male veiled chameleon he hisses, puffs up and wants to bite me.

I just finished setting up his new home which is really sweet. I'll have to post some pictures of it once I unpack my camera since I'm in the middle of a move.

I put my motorcycle gear on before I moved him because he has some serious anger management issues. I stuck my hand in his old cage slowly and left it in front of him for awhile. He of course puffed up and hissed. I moved a little closer and he lunged at me. I closed my eyes and hope it didn't hurt to bad. I couldn't really feel anything with my leather gloves on except pressure on my thumb.

He backed up then really stepped it up a notch and latched on. It was almost painful he has some really strong jaws. He took a couple more bites like this then decided to get on my hand and start to come after a part of my body that was more fleshy. Luckily his new cage was just a few steps away so I rushed up over there and got him onto some vines. He quickly moved off my hand but I doubt I will ever get to handle this guy with out getting attacked.

If I don't have a glove on; can they break skin when bitting? Just how much damage can they do? What about when he gets older? Is there a way I can possibly get him used to me a little?

I don't want to handle him often but it would be nice to be able to take him outside for a few minutes every now and then with out him wanting to kill me.
 
I like the way you describe your story. I don't handle my chameleons often and try to avoid bothering them when I clean their cages and/or put put food in. At first I wanted to handle them too cause I saw all these other members with pictures of their chameleons on their hands and sometimes their head. It looked cool and gave a sense that they were actually friends with their chameleon. Well I don't have that relationship with my chameleons. The one thing I learned from my blood python (which was a WC female), is that some animals are better left alone. This isn't what your probably wanted to hear but good luck with handling your veiled in the future.

*** I think I sent this as a message instead of a post initially.
 
Welcome to the world of veild chameleons. LOL I have 4. One female sounds just like yours. She hisses even when she is eating the food I offer her. My adult male was a sweetie until I put my hand into his cage with a glove on. He got way out of control. and bit me through a leather glove like you experienced. They do have a ferocious jaw muscle.

Try putting your bare hand in the cage, well away from your cham. You do have to clean it. Do that for awhile.......then, when he behaves try to get closer. My hubby pets his tail. LOL He is too scared to get closer.

Good luck
 
You won't trust me but mine cham was just like yours. He hisses, bites...
I couldn't handle him without gloves.

Now he is over 1 year old and recently I went on vacations for 4 weeks. I left him to my m8 which keeps reptiles.

He was handling him every day and he isn't scared of bites. But he has fat fingers so cham couldn't even bite him :D Cham was very very angry and hissed alot and tried to bite bite bite. But that keeper changed him. Now he just hisses but when I get him out he isn't scared any more. He likes to hang around.

So you have to handle him more often, so he will see that you don't pose a threat for him.

When I left mine cham to m8 he was scared of hand and camera. Now he doesn't care about that.
 
I'm afarid to sleep in the same room with him. His cage is so high up he can just stare at me sleeping all night plotting his next attack.
 
I've had a very good laugh at this thread. :)
Thankfully, I've only ever had one chameleon with similar hatred towards me. This one mean spirited female panther let me know who was boss right from the start. I had a bruise on my arm from that first bite for weeks. Even putting food into her cage was an adventure. I bought leather gloves. They were insufficient. I sometimes resorted to cleaning her cage at night. Then after a couple years she was mated. And afterwards she was much less evil towards me.
I wonder if, generally speaking, panthers are less agressive than vields? With the exception of that one female, the others do not take special pleasure in trying to bite me.
 
Is your glove black?

Some veileds are quite friendly. Some start off friendly and become agressive. Some are agressive from the get-go. Just like people, they have their own personalities. IMHO you just have to accept them for what they are for the most part.
 
Yes my glove was black mostly with some white and carbon fiber woven in on the knuckles.

I may have to wear two gloves when he gets bigger if he doesn't settle down. Maybe I should give him a pacifier before I let him walk on my hand.
 
Most panther males I have had have been pretty friendly. The females seem less tolerant than the males though. The worst one by far is the blue one I have now. He only stops his threatening gaping behavior when he sees the food coming into his cage...but not until it is out of the container I bring it to him in. He would attack the container as quickly as he would attack me!

With veileds, both sexes can be bad or good.
 
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