my fingers are not worms!

[whitespyder]

ive had my girl veiled Thalamus for almost 4 months now and when i first got her she was very timid and would run away whenever she noticed i was watching her. ive been trying to tame her so that she would consider my presence as a good thing instead of freaking out and getting stressed. (and i also wanted her to get used to my hands if i needed to move her at all for cage cleaning and vet visits) so ive been training her to eat waxworms and mealies from my hand as a treat. now shes so used to finding worms in my hands that she thinks that my fingers are worms. whenever my hand enters or comes near the cage she lines up her tounge at my fingers almost immediately. even when there IS a worm in my palm she tries to eat my fingers first!
the good thing about all this is since she wont come out of the cage by herself and its too stressful for me to catch her, i just show her my fingers and coax her out! (and then reward her with a worm. i dont wanna tease her!) very helpful for when i need to clean her cage without disturbing her.

has anyone else's chameleon tried to eat them before or had a similar experience?

 

[chameleonman57]

My female veiled does the samething too. Its weird.

 

[hallenhe]

Not weird at all - your fingers are much bigger and juicier than any old worm! - My cham leaves my fingers alone, but the African clawed frog and the tiger salamander regularly decide they'd rather have a finger than a worm.

 

[ballin]

yeah, my 5 month old ambliobe does that to, guess to much hand feeding

 

[whitespyder]

shes started trying to eat everything when shes out of her tank since its new territory for her. she tried eating my eyebrows and freckles and just today she tried eating her own front foot....she didnt like that too much.

 

[hallenhe]

What do you mean, exactly, by "trying to eat"? - There's the focusing the eyes and shooting, or reaching out to grab and bite (generally eating; sometimes defense with the biting); they'll also touch their tongue very lightly to things when they're out and about and exploring, tasting to see if there are other chameleons around, or if they themselves have been there before.
Thaxter did shoot me in the eye once (maybe the blinking caught his attention?). Trying to eat her own foot is a little odd, but maybe not much odder than a dog or cat chasing its tail.

 

[whitespyder]

she would line up her eyes and start to stick her tounge out. ive never seen chameleons taste their surroundings before but im pretty sure shes not trying to taste me lol. i think she sees worm-shaped or worm-colored patterns and thinks they are food by association. once i could have sworn she was lining up to lick the dial of the thermometer in her cage. of course she failed since its behind plastic

 

[summoner12]

My female bit me pretty good after shooting at my finger thinking it was a worm. She goes bonkers when I open the cage..... She sees me, she thinks its feeding time.

 

[whitespyder]

aww thats so cute (besides the painful bite!) my cham is a little sceptical of me at first and then once she sees i have food with me she hangs out by the door and waits for me to give her more

 

[dannigrrl]

George would flick his tongue at my eyebrows thinking it was worms. It would startle me when I was leaning into his cage to clean it out!

 

[whitespyder]

hahaa, silly cham. maybe its george's way of thanking you

just yesterday my chameleon decided it would be a good idea to shoot for my open eyeball. it felt very strange lol

 

[MRB33R]

Question For Assitance.

George would flick his tongue at my eyebrows thinking it was worms. It would startle me when I was leaning into his cage to clean it out!

Why is my Jackson only eating Crickets?