my mean little monster

[jajeanpierre]

@maduni3394 - I think some chameleons are just naturally more aggressive than others. I have never been bitten by a chameleon, however out of my 3, two can be handled no problem. My female would just as soon take my hand off than look at me. I have raised all 3 the exact same way, using the same techniques. My first chameleon was a mean little sucker, too.

Aggression is not a word I associate with chameleons. Fear and defensive behaviors are what a chameleon is doing when they are threatening you. I and probably most other English speakers interpret "aggression" to mean a behavior that is driven by malice and a chameleon is not a malicious creature. They are only a little tiny prey animal that has very few defense strategies when they are faced with imminent death by predation, and they view humanity as predators. There are no mean chameleons. There are frightened chameleons. There are chameleons that will bite. But they aren't mean, just afraid for their lives most of the time. Some might be territorial, but most is fear driven.

Getting bitten by any of my animals is a failure on my part in handling them. Having any of them puff up and want to bite me is a failure in my handling. Professional trainers who work with wild zoo animals do not get bitten and if they did, they would be embarrassed and ashamed because getting bitten is a failure in their handling of the animal. I can't emphasize enough the professional bird trainer's axiom: "Bite me once, shame on you. Bite me twice, shame on me." Take that to heart--if you are bitten twice it is because you made a mistake in handling. You are not observing the animal or reading it's body language properly.

 

[FlChamMom]

@jajeanpierre - No, I did not mean agression to be the same as malice. I do not believe that chameleons have emotions as humans do. I still believe that not all chameleons have as much tolerance for human interaction as others do. I feel you have to treat each animal differently according to it's comfort level and watch for signs of stress. My female just simply does not want to be handled and I respect that. She hand feeds and allows me to clean her cage but we're not going to be buddies. She has never bitten me, but she definitely puffs up if I get too close. Although I have owned chameleons for 8 years I wouldn't try to call myself The Chameleon Whisperer.

 

[maduni3394]

Not sure how being round a lot of animals transpires into getting bitten. If you can read the animal, and learn the body language you shouldn't be bitten. I realize it can happen, but as @jajeanpierre is trying to say is that 90% of the time it is the handler doing something wrong.

I have owned Burmese pythons (12+feet), big boas (10+ feet), loads of Ball Pythons, Carpet Pythons, Iguanas, skinks and so on... I have never been bitten by any of them. They have showed aggression, but I was never bitten because I read the signs and let it be.

my dad would rehome pets that were miss treated so ya i have been bit a lot i can read the signs from a lot of animals. i have never own a chem till now it was just out of no where he was fine till i sat down he got puffed up and tried to bite me it was a fast so i put him back but by the looks of him today hes going to be shedding this week

 

[wavingsnail]

You are always going to get people like jajeanpierre on here. Instead of offering you some helpful advice, he insults your abilities to care for your animal.

@jajeanpierre is one of the most knowledgeable members here, so frankly I'm glad to have "people like that" here.

 

[jajeanpierre]

my dad would rehome pets that were miss treated so ya i have been bit a lot i can read the signs from a lot of animals. i have never own a chem till now it was just out of no where he was fine till i sat down he got puffed up and tried to bite me it was a fast so i put him back but by the looks of him today hes going to be shedding this week

Honestly, it doesn't matter if the animal is mistreated or not, if you are getting bitten you are no paying attention to their body language because aggression doesn't come out of the blue except in the rare cases of brain tumors and things like that. There is clear communication of the animal's escalating fear before they are forced to shout at you (by biting) because you didn't hear them talking in a nice voice. Sometimes the time between the start of an animal telling you by it's body language that it is uncomfortable with whatever you are doing and biting is short, but it is always there. You aren't paying attention if you are getting bitten. If a handler doesn't heed an animal's early communications, the animal often learns that it is pointless to talk to the human because they don't listen so they go very quickly to yelling (biting).

Reading body language is not magic--it's learned. Every species of animal has very distinct body language to communicate it's unhappiness with your presence. No one intuitively knows the subtle distress body language of an animal but it can be learned. You just have to pay attention and learn the language of the species of animal you are working with. You have to learn the early signs of discomfort and change your behavior before the animal starts yelling at you (by biting). You absolutely have to not think it is normal for animals to have to yell and scream at humans (by biting) to be heard.

 

[jajeanpierre]

@jajeanpierre - No, I did not mean agression to be the same as malice. I do not believe that chameleons have emotions as humans do. I still believe that not all chameleons have as much tolerance for human interaction as others do. I feel you have to treat each animal differently according to it's comfort level and watch for signs of stress. My female just simply does not want to be handled and I respect that. She hand feeds and allows me to clean her cage but we're not going to be buddies. She has never bitten me, but she definitely puffs up if I get too close. Although I have owned chameleons for 8 years I wouldn't try to call myself The Chameleon Whisperer.

Aggression is a word that is too loaded with emotion for me to be comfortable using with general pet owners. You are correct, it does not denote motive but to most people the word aggression goes hand in hand with other loaded terms like mean, hate, etc. Although it is correct to say that when a chameleon bites you they are aggressing, I won't use those terms with pet owners because aggressing/biting is often associated with a malicious motive of the animal rather than mishandling by the human. The problem is always the handler but blaming the animal for being mean or aggressive shifts the problem to the animal rather than the human where it belongs. Look at the title of this thread, "My Mean Little Monster." A poor little animal is mishandled and is forced to try to save itself from imminent death by a big predator and the owner calls it mean and a monster.

I agree with you, some have less tolerance for people than others. I am not fond of the whole "Whisperer" mentality. It suggests that someone has an innate ability that is somehow magical and out of reach of us mere mortals. All of the "Whisperers" have just learned to be very observant of the body language. There are always signs, some more subtle than other, but the animal always communicates. Handlers just need to learn what certain body postures might mean. A chameleon standing tall on its legs and stiff is not a relaxed chameleon. I think of learning body language as learning the vocabulary of a new language. You learn one word (one posture) and fix that in our mind and then try to learn another. And another. If you learn body language you will also learn to see when they are not healthy before they get really sick.

 

[maduni3394]

@jajeanpierre is one of the most knowledgeable members here, so frankly I'm glad to have "people like that" here.

he mite be the " most knowledgeable member" but he is rude!