my scardy-cat chameleon

[bonillaphotography]

Hi! I had a question for all you chameleon owners out there. I received my panther chameleon, Python, two and a half weeks ago, and he is three months old. I left him alone to acclimate to his new surroundings for a little over a week, then tried start holding him by slowly bringing my hand up to him in his cage to have him climb on. He has always either ran away or very slowly backed away from it. I have also tried holding a stick inside for him to climb onto that, but with the same results. So basically, he is still scared of me and I can't get him to come out of his cage. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get a different reaction when I try to hold him? I chose to get a panther chameleon instead of a veiled because I wanted a more friendly chameleon! So I am a little scared about his temperment. Plus I need to be able to thoroughly clean his cage!

Thanks for your help!

Rachel

 

[Drake]

Hey, maybe try being lower then he is when reaching at him with your hand or a stick. Whenever I try and get one of my Veileds out to clean their cage, I get lower then they are and put my hands on both sides of the branch he is on, and they usually climb onto me. Once their on me though, I have a hard time getting them off lol. Or I try using a stick and see if they will walk on it but that usually don't work, and will just run away.

I'm sure others will offer better advice, since I'm still new to this aswell.

 

[herpluv]

Right on

I think Drake is right on. Coming from under him will probably be less scary to him because normally when something bigger than him would come from above him in the wild, it would be a predator such as a bird. I have had iguanas and this is true with them as well. Good luck.

 

[Sally13]

I think putting the branch higher than him would be a better idea because normally they want to be higher than other things so he would probably go to the other branh if it were higher than him.

My veiled cham goes onto my when i put my hand on one side of him then the other one on the other side so that he goes on the other hand when he turns around to run away.

 

[Prism Chameleons]

Hi Bonilla,

A 3 month old panther is still pretty small and they all tend to be a bit "skittish" at that age. He's just scared, that's all. What the others suggested is correct - get your head lower than him, then you won't look like King Kong to your baby .

Don't be frightened of his temperment... he won't hurt you and at that age, I have never even seen one attempt to bite. You might have to be a "bit" more aggressive at catching him. Just a BIT. And what I mean by that is, when he is running from one hand of yours, put the other hand in the direction he is running to. This basically gives him no choice but to walk onto one of your fingers. If he runs up the walls or roof of his cage, then put your finger in the direction he is running to there as well. It may take a bit of time, but eventually you'll catch him. Then remove him from the cage. Hold him a bit. He may run up your arm and try to climb on your head. If he does, place a hand on your shoulder or upper arm for him to walk onto and bring him back down again.

Put him in a tree! For some reason this always works for the new ones. I have a taller tree that I let my chameleons climb on and chill out for a while and get a change of scenery. They love it. Let him cruise around the tree a bit and see that "Hey! Bonilla wasn't going to hurt me... she's given me a treat!" He will calm a lot when you place him in a tree. After a while, let him crawl on your finger again and place him back in cage.

Work with him like this... for short periods no more than one time a day. As he grows, and as he gets more used to you, he will eventually walk into your hand with no problems. Especially when he gets old enough to have showers. Then he'll really love it when you come to get him!

Hope this helps...

Baby Ankaramy bunk bed! They were all wanting the same sleeping spot

Baby Prism Chameleon Ankaramy panther chameleons... they are so cute!

 

[Shelby]

Oh those babies are so cute!