New Male Veiled Hissing and Gaping

[jajeanpierre]

I walked into a pet shop and just couldn't resist a male veiled. I have no idea how old he is (I'm very new to chameleons) and I can't get a reliable weight on him yet. I would say he weighs about 65/70 +/- 5 grams, so he isn't very young. He was all over the scale grabbing everything so the weight might not be accurate. I'll get an accurate weight on him tomorrow.

I was the one to take him out of his tiny aquarium cage and put him in a box. I expected him to be aggressive but surprisingly he wasn't, other than puffing up a bit.

Getting him out of the box was quite another matter--lots of hissing and gaping.

I don't have a proper set up for him, but put him in a 10 gallon screened top aquarium, which is about three times the size of where he was. (I'll order a proper enclosure as soon as I am finished typing this.) I bought him a Reptisun 5.0 and a basking light.

He looks and acts healthy. One thing I did notice once I got him home is that his casque is not straight in the front. Is that normal?

Is his hissing and gaping normal or is it indicative of him always being this way if I try to handle him? To be honest, I don't care if he is aggressive--I can work with that.

Which brings up my question: How do you tame/handle an older aggressive male? Suggestions please. Thanks for any insight.

 

[zlew]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/psychobunny/746-taming-chameleon.html This is a great blog on taming your chameleon.
Since you are new, I'll also give you the forum caresheet, which is the best one out there.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/
Welcome to the forum and good luck with your new baby!

 

[Djturna4thakidz]

The bent casque may be the result of MBD. Are all of his limbs straight? He doesnt have any extra elbow or knee joints? Pictures will greatly help us.

In terms of taming... I asked the same question when I was first starting out years ago, thinking there was an easy regiment that would result in a tame pet cham. It does not exist. these animals are not dogs or cats or hampsters. They are very independent and have very different dispositions.

IMO male veileds are a little more territorial and feisty when it comes to space. They do not like to have hands put into their cages. Its not that they are aggressive but they are territorial. The best thing to do it freerange. this gets them out of their cage and helps with aggression. Also they mellow out with age. You should see a change in behavior between a year and year and a half old. Now this is not with all chams, but most that I have owned.

For now, just hand feed and be patient.

 

[carol5208]

Can you post a pic of him so we can check out his limbs???

 

[jajeanpierre]

I did take some pictures of him but can't upload them using the attachment icon. I think the pictures might be too big--the one I just looked at was 4.7MB but the maximum file size for the web site is under 20KB. I'm pretty much computer illiterate.

Can someone help me get these pictures posted?

I can tell you that his legs look straight to me.

He wouldn't settle for the night and I had to peel him off the top of the screen. He's finally going to sleep, but he is grabbing onto one of the plants with his tail. He came from Petsmart so, he won't be used to having no lights so early in the evening.

He's the second chameleon I bought. The first one I bought November 13th, so I've had a lot of my new-owner-freaking-out questions answered.

You'll all be happy to know the two Reptibreeze cages I ordered today will be here Friday. I bought them each a 24" x 24" x 48" cage.

 

[Scoobthenoob]

Post to Imgur then send link here

http://imgur.com/

 

[Defianceofexistence]

He is probably just scared and feels unsafe, a lot of change has happened to him. Give him a bit after you get him settled in a proper terrarium.

That being said, my male veiled Loki (over a year old) is as grumpy as they come lol. We have a love hate relationship....he hates me and I love him lol. I only take him out to clean his terrarium or if he has an issue I need to look at. He has never lunged at me but he puffs up and gapes. Once he is out he is fine, just VERY cage aggressive.

Be patient with him, maybe as time goes on his true personality will surprise you

Congrats on your new boy!!!!

 

[jajeanpierre]

Thank you, Scoobthenoob.

Here's the link. These pictures were taken last night. In the head-on shot, you can see the bend to his casque.

http://imgur.com/a/oxEt4

Is that deviation to the casque within the normal range?

By the way, I'm really happy with him. He's eaten everything that moved in his cage and tried to eat a few things that didn't. I keep putting food in and he keeps eating it.

I put him on a big hibiscus bush I have in a big window. He was no trouble to get out--he wanted out of his little 10 gallon tank. He climbed up and immediately started eating the leaves. He's all over the bush. He's got a pretty confident temperament. The leafy part of the bush is almost a cubic yard and he's been many places on it. I'm going to have to really keep an eye on him that he doesn't jump off and go exploring somewhere else. I have the bush on a stool, so the leafy part is mostly 5 to 6 feet off the ground.

Once he was out of the cage, I looked at his poop and it is filled with rocks and hard bark. No wonder he had trouble defecating this morning! Poor boy. Hopefully all the food he ate plus the hibiscus leaves will make it easier to pass whatever else is still in his gut. He ate a lot of soldier fly larvae, and I think they must have a lot of hydration and no hard bits like cricket legs.

I'll set up a dripper now he is out of his cage.

 

[sgiac801]

Congrats!

It's totally normal for him to get all huffy, especially since he is brand new and probably isn't used to regular handling from being at the store. My 14m male veiled startles very easily but also has a verrry short attention span so I'll usually wait a few mins then try again with feeding/spraying. I try to make it a bonding experience

@zlew BEST ARTICLE (Taming)! It helped me so much to help understand where my little guy is coming from. As far as the casque thing goes, it does look a bit off but as long as you are supplementing him properly and provide good lighting, I'd just keep an eye on it and wouldn't worry unless something changes. It adds character!

 

[Scoobthenoob]

 

[Scoobthenoob]

Someone is sloughing, he is probably at his most upset, and least likely to want to eat, or do anything other than shed his skin...

Also really good looking fellow.

I see no obvious signs of MBD, though I am not an expert, I think he just has an irregular casque..

Just make sure you do your Calcium dusting, and that he has a good UVB source, and I think he will be fine.

Could you get a picture from behind to sex him?

 

[jajeanpierre]

Thanks for posting the pictures for me, Scoobthenoob.

He definitely is male (tarsal spurs). I'll take a picture later when it gets a bit lighter out so I don't have to use a flash.

This morning I got another weight on him--77 grams! Yesterday he was 65 grams, but he spent all day yesterday eating. He just ate and ate and ATE all day long. Whenever I put in food, he hunted it down. He didn't look like he was underweight when he came, either.

He really looks to be in wonderful condition and has a really good appetite, so I am assuming he hasn't ever had a growth slowdown from restricted calories.

I would think his 77 gram weight this morning is artificially high (considering how much he ate yesterday). How old would you guess him to be?

He is being temporarily housed in a 10 gal. tank with a screen top. His big screen cage will come Friday. He definitely wants out and will readily climb up on my hand to get out. I think his hissing/gaping and lunging was just because he was so afraid. Today he gaped when I tried to peel him off my hand to weigh him. I have to make it less scary for him to be weighed--all I need to do is find a little stick to get him up on and then put him and stick on the scale.

They sure are adorable. I hadn't appreciated how delicate they are and how careful you have to be handling them. I bet a lot of them end up with serious injuries from people trying to pick them up. You think you have all five grabbing appendages grabbing on your hand and then you move a bit and a foot or tail reaches out and hooks onto the cage. You really have to be so patient picking them up.