New Panther Chameleon owner

[Hydro's Mom]

My Panther Chameleon will be 4 months old, I've had him for almost 1 month. I ordered silk worms so that I can hand feed him, but he hides when I open the door to his cage and he won't come out from hiding. I don't want him to be afraid of me, I want him to trust me. How long will it take for him not to be shy or afraid? I haven't even held him yet. Is this normal? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Chameleons are solitary, territorial animals.
They don't and won't "like" you.
They are particularly shy when they are young. Once the cham figures out that you bring the food and make the water happen, it's possible it will approach you for these things when you come to the cage and appear to "like" or be happy to see you, but the truth is, they don't.
But aren't they amazing to observe and beautiful!

-Brad

 

[Jordan]

Well about the only thing I could suggest would be to hand feed like you are planning. Even then it may take a couple of times for him to go after it. Just remember to go slow before you even get to the cage. Give him a couple minutes each attempt. Some chameleons are just simply very shy. I would think that within the next couple of months his personality will set in a little more and you will know your limitations with him. I have a female I have not touched in a long time, she will never hand feed and is rather mean. I really just try to think of chameleons as fish. They are cool but it is more beautiful then interactive most of the time. If you can successfully hand feed odds of him tolerating your presence and times you have to handle him are much better.

 

[westcoastchameleons]

Brad is absolutley right! chameleons are soluitary animals, and everything is based upon chance. there is a chance that your chameleon will trust/"like" you when he gets older.

something you can do is, take a stick and coarse your chameleon onto the stick. When he starts to get used to this you can try putting him on you hand and maybe he will eventually lighten up. an example would be a pistol of a female that i owned a while back. she used to run and hiss at the sight of me! then i did what i just stated that you could do above....she started to even drink from my hand!=)

 

[Hydro's Mom]

Thank you guys for your info. I will take them into consideration and will keep trying to hand feed him slowly. I can't wait for him to get older so that his colors will start showing I want to share some pictures of my baby Hydro, Hope you enjoy them, I will post more as he get older.
All pictures are of Hydro @ 3 months

 

[Hydro's Mom]

Thank you guys for your info. I will them into consideration and will keep trying to hand feed him slowly. Hope you enjoy them, I can't wait for him to get older so that his colors will start showing I want to share some pictures of my baby Hydro, Hope you enjoy them, I will post more as he get older.
View attachment 868 All pictures are of Hydro @ 3 months

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[flpanther]

Beautiful little guy...

What locale is he? It's good to see you are already trying new food items(silkworms). Keep adding variety and he may accept something from your hand one day. My male will only zap roaches from my hand, but I've heard of other panthers refusing roaches all together. Every cham gets excited by different prey, and it may change over time. After two weeks on silkworms and hornworms, both my male and female went balistic over ordinary crickets. Enjoy your panther and keep the pics coming.

 

[Hydro's Mom]

My baby is a Blue Bar Ambilobe Panther. I'm trying my best to give him other foods, but I don't think I can handle the roaches or flies. I can't even touch the cricket but I will buy other worms to feed him. I'm glad you like Hydros pictures, Iwill send more when he stops hiding How long do you think it will take for Hydro to stop being shy and let me hold him??


2 Cocker Spaniels - Solomon (Chocolate) & Oreo (Black)
1 Beagel - Lucky
1 Cockatoo - Oliver
1 African Grey - Sami
1 Blue Bar Ambilobe Pathern Chameleon
I love all my babies, it's alot of work, but very rewarding when they all give you kisses and unconditional love.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

You should really consider opening up to the roach.
Such an awesome feeder and easy to breed!

-Brad

 

[jleahl]

Brad, are there roaches that don't get very big? Like too big for a brev? I'm not having much luck with a varied diet for my guys; they won't look at phoenix worms, and everything else around here is too big. I tried ordering extra small silkies yesterday, but the supplier apparently got a bad batch of eggs, and they don't know when they'll have any available. I have a couple of other critters that would eat them not too much bigger, but not as big as, say, an inch or 1 1/2". And truthfully, the thought of the roaches escaping....

 

[Brad Ramsey]

If you set up a colony of roaches you should (eventually) have new born nymphs. Blaptica Dubia new borns are approx. 1/8th". The great thing is once they start going you will have a variety of sizes to choose from. If the colony gets too big you can always sell starter colonies to other enthusiasts.
The Dubia is a non-climbing, non-flying, non-pest roach from South America that does not smell and would soon perish in your home if it escaped. Escapes are highly unlikely. They are very slow.

-Brad