Odd behavior... Please help

[Erica1884]

Okay so I have absolutely no plans to breed my male veiled chameleon, he is about one year old. Lately I have been noticing some behaviors that may indicate he is in heat, or getting "those" feelings. So my suspicions were confirmed this afternoon. He is very social, he initiates coming out of his enclosure, especially when he sees me. He will crawl on to my hand I take him outside, bring him in, put him in a few different plants in my house to explore... Any how today when he was getting on my hand to go back in his cage, he straddled my hand and began thrusting and grinding his body in a scooting motion backwards up my arm! I googled videos of chameleons mating and well... he was trying to mate with my arm.... I am freaking out because
1. Is he going to get aggressive and bite me, while in the heat of the moment?
2. Is this behavior going to go away? Do have to breed him?
3. I am to the point where I am just going to leave him in the cage and not let him come out anymore.... which sucks because he really enjoys being out... I can't even open his cage to feed him without him trying to come out...

Please, any help or advice with this would be great. Maybe this has happened to someone else and they can let me know how it worked out for them...

here is a picture of my little guy

 

[Haileybug]

you don't HAVE to breed him no this was very strange to read are the plants in your house live or? maybe it was just one of those feelings for the fact the males grab onto the females tails with their hands

 

[JGuinan007]

I have never heard of a male chameleon doing this of any species.

 

[Erica1884]

you don't HAVE to breed him no this was very strange to read are the plants in your house live or? maybe it was just one of those feelings for the fact the males grab onto the females tails with their hands

The plants in my house are live. I have a pothos, a schaffera (spelling?), and a hibiscus tree. He enjoys roaming in them all. I know it sounds weird I am just really freaked out by it... It is literally like he grabbed onto my arm with all four of his hands, wrapped his tail around my arm as well and was rubbing against my arm. Typically he will stand tall on my hand, arm, shoulder and climb.... But this was a definite, continuous scooting motion. He was actually pressing his face, rubbing it on my arm as well. Very odd behavior, I just have a growing hesitance to handle him because I don't know what the heck it was and if it will happen again....

 

[Erica1884]

I have never heard of a male chameleon doing this of any species.[/QUOTE
I don't know what to say... It was very strange... he was literally rubbing his body in a back and forth scooting rhythm, up my arm. He was rubbing his face on my arm and had this four hands and tail gripping me... It went on for a good almost minute, I was calling for my boyfriend to come help me because I was slightly freaked out. I tried to get him to go back in his cage but he wouldn't, and I was too freaked out to use my other hand to remove him from my arm (just incase he decided to bite me, which he has never ever done) I actually ended up putting him over my daughters bed and king of rotating my arm to safely roll him off my arm onto a blanket and then picked him up and put him in his cage... I just don't know... I know it sounds stupid... but it is freaking me out. I am noticing when I take him out he really stares at my hands, like both eyes fix on my hands and sometimes he will (best way to describe it) lunge his face to my hands. I will keep an eye on it, I am not going to stop handling him yet and if it happens again. I am going to have my daughter record it and post it here.

 

[Remkon]

Not sure if I can help since I never had a horny chameleon before...
My iguana would have his periods, he would get grumpy and nod his head when I passed the enclosure, try to slap me with his tail and try to bite me occasionally (that's not funny with a meter and a half long iguana).
I never got humped my him tho.

Maybe you'd be best keeping him caged for a while, he's a sexoffender now. It should pass by itself.

 

[Erica1884]

Not sure if I can help since I never had a horny chameleon before...
My iguana would have his periods, he would get grumpy and nod his head when I passed the enclosure, try to slap me with his tail and try to bite me occasionally (that's not funny with a meter and a half long iguana).
I never got humped my him tho.

Maybe you'd be best keeping him caged for a while, he's a sexoffender now. It should pass by itself.

Lol!! Thank you for the in put. It isn't going to be that easy to leave him in his cage.... I can't even feed him with out him trying to climb on me. I have to plan it perfectly to catch him at the right time. He has always been like that tho. Sometimes I wish he would be shy and hide from me like other chams.. I absolutely love that he is social but sometimes I think I have created a monster. I will keep an eye on it. Do you think it will pass, if it is a sexual thing? Is it something that maybe they are in heat for a period of time or certain time of year?

 

[Veild Cham Owner]

Ok I need to say something. My chanleoen is so so so friendly also. If he doesn't come out his cage once a day, he gets very grumpy. I had him out one time and he did the same thing to me!! He was like trying to hump me!! And my guy is only 8 months old!! It was so weird I just put him back in his cage and left him alone for a lil bit. I know how u feel lol

 

[JGuinan007]

Did the hemipenis come out? Is he shedding? I have a female veiled and she will do this on branches when she is shedding to remove shed but never on me as she hates me.

 

[Erica1884]

Ok I need to say something. My chanleoen is so so so friendly also. If he doesn't come out his cage once a day, he gets very grumpy. I had him out one time and he did the same thing to me!! He was like trying to hump me!! And my guy is only 8 months old!! It was so weird I just put him back in his cage and left him alone for a lil bit. I know how u feel lol

Omg!!!! Thank you so much. I was literally thinking that this has never happened to anyone but me. I am worried he might bite in the moment. Did the behavior stop at some point? Does it still happen?

 

[Haileybug]

The plants in my house are live. I have a pothos, a schaffera (spelling?), and a hibiscus tree. He enjoys roaming in them all. I know it sounds weird I am just really freaked out by it... It is literally like he grabbed onto my arm with all four of his hands, wrapped his tail around my arm as well and was rubbing against my arm. Typically he will stand tall on my hand, arm, shoulder and climb.... But this was a definite, continuous scooting motion. He was actually pressing his face, rubbing it on my arm as well. Very odd behavior, I just have a growing hesitance to handle him because I don't know what the heck it was and if it will happen again....

this is so strange

 

[Erica1884]

Did the hemipenis come out? Is he shedding? I have a female veiled and she will do this on branches when she is shedding to remove shed but never on me as she hates me.

No. Nothing came out. He is shedding but it is mostly over right now... He just has a little left on his feet and those were firmly gripping my arm and not participating in it.

 

[Haileybug]

The plants in my house are live. I have a pothos, a schaffera (spelling?), and a hibiscus tree. He enjoys roaming in them all. I know it sounds weird I am just really freaked out by it... It is literally like he grabbed onto my arm with all four of his hands, wrapped his tail around my arm as well and was rubbing against my arm. Typically he will stand tall on my hand, arm, shoulder and climb.... But this was a definite, continuous scooting motion. He was actually pressing his face, rubbing it on my arm as well. Very odd behavior, I just have a growing hesitance to handle him because I don't know what the heck it was and if it will happen again....

this is so strange

 

[wavingsnail]

I never had a horny chameleon before...

Your avatar paints an entirely different picture.

 

[Carlton]

He's an adolescent...a teenager and his hormones are starting to kick in. You don't have to breed him, he probably won't bite you or act aggressively other than when you invade his territory (when you first open the cage he will probably fire up his color, may start puffing up, gaping, curling his tail, and acting as if he's going to bite...and these behaviors are bluffs and very normal). I've never seen photos of mating chams where the male is biting the female. I really don't think you need to worry about this. He's not going to hurt himself or anyone else when he's "in the mood".

 

[Remkon]

Your avatar paints an entirely different picture.

touche...

 

[Virgil1972]

Okay so I have absolutely no plans to breed my male veiled chameleon, he is about one year old. Lately I have been noticing some behaviors that may indicate he is in heat, or getting "those" feelings. So my suspicions were confirmed this afternoon. He is very social, he initiates coming out of his enclosure, especially when he sees me. He will crawl on to my hand I take him outside, bring him in, put him in a few different plants in my house to explore... Any how today when he was getting on my hand to go back in his cage, he straddled my hand and began thrusting and grinding his body in a scooting motion backwards up my arm! I googled videos of chameleons mating and well... he was trying to mate with my arm.... I am freaking out because
1. Is he going to get aggressive and bite me, while in the heat of the moment?
2. Is this behavior going to go away? Do have to breed him?
3. I am to the point where I am just going to leave him in the cage and not let him come out anymore.... which sucks because he really enjoys being out... I can't even open his cage to feed him without him trying to come out...

Please, any help or advice with this would be great. Maybe this has happened to someone else and they can let me know how it worked out for them...

here is a picture of my little guy

Your cham is lucky, humans go to jail for that.

 

[Erica1884]

He's an adolescent...a teenager and his hormones are starting to kick in. You don't have to breed him, he probably won't bite you or act aggressively other than when you invade his territory (when you first open the cage he will probably fire up his color, may start puffing up, gaping, curling his tail, and acting as if he's going to bite...and these behaviors are bluffs and very normal). I've never seen photos of mating chams where the male is biting the female. I really don't think you need to worry about this. He's not going to hurt himself or anyone else when he's "in the mood".

 

[Veild Cham Owner]

Omg!!!! Thank you so much. I was literally thinking that this has never happened to anyone but me. I am worried he might bite in the moment. Did the behavior stop at some point? Does it still happen?

Pls don't stress about it!! It is no big deal. He didn't bite or anything it was just a weird little moment lol. I had never had any other moments like that with him. Have you even had/met an un- neutered dog? It is kinda like the same thing (I think). Once and a while if they need to express some feeling, they do it lol. Chameleons usually aren't neutered and they kinda still have that sexual content in them even though there is no female around. Just think of is like this. Ur Cham REALLY really likes u

 

[Erica1884]

Thanks again for all the advice and suggestions. I am feeling better about continuing to have him out of his cage. For a while after the "incident" I was really nervous. Feeling much better now. Here is a picture of Rico's time out today... Glad to say he remained a gentleman the entire time