question on handling

[perca05]

Hi all you experienced Chammer owners. I have a veiled cham boy, about 3 months old at this point. He is growing like a weed...anyways, he is terrified of me. This seems to have gotten worse as I try to spray him with water everyday. I'm the evil water lady now. The 2 times I have held him, he seems ok on my hand, but getting him out of his cage is not easy. If he is this frightened of me now, will he outgrow this if I handle him everyday? Or should I just never hold him and see if he gets friendly when he gets older? If there is a chance to get him used to me, I would like to try now when he is small....but if you have seen that this behavior doesn't change, I'll leave it well enough alone.

thank you,
Caroline

 

[Jay1501]

I would say veiled chams are the less sociable chameleon i have a panther wich i handle from time to time and he will happily walk rite onto my hand i would suggest try hand feeding your cham i let mine eat 3 waxworms and then offered them again a few days later out of my hand and i feel since then he noticed the hand was a good thing it worked for me however waxworms shouldn't be offered as a diet just as a treat every now and then as they are pretty much pure fat hope this works for you also mine loves being sprayed with water your useing warm water rite?

 

[szpond]

Aww, "evil water lady" ! That's adorable, yet a problem that a lot of cham owners have.

The usual way that people "tame" their chameleons is to have them associate your hand with food. Everything loves food. Try offering the appropriate-sized feeders from between your fingers or in your open palm.

The more and more you do it, the less your chameleon will react negatively when you open the cage door.

Good luck! We love pics too!

 

[Kate]

Try spraying around him with warm water instead of actually spraying him. If he won't come onto your hand, try placing a stick just in front of his front feet. Hopefully he will step on.

 

[KingJulian]

I've also heard that veileds are less sociable. I have a panther who will walk right onto my hand. As far as being the evil water lady, I completely understand. My cham runs when the mister comes on and he sees the spray bottle. I notice if I use warm water, it's not as bad

 

[cswan19]

I have a baby veiled chameleon about 2-3 months and is a male... he HATES when I try to take him out of his enclosure but is totally fine once out and climbing around on my hand. I came across this blog by psychobunny... I tried the hand feeding today and had success on my first try. Just read through it and be patient and keep working with your cham, he should warm up eventually... good luck

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/psychobunny/746-taming-chameleon.html

 

[carol5208]

Try getting him to climb on a stick. I think if you don't handle him now, then no he is not going to become miraculously friendly one day. It is a time and trust issue as far as I am concerned.

 

[perca05]

Yeah...I've tried warm water...same reaction. Before I was spraying him regularly, he did take a couple bugs from my fingers. Now he just looks at me like he's waiting for me to attack him or something. :S I'll keep trying to offer him bugs and see if things turn around.

Thanks all!