She wont come out and i need help fast

[pedro92]

I need to clean her cage and she wont come out why does she do this i put a stick by her and she turns dark and hisses and sways back and forth i try to have her climb on my hand and she hisses i know they dont like to be handled but i need to get her out for the cleaning. How can i get her out without getting bit.

 

[Justin Carl]

veileds are very territorial so just put on some gloves.
put one hand in front of her and one behind.
gently allow her to get on to you hand. you may need to force her.
by force i mean put your hands under her feet. she should climb on.
once she is out of the cage she should be fine.

 

[pedro92]

wont she bite though. and what kind of glove

 

[Justin Carl]

she may bite, but you dont need to worry if you have gloves.
gardening gloves.

 

[pedro92]

well i got her out i used my drumstick to push her bottom and she hissed and bit and hissed and bit again at the stick i feel so bad when i make her hiss and stress is this bad for her health could she die because of me making her hiss. She has been weird lately. i mean she has had black spots and stress colors alot and i dont know why i have a t8 fluorescent bulb tropical series uvb why could she be like this. It used to be easy to get along with her. Now its a pain in the @$$. She also has shown some blue color?

 

[Julirs]

Welcome to the wonderful world of female Veiled Chameleons-mine lunges, hisses, and bites, through the gloves and it HURTS. The only time I take her out is to do a full out cage cleaning breakdown. I find that with her I just have to do whatever it is fast to make the stress last the least amount of time possible.

 

[davemailcall]

One thing I find that is helpful is to make your hands higher than her body. Chameleons like to move up. So when I go to get Clyde to move anywhere, I'll put my hand under his front legs, with my thumb above his head. He will eventually grab onto my hand with his front legs. Once he does that I lift up on him slowly stretching his hind legs. You'll eventually reach a point where it looks like you may rip him/her off the branch but just hold there for a few seconds and they will let go with their hind legs and hop on your hand.

No veiled goes anywhere unwillingly. Be patient. I don't try to trick Clyde using a stick in front of him. He always reacts negatively.

You know, someone should start a thread with pictures on how they pick up their chameleons...especially veileds. Maybe I will. Would definitely be handy for new owners.

 

[joefarah]

You could get her nice and hungry then lure her out with a wax worm on some forcepts.

Take it easy with her. Slow your movements down and don't look her right in the eye...

 

[pedro92]

Thats what i usually do but i do it with mealworms and i threw out the collection because the tub stunk and i only kept them so i can get beetles to breed and sell.

You could get her nice and hungry then lure her out with a wax worm on some forcepts.

Take it easy with her. Slow your movements down and don't look her right in the eye...

 

[Jordan]

Why not clean it while she is asleep? Depending on how your cage is set-up you could either remove the branch/plant she is on. You could wipe out the bottom without even removing her at all. I think it will be easier to figure out then trying to remove a mad veiled.

If you startle her to bad there is always the chance that she will drop to the ground and then be extremely mad. May never happen to you but it did happen to me once. Mine normally just one eye me and puff up a little, then go back to sleep.