Should I back off on hand feeding?

[jmmitchell]

I've had my juvenile veiled cham for about a month now. Everything about him is great except one thing, he doesn't want to hand fed. Am i worrying too much, thinking that he will never trust me and get mean. When i get close, he hides in the back of the cage where i can't see him. It's kind of sad because i want him to feel safe. When i do attempt to hand feed (cricket with no back legs, or mealworms) he shows no interest. I tried a different approach, and tried doing it in the morning before i usually feed him. To my surprise, he actually flared up hissed at me when i got close. I couldn't believe it. My words to him were "Fine don't eat, you need to lose some weight anyway jerk." So my question is should i wait until he gets older to start again or just accept the fact that he might never want to hand fed?

 

[MelissaB]

I don't have a veiled, but with my panthers I use a cup.
I put my feeders into a cup for dusting, and then before letting them loose in the cage or putting them into the feeder cup, I hold the cup near the chameleon and let them take feeders out of it if they wish. If they don't look interested, or look stressed I just dump the crickets in the feeder cup/loose in the cage.
It works pretty well for my guys. If I have something they especially like, they'll shoot it off my hand, too. But it started with the cup.

 

[wacky22jacki]

I have a 9 month old panther and he finally just started to eat out of my hand last week !! it definitely takes a lot of time and patience, I would try about 3 times a week and he would just climb on my hand on top of the food and just continue walking up my arms. I cupped fed him and let some loose crickets in his cage because he does like to hunt. I finally got him to start eating from my hand with wax worms since they're more of like a treat to them. I first gave him some in his cup and he LOVED them. the next day I brought him out and had some wax worms in my hand and he ate them right up - I believe he ate them up because he knows that they're tasty. He still won't take crickets from my hand but he'll get there. Just keep trying on yours and don't get angry at them because it does take a lot of time and patience!

 

[jmmitchell]

Thats a good point, i didn't think about starting with cup feeding. One issue about that is what should i do when the cham is in the back of the cage hiding in one of his plants out of sight from the front? Should i just move the cup to him without me seeing whats going on?

 

[Brad B]

I don't have a veiled, but with my panthers I use a cup.
I put my feeders into a cup for dusting, and then before letting them loose in the cage or putting them into the feeder cup, I hold the cup near the chameleon and let them take feeders out of it if they wish. If they don't look interested, or look stressed I just dump the crickets in the feeder cup/loose in the cage.
It works pretty well for my guys. If I have something they especially like, they'll shoot it off my hand, too. But it started with the cup.

I have 2 veileds a boy and a girl the boy acts exactly like melissab's and I do the exact same process with the cup. My girl acts exactly like yours Flaring up and hissing. I have found that tweezer feeding a wax or meal worm will work if I hide the tweezers slightly behind a leaf so she can only see the worm n not the metal tweezers. Then she will shoot at it. So im in the same boat as you with my female

 

[MelissaB]

Thats a good point, i didn't think about starting with cup feeding. One issue about that is what should i do when the cham is in the back of the cage hiding in one of his plants out of sight from the front? Should i just move the cup to him without me seeing whats going on?

I would show your guy the cup, by holding it tipped slightly, so he can see the crickets, and even let a few climb out. Keep it slightly lower than where your guy is perched, but toward the front of the cage. That way he can come to you, and doesn't feel threatened or chased.

 

[sandrachameleon]

as hand feeding it totally unnecessary, I wouldn't be bothered by his lack of desire to eat from your fingers.