sleeping question
- Thread starter John33871
- Start date
royden
New Member
I think it was Tygger or maybe someone else that posted a list of the hours of daylight in some of these chams home forest. Might want to search for that.
I've found that my veiled likes about 12 hours a day. Any longer than that and he heads for bed, light on or not.
I get up at 6am and work in the office where his cage is, so I keep it covered and dark until 9am, so when I get home from my day job at 7pm, there is still several hours to enjoy him.
I highly recommend timers on lights.
Sounds normal to me, but I am new here.
I've found that my veiled likes about 12 hours a day. Any longer than that and he heads for bed, light on or not.
I get up at 6am and work in the office where his cage is, so I keep it covered and dark until 9am, so when I get home from my day job at 7pm, there is still several hours to enjoy him.
I highly recommend timers on lights.
Sounds normal to me, but I am new here.
Shunt1
New Member
"Mr. Lips" gets tired around 8:00 PM, even if it is light outside during the summer.
At the moment, he is hanging on the lamp shade over my computer, and watching me type. It is 11:00 PM and he is wide awake.
At his normal "bed time" tonight, he laid his body along my hand, let his front feet dangle, and rested his chin upon my thumb. For the next hour, if a Chameleon could snore, he would have made one heck of a noise.
After an hour, he was well rested and is having fun watching me type on the computer.
My advise?
Listen to what your darling is trying to tell you. He will tell you exactly what he wants, and you only need to pay attention to that "little voice."
At the moment, he is hanging on the lamp shade over my computer, and watching me type. It is 11:00 PM and he is wide awake.
At his normal "bed time" tonight, he laid his body along my hand, let his front feet dangle, and rested his chin upon my thumb. For the next hour, if a Chameleon could snore, he would have made one heck of a noise.
After an hour, he was well rested and is having fun watching me type on the computer.
My advise?
Listen to what your darling is trying to tell you. He will tell you exactly what he wants, and you only need to pay attention to that "little voice."
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Shunt1
New Member
With a chameleon, every movement you make must be VERY SLOW! When I want to pick him up, I will hold my finger in front of him for 5 minutes. If he wants to climb onto me, then it is his choice. He likes sleeping on my hand, since the human body is nice and warm. However, you can not make any rapid movements.
Mr. Lips is only five months old, so now is the time to teach him that humans will not eat him. Building trust is a slow process, but step by step, he has learned to enjoy it.
In the morning, his body is cold and he has learned to enjoy a nice warm human hand. He will flatten his tummy onto my finger, so that he can absorb the maximum amount of heat. Actually, if I form a cave with my other hand, he will often move into that nice and warm shelter.
Once he is nice and warm, he soon gets into "hunting mode" and it is time for him to find some crickets to eat. That is when he is returned to his cage, and in a few minutes, a few bugs get "lunched."
Remember, every movement you make must be VERY SLOW!
Julirs
New Member
They are all so different. My male Veiled at over 8 months runs for us everytime we open the cage door. He is not simply running for the door, but will find the quickest way to climb on to the person opening it in our family. He does not go to strangers, not that I have tried that to often. He never hisses. Nearly every night my husband comes home from work, opens the cage, and Leon climbs out onto his hand where they go to his outside tree on the screened porch and "read the paper". When Leon is done, he climbs out of the tree and onto my husband, and the fight to put him back into his cage begins. Now, all that said about the "easy" chameleon-and I beleive it is probably rare, I have to wear thick gloves to handle my female. So far so good with my Oustalet, he is pretty easy to, but they are known to be.
Shunt1
New Member
Here is Mr. Lips watching me on the computer, as I read the messages on Chameleon Forum this morning. You can see how stressed he is feeling.
Shunt1
New Member
This thread was about sleeping and I did not intend to change the subject. Mr. Lips had been sleeping on my hand for two hours last night, when I read the question.
As for the lights, it does not seem to bother Mr. Lips. When he gets tired, he will sleep, even if he is on my hand.
His normal bed time is around 10:00 PM, when I turn his lights off.
royden
New Member
My bad. Sorry.
My chams schedule is 9:10am - 9:50 pm
Sometimes I keep him up a little later if I'm up late. I have complete control over his light since his cage is submerged in the closet.
He'll let you know what he wants. If he's ready for sleep, it's time to turn off the lights.
My chams schedule is 9:10am - 9:50 pm
Sometimes I keep him up a little later if I'm up late. I have complete control over his light since his cage is submerged in the closet.
He'll let you know what he wants. If he's ready for sleep, it's time to turn off the lights.
Shunt1
New Member
Taming the wild lizard was the easy part.
Teaching my two cats to allow him to crawl on their backs, will take a little longer.
They have already accepted Mr. Lips as a member of the family, so he is now safe around them. However, having him on their back does creep out the poor cats.
WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, unless you know what you are doing!
My salt-water fish eat out of my hand, and compared to fish, Mr. Lips was easy to train. If you move slowly and be patient, any critter can be taught that you are not trying to eat them. But most important of all, is the requirement of listening to what they are telling you.
Teaching my two cats to allow him to crawl on their backs, will take a little longer.
They have already accepted Mr. Lips as a member of the family, so he is now safe around them. However, having him on their back does creep out the poor cats.
WARNING: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, unless you know what you are doing!
My salt-water fish eat out of my hand, and compared to fish, Mr. Lips was easy to train. If you move slowly and be patient, any critter can be taught that you are not trying to eat them. But most important of all, is the requirement of listening to what they are telling you.
Brad Ramsey
Retired Moderator
Hmmmm.
I'm not going to say anything except, be very careful.
A bite or even a tiny (accidental?) scratch from a cat is highly toxic to
birds, small mammals and reptiles.
My cats don't pay a lot of attention to the cham, but I would never give them an opportunity to change their feelings. Cats (regardless of how well "trained") generally do what they damn well please ...and one day that might mean lizard for lunch.
-Brad
I'm not going to say anything except, be very careful.
A bite or even a tiny (accidental?) scratch from a cat is highly toxic to
birds, small mammals and reptiles.
My cats don't pay a lot of attention to the cham, but I would never give them an opportunity to change their feelings. Cats (regardless of how well "trained") generally do what they damn well please ...and one day that might mean lizard for lunch.
-Brad
Shunt1
New Member
I absolutly agree with you, and this is not something I would recommend that anyone else attemp. Even with my close supervision, Mr. Lips can only be on their back, where a cat can not reach him.
Mr. Lips was obtained for my wife's birthday. Instead of being thrilled, she got upset because a Chameleon could not be touched or even looked at closely without inducing stress. My wife refused to accept him and just called him "lizard lips" when he became the subject of conversation.
My task has been to train my little baby to become a member of the family and let my wife know that he is not an un-touchable display item. So far, he is doing fantastic! Step by step, he has learned to trust and accept us.
Today, my wife now loves Mr. Lips (a more dignified name) and enjoys having him as our newest member.
Heika
New Member
Mr. Lips is not a kitten. He is a chameleon. Even if you think he is enjoying it, you are adding stress to his young life.
I cannot let your post go by without commenting.. posts like this lead to the deaths of dozens of chameleons because would-be owners decide they can train their animal to be a kitten too.
Chameleons are antisocial by nature. They don't have lizard buddies in the wild.. why would they have a human buddy in captivity? They don't. They sure as heck don't have cat buddies..
I really hope that Mr. Lips continues to survive for you. If he does, he is by far the exception to the rule. Chameleons are simply not an animal that should be handled.. they are a display animal. Perhaps, if your wife won't accept him for what he is.. you should find a new home for him and buy her a kitten.
Heika
