Sudden anger???

[chameleoni]

Hi, my name is Maeve, and I have a female veiled cham, named Tatji. Shes still a baby, about 6 inches from tail tip to nose. I have had her for about 2 months now, and she has always been exceedingly social. She has never had a problem being handled, and even seems to enjoy it. I generally hand feed her freeze-dried mealworms, and she almost always has some crickets kicking around in her terrarium. Right now, she's at 69.4 degrees F and at 51% humidity.
Today, she has been incredibly aggressive. She has hissed at me before, but at a barely audible volume. Today, she has hissed numerous times, very loudly, and lunged at my hand a few times as well. She got really really dark stripes. Is she okay? Nothing seems to be out of the ordinary with her, physically, but I haven't really been able to get close to her. She did shed, a while ago, and I believe she's probably due. Could this be the source of her ill temper? Is she Okay? What do you guys think?

 

[GrimCamel]

I'm just gonna point out that mealworms aren't very good feeders for chameleons and you should feed her alive feeders if anything. Try to switch to superworms. They are easier on the stomach and won't cause impact like mealworms can do.
I'm not a veild person but they are known to be territorial. An easy guess would be that she feels like she gotta defend her territory or just showing signs that she don't want to be handled. I don't think there is anything wrong with her but I'll let the seniors advise on that

 

[chameleoni]

I'm just gonna point out that mealworms aren't very good feeders for chameleons and you should feed her alive feeders if anything. Try to switch to superworms. They are easier on the stomach and won't cause impact like mealworms can do.
I'm not a veild person but they are known to be territorial. An easy guess would be that she feels like she gotta defend her territory or just showing signs that she don't want to be handled. I don't think there is anything wrong with her but I'll let the seniors advise on that

Thanks for the advice! I don't know if this affects anything, but she is captive bred.

 

[GrimCamel]

Thanks for the advice! I don't know if this affects anything, but she is captive bred.

Veilds usually are. Like humans they have different moods every day. To add to that, factors like shedding or egg laying can also be triggering different behavior in some inviduals

 

[tim's owner]

Veilds usually are. Like humans they have different moods every day. To add to that, factors like shedding or egg laying can also be triggering different behavior in some inviduals

Isn't she a little young to be laying eggs?

 

[GrimCamel]

Isn't she a little young to be laying eggs?

She is I just wanted to point that out

 

[tim's owner]

Oh ok.

 

[jehovahgmolah]

Her temperature is really low. It needs to be up higher. It depends on how old she is for how hot. She might need around 80-85 temp and 90 degree for basking.

 

[jehovahgmolah]

Do you have a UVB 5.0 light on the cage?

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

When chameleons are teenagers (so to speak) they are more moody! They are also more moody when they are about to shed or are shedding!

 

[Mikesyring]

Yeah I agree Matt magoo was an a_s at his teenage days lol

 

[SocialNumb]

90 is too high for basking or anything else for a female Veiled. You want her basking site at about 83 (under 85) if you can manage it. Higher temps (and a lot of food) just encourage her to make eggs faster/sooner, or rather her body and you want to slow that down if possible for her own sakes.

My Veiled does not like to be handled anymore, she was seemingly fine with it when she was little. She will tolerate it more if she comes out of her cage on her own, into my space as it where. You may want to free range her a little, just keep an eye on her.

Try and keep her feeders live and do, as recommended already, try and stay away from meal worms. You may also want to try and give her all kinds of veggies and some fruits. Check out sandrachameleon's blogs on nutrition for an idea what to feed, what not to feed, and what to gutload with. Here's her profile: https://www.chameleonforums.com/members/sandrachameleon.1614/