So I recently got a baby veiled and was wondering how to get him comfortable and used to coming out of his cage... it's almost been the 3 weeks i was advised to give him so he can acclimate to his new home and have only brought him out once. Any advice to get him comfortable to come out of his cage where I can grab him out gently?
Taking Cham out of Cage
- Thread starter Ogden99
- Start date
ali9021
Member
I started out with a very anti-social cham. I am lucky in the sense that I spend a lot of time at home having a home-based office. Point being, in order to make him feel comfortable with me, I left the cage door open and sat right next to him on the computer. I also started hand feeding him superworms. He gradually started to trust me. I also just stick my arm or hand inside the cage for a long period of time right next to his face. He gets it that I am not trying to "snatch" him. NOW he walks on my hand or arm on his own terms and is getting better by the day. I believe it's all what YOU put into it.
CharlieCharmingo
Avid Member
Agreed with above comment. I used to leave the cage open and just read a book. Once he got comfortable enough to sit on the cage door without running back into his cage anytime I moved or went to the bathroom then I would start to do active things in the room/ i.e. Clean up, fold close, do. some oragnizing etc. once he seen I was not even thinking about him he started to come out of his cage on his own and go on my bed or wherever he could get to. After his outing I always gave him a super or a wax worm as a treat to show him good things happen when he comes out. Once he got settled with being in my room I would take him down to the living room where I had some plants for him to hangout on. At first he was scared and would hide anytime someone came down stairs but again I would use the ignore tactic till he realized nothing would harm in this room either. Again I would give him a treat to let him know it's a positive experience. Now he explores the whole house no problem.
However, every chameleon is different and not all take to this sort of approach. The best thing I can say is to get to know what kind of chameleon personality you have and work with him on his terms. Never try to force him to do anything that makes him scared otherwise the plan could back fire on you and you'll have a chameleon that constantly doesn't trust you.
Also sometimes while in his cage I would give him a treat before I started cleaning things in his cage so that he would let me do things in it without being scared. Needless to say now he lets me clean his cage even when he's asleep in the dark with a flashlight lol. All he does is open an eye to see what's going on then closes it back to see I'm just draining water. Still in the beginning he did run from me when I would take him out for some deep cleaning and it definitely took some time so overall I guess patience is key. Good luck on your little guy!
However, every chameleon is different and not all take to this sort of approach. The best thing I can say is to get to know what kind of chameleon personality you have and work with him on his terms. Never try to force him to do anything that makes him scared otherwise the plan could back fire on you and you'll have a chameleon that constantly doesn't trust you.
Also sometimes while in his cage I would give him a treat before I started cleaning things in his cage so that he would let me do things in it without being scared. Needless to say now he lets me clean his cage even when he's asleep in the dark with a flashlight lol. All he does is open an eye to see what's going on then closes it back to see I'm just draining water. Still in the beginning he did run from me when I would take him out for some deep cleaning and it definitely took some time so overall I guess patience is key. Good luck on your little guy!
Jared910
Member
I'm working on this right now with my baby cham. When I first got him, he would be scared if i was even in the same room as his cage, then he would only get scared if i came up and peeked into it, then he got comfortable with that but would run and hide if i opened up the door. Now, he still is wary when i open the door to put crickets in, but he doesn't run and hide. This was over a span of about 3 weeks now. So, like the others said above, you need to just take baby steps and be very patient, pushing too much can make your cham afraid of you.
paulkaranik
Member
Like the previous comment said, I leave the door open. You almost have to train them that when your around, something fun might happen (going outside in the sun or feeding time ) the more he or she sees you the more chance they have of 'deciding' to trust you.
