Taming Hatchling

[Dylan Dutz]

I'm getting my baby veiled chameleon on Dec. 26. He is 2 weeks old right now, so when I get him he'll be about 3 weeks old. My question is how to tame him. I've read before that if you get them when they're young you can tame them. Some of my questions are:

1. How old should he be when I first handle him?

2. How long should each handling session be?

3. How many times a week should I handle him?

4. I there anyway I could make him like me more? Like hand feeding him etc.

Thanks for any help!

 

[dodolah]

See my response in red

I'm getting my baby veiled chameleon on Dec. 26. He is 2 weeks old right now, so when I get him he'll be about 3 weeks old. My question is how to tame him. I've read before that if you get them when they're young you can tame them. Some of my questions are:

1. How old should he be when I first handle him?
2.5 months or 3 months old

2. How long should each handling session be?
5 minutes or less

3. How many times a week should I handle him?
handle him as minimal as possible. I do it about twice a week

4. I there anyway I could make him like me more? Like hand feeding him etc. ehh.. this is a tricky situation.. i don't know about liking.. but you can certainly train him not to bite you.. that's about as close as you can normally get with veiled. Some veiled, depending on his/her personalities, gets closer to their owners.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Dylan Dutz]

Thanks dodolah! This helps a lot! Yeah veileds do hate the world

 

[davemailcall]

Tame and veiled chameleon usually aren't found in the same sentence! lol

I treat mine as I would a cat. I let him do his own thing, and he will occasionally allow me into HIS area to bother him.

A few days ago, I tried to take a picture of him climbing, and the little bugger...I swear every time he saw me aim the camera at him, he moved around behind something where I couldn't see him. Don't let the blank stares full you...they all know whats going on.....

Another animal conspiracy if you ask me....

 

[Justin Carl]

yea you really cant tame them at all. most of the time they just tolerate you. it took my male veiled almost a year to let me hold him w/o to mush hissing and snapping.

 

[Fate X]

why do you want to control the veiled?there already caged i would think that would be enough,females are usually more"nicer" but not all of them.
in my opinion which means NOTHING they are better off if they are not tame.

 

[stevereecy]

I'm getting my baby veiled chameleon on Dec. 26. He is 2 weeks old right now, so when I get him he'll be about 3 weeks old. My question is how to tame him. I've read before that if you get them when they're young you can tame them. Some of my questions are:

1. How old should he be when I first handle him?

2. How long should each handling session be?

3. How many times a week should I handle him?

4. I there anyway I could make him like me more? Like hand feeding him etc.

Thanks for any help!

I gotta respectfully disagree with Dodolah on a couple points. This is an example, but last night I was handling a 5-week old veiled, and it wasn't stressing at all. I'm not saying that they don't stress...especially if a cricket crawls on them, or if another baby veiled steps on them, but his little guy wasn't stressing much at all and in fact went to sleep on my finger. Please understand that he's in perfect health. I don't think the really young hatchlings stress much about people when they are being held ...perhaps because they can't really comprehend what is going on, I don't know. I do believe that babies are more communal than adults, and therefore more tolerant of interaction. I believe you'll have a better chance of making it more handlable if you do handle it from a very young age, and do so every day.

Yes, keep the sessions short, like 5 to 10 minutes (20 max), but one session a day isn't going to hurt them. I have to move mine every time I feed them, and they are growing very fast and are very healthy. Constant stress is, however, very bad. But periodic, short-interval stress is OK. In people, some stress is actually healthy.

My chameleons are handled. They do OK.

Steve

 

[Brad Ramsey]

I'm getting my baby veiled chameleon on Dec. 26. He is 2 weeks old right now, so when I get him he'll be about 3 weeks old. My question is how to tame him. I've read before that if you get them when they're young you can tame them. Some of my questions are:

1. How old should he be when I first handle him?

2. How long should each handling session be?

3. How many times a week should I handle him?

4. I there anyway I could make him like me more? Like hand feeding him etc.

Thanks for any help!

First of all 3 weeks old is REALLY REALLY REALLY young. Have you cared for chameleons before? I think "taming" the cham should be low on your list of things to learn about if you have not had a 3 week old baby before.
Second (and most people know how I feel about this) Stop it! These are not pets. They are animals that we keep because they are fascinating, and there is amazing satisfaction in successfully providing them with everything they need. Your chameleon will be happiest if left alone. It will become used to your presence and you will be able to handle the animal when necessary, but that is not where the joy in caring for these amazing animals comes from.
Good luck with your baby!

-Brad

 

[PardalisGirl]

Ditto Brad.........

I have to ditto Brad's thoughts. I have one very young veiled female (Clingy who was hatched by Ren of this group - there is a Clingy thread somewhere). She was terrified of me when she first arrived. I have just let her be in her cage. Over the last two months she has grown and learned that I am the one bringing her the food. In the last two weeks she started taking silkworms and crickets from my fingers. I have handled her maybe twice in two months. Her stress level is very low and she appears to be very happy and content. She never runs or hides when I put my hand in her cage because she knows I am not going to grab her. I am going to let her behavior be my guide. I am think as she gets older she will probably start coming out of the cage to get a juicy silkworm. If she does that then I will let her sit on my hand. But, I am not going to force this and take her out of the cage. I can admire her beauty in the cage until she decides otherwise.

 

[redstrawberry]

taming

Hey, I just got a new veiled chameleon so Im with you on that one....

in answer to your questions...

1. How old should he be when I first handle him?
when he/she is 2inches long (body)

2. How long should each handling session be?
to begin with 5-10 minutes when he/she is small for 2-3 times a day, when she gets bigger you can still do these sessions and can start putting him/her on your shoulder and just let them get use to it- by doin this you can get them use to being carried around on your shoulder around the house

3. How many times a week should I handle him?
See above....less at first but build up as he gets bigger and more confident with you.

4. I there anyway I could make him like me more? Like hand feeding him etc.
you could try giving her/him water by hand- get a rodent bottle and squeeze some drips out- they are drawn to the droplets, put a drip on on the sides of the mouth- they may not accept this at first (but would you lol?) keep trying with it they will get the idea and eventually drink from it- Mine does this now.

You can also try to hand feed them with a wax worm held out in the palm of you hand hold the chameleon in the other hand about 10inchs away, wait and be patient- let the waxworm wiggle. The chameleon will be about to strike when both eyes are fixed on it.


Hope this helps
x

 

[BocaJan]

I can't believe someone is selling you a 3 week old neonate. They aren't even eating 1/2" crickets yet. I don't sell mine until at LEAST 2 months, have had 2 sheds and can eat 1/2" crickets.

It sounds like you are not an experienced keeper and are just purchasing your cham as a "pet". As stated previously, chameleons are look at pet and not handle pets.

Please reconsider buying one so young.

 

[pssh]

I can't believe someone is selling you a 3 week old neonate. They aren't even eating 1/2" crickets yet. I don't sell mine until at LEAST 2 months, have had 2 sheds and can eat 1/2" crickets.

It sounds like you are not an experienced keeper and are just purchasing your cham as a "pet". As stated previously, chameleons are look at pet and not handle pets.

Please reconsider buying one so young.

This is a two year old thread, can't do anything now.

 

[mudshark1971]

I had one out of my three vields that would let me hold him once in a while. What I found was gradually introducing hand feeding is the best way to build trust not even just with vields, but all the Chams I have had. I have one of my Chams that likes to go out when its warm, tht is the only time I had seen any kind of real personality with a Cham. He has been smiling since he was small. But feeding him with your arm closer to him andyour body further away is the best, and then over time gradully shorten the distance between you and him. Then the tricky part is to put a hand out for him to crawl onto and hold the food far enough to where he has to walk on or at least think about walking onto your hand to get the food. If he looks stressed about that step then when you see he doesnt want to walk on your hand remove it and let him have the food. Thats how I have built trust with every Chameleon I have had since I was young. It usually works over time.

 

[mudshark1971]

I can't believe someone is selling you a 3 week old neonate. They aren't even eating 1/2" crickets yet. I don't sell mine until at LEAST 2 months, have had 2 sheds and can eat 1/2" crickets.

It sounds like you are not an experienced keeper and are just purchasing your cham as a "pet". As stated previously, chameleons are look at pet and not handle pets.

Please reconsider buying one so young.

I Like your Avatar.

 

[BocaJan]

oops....sorry

 

[jojothefirst]

I’m surprised how many people say that veileds are far from friendly and can’t be tamed!
I have 2 and both are very friendly to the point that the will almost jump on my hand when I spray in there viv's. They also charge to the front when they see me getting food out for them!
I think they can be tamed, when they were very young I would hold a cricket in my hand in front of them and let them take it. Then after they trusted me with that, I would hold it just out of there reach with my other hand in-between so they had to climb onto it to be within reach.
I would then be able to hold them for a bit and feed them some more, then but them back with them getting stressed at all!
This took a lot of effort and time but I now believe they associate me with food and have very little fear about being handled.

These are my 1st 2 chams so maybe I got lucky but I believe that I trained them to be friendly!!!