Taming...

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RogueTheChameleon

New Member
Hi, so I just got my 3-4 month old Veiled Chameleon about 8 days ago, he is very shy and gets aggressive if im near him.
Even if i try to hand feed him, i've tried to hand feed him for about 30 minutes total today at multiple times, I tried mealworms a few times, then crickets, but nothing, If I put my hand in there he will hiss, or go into hiding even while trying to hand feed, Any tips or advice? I tried to use hand feeding since I heard it is a good way to gain trust from my Chameleon, but even that doesn't work, so was wondering if there is anything else i should try.
 
You're on the right track with hand feeding; just don't expect overnight results. With a stubborn and/or unspeakably violent chameleon who doesn't trust you, you have to modify your presentation, just like fishing. It's important that he sees the food doing wiggly food things. Try holding them a different way, or try different feeders. Even if he'll only take a hornworm from your hand at first, that's a start.

If he absolutely won't take any food from your hand then compromise by holding a plastic cup with food in it. Eventually you should be able to ditch the cup.

One day when you're reasonably sure you won't get bitten for your trouble, you can try gently touching him while he's crunching on whatever you just fed him. I don't mean pick him up; just a fingertip stroke or something. When he sees that your hand didn't harm him after all, he might calm a bit.
 
My chameleon was once like that, these are the steps i took 1 year ago to make friends!

1. Put your hand in his cage and keep it there for 5 minutes every few hours.
2. If possible, be around him for as much time that you can fit in.
3. Hand feeding helped mine realize that i was only doing the best for him.
4. When cleaning his cage, move around him for a bit. Without interacting with him or even noticing him at all. He will realize that you are friendly.
5. If he lets you hold him, bring him outside the cage and let him hang out!

I hope my opinion helps! #4 really seemed to break the ice for me. Keep it in mind.
 
Patience. You only just got him so he is most likely still adjusting to the new enclosure. Give him a few weeks to get used to everything. It took my veiled almost a month to stop running and hiding whenever a person walked through the room. Once he stopped reacting to that, we tried hand feeding which took a week or so before he got that down.

Now that my cham is almost a year old, he has developed a certain hatred toward me and will not let me do anything in his cage without letting me know he does not approve... My girlfriend on the other hand, he likes enough to climb out onto her hand and up to her shoulder when she reaches in. Not a hiss or puff up at all.

Just remember, chams do everything on their terms. You gotta build the trust. Never make your cham feel cornered or vulnerable. Soon, he'll associate you with tasty food and will be ok with you being in his territory.
 
Agreed ^^^

I have had my cham sense June and just last night he ate from my hand for the first time! When I first got him I was eager to hold him and hand feed. I was a bit over zealous and tried to push him to fast I think. So other than cleaning I didn't try to interact with him at all for about a month. Then I ever so slowly increased my interactions first by increasing the amount of times I would put my hand in the cage for example I would spot clean when needed, and once or twice a day "fix" something (slightly move a branch or vine etc), but would never try to touch him. Then I continued with that but once a day would offer a tasty food item, I would offer it for a little while depending on the reaction I got from my cham. What I mean by that is if he turned away not interested at all I would remove my hand, if he watched the food and seemed like he was thinking about it I would offer it longer. Then last night success!!! I believe that if I continue in this same slow manner our interactions will continue to be positive, and his trust in me will continue to grow.
 
Thanks to everyone that responded, I will try all the tips given, and hopefully all will go good, but I will probably give him some more time, given someone mentioned i may be trying to fast. I want to give him as much time as he needs before stressing him out with trying to handle him.
 
I found a trick that works for me to start hand feeding. First I use a cup or container that they can kinda see my hand through if they won't take from my hand in the beginning. They seem to be more inclined to take from a cup then from a human sometimes. After about a week of using the cup then I put the feeder on my palm. If no success I use the cup again then try my hand the next day until they eat from my hand. That's what I find works for me.
 
Thank you Rogue for asking this question. I've had my Veil for about a week now and he does the same exact thing. When I picked him out of the pet store, he was climbing around my hand and that and appeared to be super friendly. As soon as I put him in his new home, it was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He hisses and nips at me and turns a blackish brown color from his typical green.
 
ScottDS710 said:
Thank you Rogue for asking this question. I've had my Veil for about a week now and he does the same exact thing. When I picked him out of the pet store, he was climbing around my hand and that and appeared to be super friendly. As soon as I put him in his new home, it was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He hisses and nips at me and turns a blackish brown color from his typical green.
Click to expand...
He probably hated the cage he was in at the pet store. Now that you have given him a nice home he's made it his territory and plans to defend it. Once he sees you as a pleasant source of bugs he may get over his "Mr. Hyde" phase. Be patient.
 
well, whenever he'd hiss at me he'd only be facing one hand, so with the other i'd give him a few finger strokes on the side, until eventually he start to try to climb on my hand, after this he realized that i was "friendly" and wouldn't attack him, now hes fine with me, but I try not to hold him to often since I don't want to make him stressed, even though he's nice and green whenever I hold him now. Was this a ok method to use? It's just something I did and it worked.
 
Are you saying that in 2 days you think you have earned your chams trust from a point where he was puffing, hissing, and trying to bite???
 
I agree with the hand feeding techniques. Lure him out onto your hand with some food. Sort one arm as a branch and just keep slowly moving the feeder away.

It may takes some time but at the very least he should learn to tolerate your presence and associate you with you good things so the violence will stop.

Without sounding too negative though don't set your expectations too high. Some chams just aren't all that into humans.
 
Thats why I got mine from a reputable breeder, Bruce Galbraith raises his chams with barely any leaves so that they dont become shy. Iv had my chan for a week now and he runs to my hand ✋, super friendly guy. Bruce gave me that tip, dont fill your cage with to many things for your cham to hide or it will be shy.
 

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