Veiled Chameleon Aggression

Sphynx

Sphynx

New Member
Greetings community,

I just have a quick question. I am aware that Veiled Chameleons out of the Chameleon species are the most aggressive. Now obviously they are not meant to be held unless you absolutely have too (which is just like any chameleon species) but what I am wondering is...

Do Veileds hiss and lunge at you even just when you place your hand in the cage to clean poop out, mist and/or feed them? Or do they only express this erratic behavior when you go to grab them and/or take them out?

Thanks all and I look forward to reading your responses!
 
Impossible to say.
Some are very calm ... some are monsters.
No one rule or behavior defines all veiled chameleons.
By the way ... there are members of some other species that are pretty aggressive and mean ... including Panthers.

-Brad
 
some usually let you get in there but not to close to them if you do then they will let you know lol
 
Seems to depend sometimes i can do whaeaver i want in my males cage,sometimes he dose not evan like me opening his cage,Most seem grumpy ,but most will try to bluff you,hiss/lunge,rather than just chomp u. at lest in my exp, but im shure ther is plenty out there who will chomp u i just have not bean lucky enough to meet one hehe :D
 
from i heard that female are more aggressive than male, while male actually is most likely territorial.....again it's hard to tell.....I got a female and she hisses all if i try to handle her or not. And that's why I leave her alone....
 
i found that most chameleon (not all) will run before they attack.
(especially since the predator are way bigger than them).
They only attack when they are cornered.

But, overtime, he will learn to know that you are not a threat.
I suggest you wear gloves as a precaution.
I do not think they will attack unless there is a specific reason.
 
My female veiled is not aggressive at all. She runs towards my hands when I put them in the cage to feed her or clean. She sort of acts like a dog.
 
I have two male veileds. One does the puffing up and hissing when my hand gets close, the other actually lunges and snaps at me.
 
So I have Leon-the Veiled that defies the aggresiveness of his kind. He is absolutley the most handleable chameleon that I have ever seen. He actually comes to us, climbs on to our hands, and sits there waiting to go where we take him. He is huge, and his grip is intense-the only problem that we have with him. Here is a picture of him from today when my husband took him out to get some sun...
DSCN0485.jpg
 
One of ours is just like Julirs, as soon as we put a hand in his cage he runs to us and climbs up our arms. The other male veiled "Puffer" as soon as you open the cage he will puff up and start hissing and lunging. I have been able to avoid being bitten so far during cage clean up, but he does try I will tell you that. LOL...The only time that he doesn't come after us is if we have food :). We have the perfect examples of both ends of the spectrum. :rolleyes:
 
AHS, you have the best of both worlds.lol...And i agree, i have a male veiled that actually has fallen asleep on my hand at nite and refuses to get off. I think he likes the big warm stick (my hand), he has actually slept there for hours. Of course other times he does puff up, but most of the time if my hand is in the enclosure for any reason,he is usually trying to crawl onto it to get a free ride. I think he is just lazy and wants me to do all the walking for him.lol.
 
I will say that both of my males -the puffer and the lunger - both calm down considerably once they are on my hand or arm. I'm sure they just don't like the perceived threat when they see the big grippy thing coming at them!

I usually do the fake out - distract them with one hand and get them to climb on the other. Once they're on, they're fine.
 
ya my boy does that too. he runs and when i distract him to get on one hand while he looks at the other hand. the only thing is their eyes. he is earning to watch both of the hands now, very intelligent. gotta come up wit a new way
 
OMG let me just tell you my fun little story lol. I got my 4 month old Female Veild 2 months ago and she was sooooo tiny, The store said they had been handling her 3 times a day everyday to get used to being held. He also told me they don't bite (HAHAHAHAHAHA JACKASS) So at first i took her out and she was great she was so calm on my hand. Well... Times have changed She has grown a lot and she is a royal bitch now! I tried to take her out to clean her cage really well and it was a joke i tried everything but she ends up dive bombing the bottom and i am afraid she will get hurt. But the worst of it is she sits right in front of the door or on the feeding cup at meal time and the second i stick the drop cup in she attacks i am talking full blow hissing and biting the cup she puffs up like you would not beleive. Freakes me out lol i have no clue how i will ever get her out of the cage now:( I wish she was a little nicer i know once she is out she will be calm but i aint lossing a finger to her lol.
 
Here is my boy Fred. He pretty much understands that the stick means a snack of ants while he sits in the sun for an hour or so each afternoon.

You'll see his head pop out below the feeding cup. There are days when he has no interest in coming out. Other times he'll come charging down from his perch to jump onto the stick and take a ride to his tree on the porch. Today was a 'YAY! I get to go to the tree!!" day lol.

(the video was made a week ago)



My other boy Jake will come out on the stick. But he doesn't like if you hold the stick. He prefers it left sitting alone and can come down to it on his own time. Today for some reason he didn't want to come out. He climbed down and got close and would sit there watching me. As soon as I got up to take him to the tree he would back off.

They must know the routine by now. I try to weigh them everyday after work. As a treat I leave them in there own ficus tree in the sun until it gets too cool and there isn't enough light to bask in..... or when Fred tries to escape, he gets put away. :rolleyes:
 
Julirs said:
So I have Leon-the Veiled that defies the aggresiveness of his kind. He is absolutley the most handleable chameleon that I have ever seen. He actually comes to us, climbs on to our hands, and sits there waiting to go where we take him. He is huge, and his grip is intense-the only problem that we have with him. Here is a picture of him from today when my husband took him out to get some sun...
DSCN0485.jpg
Click to expand...
Hes beautiful! If I may ask,how old is he? I've still been trying to figure my Oscar's age.
 
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