Veiled Chameleons temperments?

[Lin Hill]

I agree with Tiff and Jan, my two veileds are sweet and well natured, come out readily for a walk about, feed from my hand and as long as I'm not wearing any colours that they react to, are never aggressive, but I've had them since they were 8wks old and hand fed them from the start, kept handling down to a minimum, unless they want to climb up my arm.
However, I have heard others say that theirs aren't friendly at all. Be patient, she is still very young, offer her something tasty in your hand now and again, she will soon make the connection that you and food are connected! But try not too stress her out as this is not good for her, she'll soon settle down.

Oh and being able to see the dog is probably not a good thing, mine don't like the look of my black cat.... I try to keep her out of their sight, they suck in their tummys and try to look as small as poss if they do catch sight of her.

 

[WelshOneEmma]

My male veiled hates me, and regularly goes for me if I overstep my mark. He hasn't changed in a year, so I doubt he ever will. Tis the nature of the beast!

 

[nosybecham]

Wow, thanks for all the advice, Linn.. I will keep all of that in mind with the patient handfeeding and Koji (dog).

and WelshOneEmma, do you still love and enjoy your Chameleon when he is mean? I can't imagine taking care of a mean one as I hear people say theirs are mean.....?

 

[AReptile]

Mine turned all shades of brown today when I had to clean the cage, wasn''t happy with me at all lol!

 

[DJ Richey Rich]

What it boiles down to, your cham with time will learn to be what u want it for. If you want it to be like a moving picture it will live fine as one. If you want it to be ur buddy it wont mind that either but you cant expect it to be both the more u work with it the more useto you it will become. Dont take nagative responses. I feel the people that tell you not to touch ur cham are either scared of their cham, dont have time to train their cham or heard the made up story that if u try touching ur cham it will fall over and die. A chameleon gose through alot more stress in wild than you cold ever put it through birds pecking at it other reptiles challenging it. So take it how you want. Brock breaks it down alot better than I can.

((BROCK)) I disagree with most people's point of view on this, and I highly recommend handling as much as you can/want so long as you aren't interfering with their thermorugulation. Handling for long periods of time when they need to go bask might cause digestive issues, and they need access to heat to support their metabolism and immune system.

In my opinion, a chameleon that is handled will have LESS stress in its life than a chameleon that isn't handled. When you have a chameleon that isn't freaked out by the sight of you, you have a chameleon that is at peace and on a daily basis will have less stress. When you have a chameleon that is freaked out by the sight of you, you're inflicting stress on it every day and it will constantly be in 'watch out' or 'on guard' mode.

Here are some instructions I sent to another member which she had success with. Keep in mind that every animal has its own identity and some are just mean, same as any other living creature.

Anyways as for handling, go slow. It should take a couple of months before she is really comfortable being handled, but it's important to be diligent at working on it every day or every two days. If you go a while without handling, she will return to being hissy and stressed.

Think of it as conditioning, kinda like working out, you start slow with light weights and work your way up, but if you don't go to the gym every week, you lose that progress and have to start over.

The best thing to do is get her to associate you with food, that makes everything a heck of a lot easier. Most reptiles will associate you with food after years of putting food in their vivarium, but hand feeding speeds up the process of trust.

I'd suggest hand feeding her every day for two weeks. On week three, start luring her out of her cage by sticking one arm in, and trailing the waxworm up your arm so she has to climb your arm to get to it. Keep your arm still for as long as you can, the key here is to go SLOW. A sudden movement is seen as an aggressive movement in the eyes of most animals.

Do that for one or two weeks, or until she appears to be calm walking on your arm, and she accepts being moved around. After she does that regularly without a problem, you should be able to start handling her. When you are handling her for the first few months, it's a great idea to have some worms handy...something they like to eat usually takes all their stress away...comfort food lol.

Never use jerky movements, never move fast, never put your hand over her head (this is like a bird coming down to grab her off a branch), and don't force it on her. They can't be trained like a dog, but they can develop trust and comfort with humans.

Here is a good regimen if you are unlucky enough to have an aggressive chameleon:

week 1-2 hand feed as many worms as you can every day.

week 3-4 coax her up your arm with a worm, keep worms handy so you can feed her while she's on you.

Alternatively for week 3-4 you can lure her out of her cage and let her walk around the floor a bit, or climb things, but you need to be there and just remain still, no quick movements that would stress her out. I'd do this if she still doesn't like being handled by this point.

week 5-7 handle her gently, near her cage (their cage is their comfort zone, ever notice how they usually sleep in the same spot), you can put up her on your shoulder and feed her worms from there, and walk around with her on your shoulder. If she is afraid of being close to your face (instinct is to feel threatened when around a face, or when eyes are looking at them), then keep her on your arms.

She shouldn't mind being handled by this point. If she's still aggressive, start over. It can be a slow process, but as long as you aren't REALLY stressing her out, it's worth it.

You can modify all that depending on how she responds to it, but make sure not to wear bright colors, and no sudden jerky movements, and no music on with a loud base.

Let me know the results! Once she's tame, post your results and exactly what you did so other people can learn as well.

-Brock

 

[nosybecham]

Wow, thank you DJ Richey Rich!! Brock's commentary is amazing and I am going to follow that and see how it goes! I handfed her again today and she went after it immediately.........very encouraging!

 

[pssh]

I feel like you should never force your chameleon to do anything. If it will walk to the front of the cage and onto your arm freely (or with food) then okay, but if it won't, don't make it.

If it's an aggressive chameleon then just accept it as it is and use a stick to get it out when it needs to be handled. I still don't think they should be handled more than once or twice a week (unless they voluntarily walk out onto your hand without food) they (mine/a couple friends'/ and some others that I knew) just seem more content to be left in their cage.

 

[biffle]

My veiled would only allowed me to put my hand in his cage at feeding time. Outside of feeding time, it was war. In five years he never changed.

My panther only stresses when you put him back in the cage. He wants to be out all day. I have to sneak up on him to get his cricket cup in the cage before he notices. If I’m not quick, I have to get ready for work with a panther on my head.

 

[pssh]

Biffle, have you ever considered free ranging your panther? I bet he'd like it. He's probably a guy who doesn't like being cramped up in cages

 

[ShaunaLynnA]

I know you have heard it before...it depends on the personality and the cham...some will let you hold them easily while others it stresses them out...neither of mine my veiled or panther baby like being held and will hide or go the other way to get away from me...i have heard of ithers now like "miss lily" who has a friendly one or two who practically demands attention...many say that chams are basically a look and be seen animal if kept as pets...i guess again it just depends on the cham and how they decide there going to be...good luck with your work at hand feeding that is a special feeling when you get that to happen for you!...i have been working on that one and have had yet any sucess with it for either cham.

 

[nosybecham]

Thanks, Shauna. I am learning so much here and understanding the very differences of personalities with chameleons. I will let her decide what kind of a relationship we have. I am thrilled to say that she is handfeeding with no problem each time though, very fun. She does tense and back off the second my (small quiet) dog comes in the room though. I am really enjoying her and I think my dog is jealous too.

 

[pssh]

Your dog should not be in the same room as the Cham as it can stress her out.

 

[nosybecham]

Our dog has free range of the house, so well behaved, quiet and small. However, when I am in or at her cage for any reason, we keep him in the other room as I noticed the few times he has even been quietly in the room, she senses it. She does great otherwise.

 

[pssh]

She thinks he is a predator. They can't hear anything so it doesn't matter if he's quite or not.

 

[nosybecham]

Yeah, I get that.....sad. I don't want her to be uncomfortable either...

 

[WelshOneEmma]

Wow, thanks for all the advice, Linn.. I will keep all of that in mind with the patient handfeeding and Koji (dog).

and WelshOneEmma, do you still love and enjoy your Chameleon when he is mean? I can't imagine taking care of a mean one as I hear people say theirs are mean.....?

Chameleon's are like every other animal, they each have their own personality, but on the hole, you can expect them to have certain traits, in veileds it tends to be agressiveness. Yes you get friendly ones, just like you get cats with very low prey drives, but i think its wrong to be encouraged by someone to submit an animal to 'training' when you don't know the personality of the animal. My veiled, Hugo, is better with my boyfriend than he is with me. He will take locusts and the occasional waxie from me, once in a blue moon he will try to come out of his cage and climb on me (or the other half), but on the whole, he does his thing, i do mine. He watches me, he watches the cats, but if i overstep the mark, he will go for me. Why would i add to his stresses by trying to 'train' him, like others would suggest? I would not change Hugo for the world.

I have cats who very from craving attention, to those that will come to me when they want something. Why would i change that? They are my pets, and I accept them for the way they are.

Spend time with your cham. Get to know it and its personality. You may be lucky and get one like Tiff (miss lily) - would you be upset and get rid of it if you didn't? I know what temps, to the half degree, my cham can handle, I can tell, on the whole, what is up with him, when he is hungry, or when he can go an extra day without food. I don't believe that 'training' it to get used to you helps, you need to know the personality of the animal, to know what you can do with it, and that takes time.

PS. I used cats as another example, as their temperaments are also varied!

 

[thealissa]

I have a female veiled who is about a year old (I have had her for about 9 months) and she still hates me. She will tolerate me when I'm feeding her, but any other time, she hisses.

 

[Moncho]

I have a 1 1/2 year old veiled male who is quite grouchy. He'll bite if you get too close. Cage cleaning is a real adventure!!
M