Who lets their chams play outside of their cage? How do you get them back in?

[Carlson8607]

Here is the experience that I have had with my juvenile male veiled chameleon. There is a royal palm outside of his enclosure and in the afternoon he loves to climb onto my hand and then onto his tree. Sometimes this goes smoothly, but I also have a lot of difficulties getting him back in his home, especially when I let him out more than once a day. (which I decided not to do anymore after today) Normally I can get him back in by putting a cricket in his feeder cup, and waiting for him to crawl off of his tree on the cup and then I put him back. Because of the way the tree sits next to his home, if he was smart enough and wanted to he could crawl back in, I just don't like waiting an hour for him to figure this out. What is yall's experience with this? Any tips? Should I be doing this in the first place?

 

[Carlson8607]

Also, today he decided he didn't want to leave his tree after being on it for 30 minutes, and I had a pretty hard time getting him off without grabbing him ( I would never do this). I finally got him to crawl off onto a stick in order to return him home but in the process, he hissed at me for the first time and displayed his aggressive colors.

 

[GreenChameleons]

Here is the experience that I have had with my juvenile male veiled chameleon. There is a royal palm outside of his enclosure and in the afternoon he loves to climb onto my hand and then onto his tree. Sometimes this goes smoothly, but I also have a lot of difficulties getting him back in his home, especially when I let him out more than once a day. (which I decided not to do anymore after today) Normally I can get him back in by putting a cricket in his feeder cup, and waiting for him to crawl off of his tree on the cup and then I put him back. Because of the way the tree sits next to his home, if he was smart enough and wanted to he could crawl back in, I just don't like waiting an hour for him to figure this out. What is yall's experience with this? Any tips? Should I be doing this in the first place?

From my experience I wouldn’t let your chameleon out everyday instead would put the enclosure outside in a safe spot part shade and part indirect sunlight and if you have difficulty with a spot that does this you can use a towel to manipulate it so ones shaded and the other is sunny. Chameleons are slick they can get away in a matter of minutes potently. I would let it free range once or twice a week every other week spaced out through the week if you really want to let your chameleon free range. I would observe your chameleon like watching a movie if you continue to free range. You could hand feed to get your chameleon more use to you gradually thought baby steps...crawl before you can walk. Always keep and eagle eye out for your chameleon when free ranging and free ranging has its health benefits for the chameleon natural sunlight! A break from the enclosure as well. Just be smart about it as in keep a CLOSE eye out and watch and watch your chameleon. I cannot empathize this enough. You don’t want to look for your chameleon if it potentially gets away. Lossing sight and worry about not finding it or it coming back or climbing up High upto pint with you lr back turned for a couple of minutes isn’t worth an escaped chameleon ever. Trust me you’ll be extremely stressed out yourself. I’m speaking from experience when saying this. Hope you find this useful in some way.

 

[devynnogood]

Here is the experience that I have had with my juvenile male veiled chameleon. There is a royal palm outside of his enclosure and in the afternoon he loves to climb onto my hand and then onto his tree. Sometimes this goes smoothly, but I also have a lot of difficulties getting him back in his home, especially when I let him out more than once a day. (which I decided not to do anymore after today) Normally I can get him back in by putting a cricket in his feeder cup, and waiting for him to crawl off of his tree on the cup and then I put him back. Because of the way the tree sits next to his home, if he was smart enough and wanted to he could crawl back in, I just don't like waiting an hour for him to figure this out. What is yall's experience with this? Any tips? Should I be doing this in the first place?

I built a wooden ladder type structure that fits perfectly in my window. When my chameleons were first learning to trust me, sometimes they would get upset when I tried to put them back. So I would literally bring the whole structure back over to their enclosures and they would crawl off of it back into their home. I don’t have to do that anymore, my chameleons have trust in me and will climb onto my hand when I offer it to them.

 

[Carlson8607]

From my experience I wouldn’t let your chameleon out everyday instead would put the enclosure outside in a safe spot part shade and part indirect sunlight and if you have difficulty with a spot that does this you can use a towel to manipulate it so ones shaded and the other is sunny. Chameleons are slick they can get away in a matter of minutes potently. I would let it free range once or twice a week every other week spaced out through the week if you really want to let your chameleon free range. I would observe your chameleon like watching a movie if you continue to free range. You could hand feed to get your chameleon more use to you gradually thought baby steps...crawl before you can walk. Always keep and eagle eye out for your chameleon when free ranging and free ranging has its health benefits for the chameleon natural sunlight! A break from the enclosure as well. Just be smart about it as in keep a CLOSE eye out and watch and watch your chameleon. I cannot empathize this enough. You don’t want to look for your chameleon if it potentially gets away. Lossing sight and worry about not finding it or it coming back or climbing up High upto pint with you lr back turned for a couple of minutes isn’t worth an escaped chameleon ever. Trust me you’ll be extremely stressed out yourself. I’m speaking from experience when saying this. Hope you find this useful in some way.

Thanks for the advice!!

 

[GreenChameleons]

Thanks for the advice!![/QUOTE
You’re welcome...Anytime

 

[Syreptyon]

My male panther is always looking to get out of his enclosure. If I have the door open and look away for more than a few seconds, he'll already be on his way to the top of the open door.

I actually have this whole network of sticks, branches, bungee cord, rope, and a big fat pothos, which I hang from my ceiling. It creates a little arial jungle gym for him, so he can get some good exercise crawling around above me while I do something else. I just attach a bungee cord to a sturdy branch in his enclosure, stretch it out so it's taut, and attach it to the hanging fixture. He tight rope walks his way out readily and, eventually, puts himself back when he wants to bask. Or sometimes, he decides he doesn't want to go back and I have to carefully coax him onto a long stick to bring him back home

 

[JoshD49]

My male panther is always looking to get out of his enclosure. If I have the door open and look away for more than a few seconds, he'll already be on his way to the top of the open door.

I actually have this whole network of sticks, branches, bungee cord, rope, and a big fat pothos, which I hang from my ceiling. It creates a little arial jungle gym for him, so he can get some good exercise crawling around above me while I do something else. I just attach a bungee cord to a sturdy branch in his enclosure, stretch it out so it's taut, and attach it to the hanging fixture. He tight rope walks his way out readily and, eventually, puts himself back when he wants to bask. Or sometimes, he decides he doesn't want to go back and I have to carefully coax him onto a long stick to bring him back home

I plan to do something very similar as I want a bigger space for my cham but don't have room for a bigger cage. I plan to leave his cage open when I am home and then attach a stick so he can then climb onto a vine system. this would greatly increase his cage size and since its my home office where I work most days he wont be without supervision. The only problem I see with this is getting him back in his cage at night or for days I wont be working at home.

 

[Char333p]

Does anyone know just generally speaking how interested cats are to chameleons. I have a bunch of strays nearby and that worries me which is why I haven't brought my cham outside yet. Well also still getting used to me.

 

[JoshD49]

I would not leave him outside alone if you know cats are around. Cats might take a serious liking to a Cham.

 

[Carlson8607]

My male panther is always looking to get out of his enclosure. If I have the door open and look away for more than a few seconds, he'll already be on his way to the top of the open door.

I actually have this whole network of sticks, branches, bungee cord, rope, and a big fat pothos, which I hang from my ceiling. It creates a little arial jungle gym for him, so he can get some good exercise crawling around above me while I do something else. I just attach a bungee cord to a sturdy branch in his enclosure, stretch it out so it's taut, and attach it to the hanging fixture. He tight rope walks his way out readily and, eventually, puts himself back when he wants to bask. Or sometimes, he decides he doesn't want to go back and I have to carefully coax him onto a long stick to bring him back home

Thats so cool! Mine is always ready to escape when I open the lid too. How long do you let him stay out?

 

[Carlson8607]

I would not leave him outside alone if you know cats are around. Cats might take a serious liking to a Cham.

Thanks! I actually thought about that. Originally I wanted some type of outdoor free range setup but the place I moved to theirs cats everywhere 24/7. My neighbor even feeds them

 

[JoshD49]

Man there should be a law against feeding strays. I'm all for helping animals but this behavior makes them keep coming back and then breeding. Eventually the population gets huge.

 

[Char333p]

I would not leave him outside alone if you know cats are around. Cats might take a serious liking to a Cham.

hence Ive never done it. and I would never leave him alone regardless that's muh baby

 

[Decadancin]

Man there should be a law against feeding strays. I'm all for helping animals but this behavior makes them keep coming back and then breeding. Eventually the population gets huge.

Feeding them is one way of trapping them to get them fixed so the cycle can be broken.

 

[Decadancin]

Does anyone know just generally speaking how interested cats are to chameleons. I have a bunch of strays nearby and that worries me which is why I haven't brought my cham outside yet. Well also still getting used to me.

I have 4 cats in my house and although I don't risk them being around when he is out freeranging, they don't care about him at all. They are more interested in the crickets . I have seen some really terrible stories about injured or dead chameleons though, so I would consider the cats to be a serious risk!

 

[JoshD49]

Feeding them is one way of trapping them to get them fixed so the cycle can be broken.

That's if his neighbor is actually doing that. I have heard of cat ladies that just keep feeding them.

I had a co-worker that does go out and capture them to be fixed but not everyone does that.

 

[JoshD49]

hence Ive never done it. and I would never leave him alone regardless that's muh baby

I don't have cats much at this house but we have red tail hawk that have even stolen koi out of the ponds. I won't take my boy outside alone either. Haha

 

[Decadancin]

That's if his neighbor is actually doing that. I have heard of cat ladies that just keep feeding them.

I had a co-worker that does go out and capture them to be fixed but not everyone does that.

Many communities have this problem . There are organizations that will trap, fix and release them back into the community.

 

[Char333p]

I have 4 cats in my house and although I don't risk them being around when he is out freeranging, they don't care about him at all. They are more interested in the crickets . I have seen some really terrible stories about injured or dead chameleons though, so I would consider the cats to be a serious risk!

Yeah, I have two cats they were interested in him when I brought him home the first day or 2 but then stopped caring.. I do notice the one loves to keep track of the crix though too lol