Why is he trying to escape?

[Gecky]

My veiled chameleon, Hal, has been with us for about 6 months now. We have him in the Reptibreeze 24"x24"x48" screen enclosure, which is also lifted on a desk so his highest branches sit above my head. He has high and low branches, live plants (pothos and monstera), UV, heat lamp, etc. When we first moved him in, he loved it, but recently hes been crawling on the wire like hes trying to get out. Pretty much every time I walk in the room, even if I'm not interacting with him, he climbs the wire to where the latches are or onto the top of the cage. Why is he doing this? He has let me take him out once or twice, but most times, he just hisses at me and tries to eat my fingers when I offer a hand to let him out. I recently added more plants, thinking maybe he wanted more coverage, but he still does it.

Is he bored? Does he need more room or to be higher up? He doesn't hunt bugs, usually. He eats them out of a bowl. Should I start releasing them for him to hunt? Any advice helps.

Pictures of enclosure set up. Second picture so you can see how much taller it is than me.

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi! While your enclosure could use many more branches or vines for him to travel, my guess is that he’s restless for a mate. Males tend to be pretty active and will make their routine patrols of their enclosures, so providing him with more branches will help prevent him from screen climbing…at least in theory. For over the last year I’ve had a male veiled that was wild caught, and nothing stopped him from screen climbing in his attempts to escape. He has a double sized enclosure and it has garden trellis on the sides, but still he climbed screen. He tore out most of his claws doing so. Also, look to what may have changed when he was moved. Is there a draft coming from the window? I see that partially the view is blocked, but is he still able to see other animals like birds that he views as potential predators? Is there a mirror or other reflective surface that he might think his own reflection is another cham? Anything else that he might be able to see that he doesn’t like and may try to escape from? What are his temps and humidity levels like? Hopefully temp is stable during the day and no higher than 85 and daytime humidity between 30-50%. Maybe add thicker plant cover for him to be able to hide.

 

[Gecky]

Thank you! I did open the blinds a few weeks ago due to a power outage. Wanted to try and get him some natural sun UV until the lights came back on. I never closed them, so that might actually be it. We are also using a space heater currently as it is below freezing here and even with our house kept around 65, his thermostat in his cage was still not going over 70, so we added a little heater to keep temps closer to 80 during the day (we turn it off in the evening to let it cool back down to sleeping temps for him)
Nothing else has changed. No mirrors or reflective surfaces.

I've fit about as many plants in as I can, but if I add more branches, I can add more plants, too. It might just be time for an upgrade now that he's adjusted to his new home.

 

[MissSkittles]

Thank you! I did open the blinds a few weeks ago due to a power outage. Wanted to try and get him some natural sun UV until the lights came back on. I never closed them, so that might actually be it. We are also using a space heater currently as it is below freezing here and even with our house kept around 65, his thermostat in his cage was still not going over 70, so we added a little heater to keep temps closer to 80 during the day (we turn it off in the evening to let it cool back down to sleeping temps for him)
Nothing else has changed. No mirrors or reflective surfaces.

I've fit about as many plants in as I can, but if I add more branches, I can add more plants, too. It might just be time for an upgrade now that he's adjusted to his new home.

You could try closing the window blind and see if that makes any difference. Just an fyi - uvb doesn’t pass thru glass, plastic and most other items. The heat does though, but that might be negated by the cold radiating from the window. If it’s been that chilly, maybe he’s looking to find somewhere warmer. To help hold some heat in, you could cover the back and sides of his enclosure with something. Many use shower curtains.
I have upgraded all of my chameleons to double sized enclosures and encourage everyone who is able, to do the same. Even my girls use all of the extra space they have and it’s just wonderful for them. I simply joined 2 of the 2x2x4’ enclosures, side by side and have each sitting on a heavy duty garage style shelving unit. They are all bioactive, so I had to go with what would hold the weight over what was pretty. You do need to make a few modifications, like removing the screening on the two sides that will be joining. Those two sides also won’t butt up against each other very well if you don’t try to find flat head screws or sink the screws in. Then I just used some thin wire to hold them together. I did try to find some metal pieces to join them, but all I could find in the right size was tiny hinges. I did use a few though anyhow.
I like using at least one tall center plant, preferably a money tree or schefflera. Then I put my others where ever I can fit them. To hang branches, vines and plants, there are Dragonflies Ledges https://dragonstrand.com/dragon-ledges/ He even has a set for double sized enclosures! I’ve got some of those on a couple of my enclosures and have been using garden trellis for the others. Again, love my thin wire for attaching stuff to the frame. Added a small screw or two to each part of the frame to attach the trellis wires to, to prevent it from sliding down. Pic below of one of my enclosures. More branches were added after pic was taken. The blue in the back is a fabric shower curtain to protect the wall from overspray.
To get more leaf coverage from pothos, plant/place it on the bottom of the enclosure and have the vines grow upwards. The higher they get, the larger the leaves grow.

 

[Gecky]

Thank you! I might be able to purchase a second enclosure and join it to this one. It would make moving him easier, as well. Ultimately, I just want to make sure he's happy. He came from severe neglect and I'm honestly surprised he survived. I really thought I was making a hospice room for him, but he bounced back! I'll let you know how the window goes and can put a shower curtain up on the mean time. It's gonna take some time and money to get everything else together.

Thank you again! This really helps.

 

[Beman]

You have already received excellent feedback. May I see a few up close pics of his body from both sides please? I believe I am seeing something that might need to be addressed.