Caleb Montgomery
New Member
My chameleon has been hissing at me and backing up as well as turning brown when i go for him. I got him 3 days ago and was wondering if this is normal for chameleons adapting to a new home/environment , and what do i do?
why wont my chameleon let me pick it up?
- Thread starter Caleb Montgomery
- Start date
MissLissa
Avid Member
This is totally normal. It sounds like you are rushing your Cham a fair bit. It's best to give them a few weeks to acclimate before you start reaching for them. You can start offering food from your fingers, and see if he will take that first. It's a good way to get them to start equating you with food which is the beginning of the trust building process. However, not all chameleons will want to interact- some are happiest with only their own company.
Caleb Montgomery
New Member
thank you for the help and advice. i will give her some space, by the way does stress affect their health at all?
ChameLIonLover
Member
Many would argue that one should not handle their chameleons. Some just don't tolerate it and it can really stress them out. In the chameleon world especially, stress kills. Never force a chameleon out of its comfort zone. I would agree that you should definitely try hand feeding though! If your little girl wants to crawl onto your hand, then great, but I personally would never just grab at it. Our hands are big and scary to them... if I was a chameleon I would not want one coming at me (unless if there's some food on it 
)
)
Nothing scientific to back this up, but yes, stress will affect their health. This is a major reason why it is not generally a good idea to house them together (there are a few exceptions to this). One cham may not be willing to come out or may not be able to compete for food due to stress. It can cause them to be less willing to come out and bask under the UV lighting and long term this will have a negative impact on your animals.
Lathis
Chameleon Enthusiast
There actually is some scientific evidence behind this. Not too long ago, Kinyonga posted a study about stress based organ damage in chameleons. The TL;DR summary is that veiled chameleons exposed to stressful environments did show some measurable damage to internal organs compared to chameleons not exposed to stressors. The experimenters were trying to verify something specific with stress related enzymes, which I believe was inconclusive but they did find measurable differences that could be directly attributed to stress. So there is some scientific basis for minimizing stressful situations for the long term health of the animal. I'll see if I can find the post.
Lathis
Chameleon Enthusiast
Here it is:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...ion-in-veiled-chameleons.144477/#post-1226067
Actually a very interesting article.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...ion-in-veiled-chameleons.144477/#post-1226067
Actually a very interesting article.
GillietheAmbilobe
Member
If it's a veiled, then they will generally be more aggressive. If you're working on bonding, the leave the cage door open whenever your in the room so he gets used to it. If your working on hand feeding, then don't feed him as often or as much. This does sound cruel, but it is perfectly safe. He might be hungry enough to hand feed. Another thing to do is to make sure he sees you dropping the food in his cage so he knows that the hand brings food.
I'm new to the chameleon world as well and my veiled is definitely gun shy. He scurries quite quickly to the back of the cage whenever I open the front. However, we're still making progress. In less than a week of having him, he has identified a green plastic cup as a welcomed sight. I typically drop his crickets in the cup and place the cup on its side near the front of the cage so that the crickets can crawl out close to his basking spot. This morning, I turned on his lights and he was in the same spot he's went to the past couple of nights to sleep. By the time I came back from taking the dog out, he had moved to within a few steps away from his basking spot. I put his green plastic cup with crickets in the enclosure and left to brush my teeth. When I came back, he was on top of the cup and in a prime position to pick off the crickets.
Sorry, I was not too specific, I meant that I was not adding any, not that it wasn't available
. I get lazy with details sometimes .
Carlton
Chameleon Enthusiast
I think I would say that TOO MUCH stress is detrimental to a creature's life. There is good stress and bad stress. A life with absolutely NO stress isn't perfect because that would mean that the creature had no stimulation by anything. Basically, this means there is no life going on at all. Good stimulating events are things like the excitement of hunting, breeding, producing young, winning territorial fights, etc. For example, when your cham is actively moving around, hunting, reacting to the world, it will show this moderate positive stress with brighter colors. If a stressor ramps up to fear or anger, that's when you'll start seeing those darker very intense colors, gaping, puffing up, tail curling, lunging as if to bite, trying to escape, etc.
This doesn't mean that you have to prevent any stress at all...not really possible. What you DO want to minimize is the amount of time or the frequency of negative stress (fear, anger). If your cham, newly arrived as you described, doesn't get the chance to settle in to your home routine and learn to trust you on its own time, stress can be cumulative and end up adding to any underlying health problems that may be going on. You will soon learn how much interaction he'll tolerate and he'll learn to trust you.
This doesn't mean that you have to prevent any stress at all...not really possible. What you DO want to minimize is the amount of time or the frequency of negative stress (fear, anger). If your cham, newly arrived as you described, doesn't get the chance to settle in to your home routine and learn to trust you on its own time, stress can be cumulative and end up adding to any underlying health problems that may be going on. You will soon learn how much interaction he'll tolerate and he'll learn to trust you.
Carlton
Chameleon Enthusiast
I agree. A really good example of what we mean is a keeper showing their young male cham a mirror image of itself to see what its display colors are like. Firing up display colors once in a while isn't going to hurt a male cham and it may actually be good for its confidence to "win" a confrontation once in a while. However, if this same male could see a mirror image of himself near the cage all the time he will probably feel forced to defend his territory constantly, won't be able to relax, might end up feeling intimidated by the displaying "rival" who does everything HE does, and may eventually become so stressed out it can end up sick.
Matt Vanilla Gorilla
Chameleon Enthusiast
Just like with all family members, just love him for who he is! Eventually it will pay off!
bryantt
Member
I think your cham needs some space and time to adjust to you and its new environment...
I have a veiled cham, male 1 year 3 months he is extremely tame and will walk to the doors wanting to explore outside his vivarium. He will quite comfortably will sit on my shoulder or head for a short while before sitting on his tree gazing out the window.
He hasn't always been an extrovert, at first he would never come near me and hide and try everything get away even the sight of me. I found making sure the experience outside of the viv was a positive one something he enjoys. Like I mentioned we brought a large dracaena massangeana tree which he enjoys perching on this way he sees it as a positive experience.
He wasn't very trusting at first and taking him out his viv at first was tricky. Day after day I would hand feed only and sit by his viv for up to 20 minutes after feeding. Gradually I would put my hand in and near him but not attempt to pick him. After a month or so I would touch his feet briefly only when he didn't move I wouldn't chase him around if he was walking away. Eventually whilst he was mid walk I would put my hand in front like and obstacle and after a few times he walked onto my hand.. on the first few occasions I just lifted him up but kept him in his viv making him feel comfortable with me doing so, after doing this a few time I took him out and let him explore... like I said now he is very confident and loves coming out. But I rarely hold him for my own pleasure only when Im moving him from place to place etc Forcing them to sit on you and play like a hamster will only stress him and he wont want to come out ...
Hope this helps
leedragon
Chameleon Enthusiast
chameleons are reptiles unlike humans many mammals and birds do not bond. This is something to always have as a thought back. they being solitary animals and do not showing need on interacting besides mating. they are not built to bond. anthropomorphizing chameleons can led to bad calls when deciding their husbandry.
all and all. The thing one probably can do is that they do get used to one in the matter that they do not care about one being around.
I, myself find it the best for the animal is to leave it alone in is cage and observe it from there.
Although I don't disagree with your comments about bonding, I do have to say that I have seen quite a few chameleons that have either created a "bond" or at least what we as humans have humanized a behavior to be. If you take all human characteristics out of the equation you could say that they have adapted their behavior to fit their current environment, but I think there is more to it than that. When I take Zaphod out for a few days in a row he definitely will look to come out more and is more active and doesn't run for cover. If you ever go to Jannb's house you would see animals in free range areas and that are constantly held and interacted with. There is definitely a bond between her and her chams, and I would go as far to say that there is a definite return of affection. Possibly the exception to a rule, but nothing in this world is certain
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