Your chams personality

[Uri]

I’ve been inactive for a long time due to the amount of animals I have to dedicate my time to each for maintenance but I’d like to say they are all doing great and wanted to start a discussion on everyone’s chameleons personality. My little guy almost a year old now with no matter how many roaches and super worms I offer does not trust me and refuses to bond with me which is okay but I’ve learned he is not a fan of interactions and will freeze whenever I do maintenance or run. His colors have come in beautifully but unfortunately I can’t get any pictures due to his shyness. He’s also does not seem to be very driven by food and he eats fine but doesn’t overeat as I put more roaches in his cup to make sure they move around but his favorites seem to be bsfl and of course supers but I don’t offer supers every feeding and he likes roaches but does seem to get bored and doesn’t always eat them mealworms he enjoys in moderation and crickets he ignores unless I haven’t fed them to him in a while I don’t usually use crickets but I only keep them for my crested geckos as they don’t like any other insects for some reason. He also doesn’t like hornworms very much but when he does eat them he eats only half and the over just falls to the ground. He also isn’t very interested in black soldier flies and ignores them flying around and when I put them in the cup they are always left behind. Come to think of it none of my reptiles like the soldier flies and ignore them too. I did take him out to try to weigh him but ended up not because for the first time he decided to gape at me and he does do his chameleon karate arm and puff up but this is the first time he gaped and I decided to not weigh as he still eats fine and seems to be doing well. All my pets are feisty even my “easy” species he doesn’t usually get defensive and instead ignores me when I walk by or hides when I have to do maintenance he is very active and I’d like to believe I’m lucky in that he likes to sleep out in the open most of the time I’d love to hear how all of yours are

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

My panther is... temperamental. I avoided "taming" for many months. By the time I did, he had actually escaped twice—both times to my Missus' plant table adjacent to the enclosure and in front of a large window. Both times he was content to chill among the various plants—usually as high up as he could get (which is instinctive).

As the song goes, "How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree?)"
This (the escapes) was exactly the opening needed to begin the handling/"taming".
I began by offering him my arm (coming up from below, and palm down so as not to offer anything he could bite (like a finger). This video was of immense help:



His reward for climbing aboard was a few supervised hours on the plant table. A long bamboo garden stake facilitates getting him back into his enclosure.

You have to learn to ignore—or at least overcome—all the defensiveness. My usual response is similar to how I "socialized" my bearded dragon's gaping & hissing. First, I put it into perspective... "Ooh, big scary lizard!" This calms me down if not him. Then I try to pet them gently on the head, which usually surprises them so much it disarms them (YMMV, and watch the fingers & teeth!)

He still gapes at me (he's given up on hissing & biting) but it's more of a warning like, "I'm coming out on your arm now! Don't mess with me or I'll get big & scary!" It's all bluster.

At this point, he runs toward my arm every time I open the door, and if I let him, and have to do the chameleon conveyor belt/juggling routine, he's usually gaping (a little) most of the time, but I think he's come to realize I'm not interested in EATING him.

A lot of chameleons seem to be camera shy. I often wonder if they see the lens as the eye of a predator. You could try setting up a camera blind (like a hunting blind) where your cham can't see the camera, but you can still get pics. You could also try leaving the camera hanging outside or near the enclosure to allow the cham to get used to its presence.

 

[ERKleRose]

You could try green banana roaches for a better feeding response if you haven't already. As for personalities, my first two chams were as opposite as Jekyll and Hyde. My Ambilobe was like a puppy dog, always wanting attention and coming to me for treats, outside time, looking at fish, etc, just a little happy dude! He basically was born tame. My Nosy Be was crankier than an old, pissed-off wet cat! He never tamed down, which I was fine with, since chameleons don't need to be to enjoy their life. He didn't take treats or ever hand-feed, avoided and got angry with everybody, never even got used to handling for vets or cleaning out his cage. I didn't want him to stress as much as he was, so I let him be, and he lived a nice life with me with no interaction if I could help it.

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

My Nosy Be was crankier than an old, pissed-off wet cat! He never tamed down, which I was fine with, since chameleons don't need to be to enjoy their life. He didn't take treats or ever hand-feed, avoided and got angry with everybody, never even got used to handling for vets or cleaning out his cage. I didn't want him to stress as much as he was, so I let him be, and he lived a nice life with me with no interaction if I could help it.

Did you ever check his cloaca for burrs?

I get it. Ol' Grumpypants was very similar, but obviously not quite as bad, and he is coming around, albeit on his own terms. I was content to leave him completely alone forever. If not for his escapades on the plant table, he might never have gotten brave enough to venture onto my arm—one slow foot at a time. First time was hilarious, and I almost dropped him trying to stop laughing so hard—his buggy little turrets looking at me, the arm, the plant table, his enclosure.... You could almost see the wheels turning, and I love that about interacting with animals!

 

[Crossingtami]

I have 2 panthers, karma and Kenshō. I am so very lucky as both my boys are very chill. This is kenshos spot when I'm spot cleaning.

 

[Mountain Dragon]

Yoshi is sometimes wanting to come to my hand sometimes not just depends on the mood but I only really handle him while cleaning bc he’s a chameleon

 

[Uri]

I only handle mine when deep cleaning he’s not a fan of hand feeding but when I use a plastic spoon he eats from that he’s not a fan of people he’s not cranky just antisocial and isn’t afraid to show it

 

[MissSkittles]

Both of my lovely lady veileds try to bite first and ask questions later. Once I have them on my hand though, they are ok. I guess it’s classic ‘cage aggression’. My male veiled wants nothing to do with me. He doesn’t gape or try to bite…just gets away from me as fast as he can. However, there have been times when I was adding branches or fussing with his plants and my head and arms were almost touching him and it didn’t bother him the slightest. My male panther is the oddball. The majority of times when he sees me, he comes up to the front of his enclosure and as soon as I open the door, he is walking up my arm. I was sitting on the floor near his enclosure with my beardie and Jack came all the way down to the bottom and wedged himself between screen and root pouch, trying to get near me. Once he’s sitting on my hand or arm, he’s usually content to stay there or treadmill for over 15 minutes. Sometimes he tries to get near my face and shoot at my eyeballs but not always. I keep thinking there has to be something about his enclosure that he doesn’t like, but can’t find anything. Plus he was similarly sociable when in his old enclosure.

 

[Mountain Dragon]

How your females are is kinda how Yoshi is

 

[Uri]

I think this is funny but my cham I recently reintroduced crickets into his diet as he had decided to not eat them a month ago and he gobbled them up real nicely but then today I added 2 again and found them dead because he got sick of them and was like ha no thanks I’m sticking to my roaches and maggots and I thought well okay then fine your brothers will hopefully be more grateful for their crickets. All my arboreal geckos are polar opposites to my cham in terms of taste they love crickets and refuse other insects meanwhile my cham loves just about everything else to a certain extent but I easily gets tired of crickets and my leopard gecko just does his own thing and eats everything except flies

 

[Uri]

Both of my lovely lady veileds try to bite first and ask questions later. Once I have them on my hand though, they are ok. I guess it’s classic ‘cage aggression’. My male veiled wants nothing to do with me. He doesn’t gape or try to bite…just gets away from me as fast as he can. However, there have been times when I was adding branches or fussing with his plants and my head and arms were almost touching him and it didn’t bother him the slightest. My male panther is the oddball. The majority of times when he sees me, he comes up to the front of his enclosure and as soon as I open the door, he is walking up my arm. I was sitting on the floor near his enclosure with my beardie and Jack came all the way down to the bottom and wedged himself between screen and root pouch, trying to get near me. Once he’s sitting on my hand or arm, he’s usually content to stay there or treadmill for over 15 minutes. Sometimes he tries to get near my face and shoot at my eyeballs but not always. I keep thinking there has to be something about his enclosure that he doesn’t like, but can’t find anything. Plus he was similarly sociable when in his old enclosure.

Mine never got cage aggressive he only starts getting upset when I have to take him out like when I tried to weigh him and actually I could use some advice on weighing chams I think I’ll start a thread on that

 

[Lindasjackson]

My Cham is a Jackson’s and I believe he was wild caught, now I don’t know that for sure but he sure acts like it. When he’s out in the morning basking in his cage, if I come near the cage he’s rolling over the edge of the branch like he thinks I’m going to kill him! If I move away he will continue basking. Whenever I’ve tried to remove him from his cage it’s like trying to get a cat out of a cage at the vets office, nails are stuck to the screen and he’s trying with all his might not to let go but to crawl away. He’s scared to death of me. I’d like to be able to weigh him to see if he’s gained any weight since I’ve had him but it’s impossible. I hate stressing him out. When he’s alone and thinks no one is looking he just basks for a little bit then ambles off into his tree where you can’t find him at all. The only time I see him move fast is when I’ve put his food dish in and closed the door and moved away, then he moves faster than I’ve ever seen him move to get to his food. He will eat in front of me now as long as I’m a distance away. They are such interesting creatures! I just wish he was as friendly as the two I had years ago. They were captive bred and would come right out to me any time. I could even take them outside in the sun which I loved to do.

 

[Uri]

My Cham is a Jackson’s and I believe he was wild caught, now I don’t know that for sure but he sure acts like it. When he’s out in the morning basking in his cage, if I come near the cage he’s rolling over the edge of the branch like he thinks I’m going to kill him! If I move away he will continue basking. Whenever I’ve tried to remove him from his cage it’s like trying to get a cat out of a cage at the vets office, nails are stuck to the screen and he’s trying with all his might not to let go but to crawl away. He’s scared to death of me. I’d like to be able to weigh him to see if he’s gained any weight since I’ve had him but it’s impossible. I hate stressing him out. When he’s alone and thinks no one is looking he just basks for a little bit then ambles off into his tree where you can’t find him at all. The only time I see him move fast is when I’ve put his food dish in and closed the door and moved away, then he moves faster than I’ve ever seen him move to get to his food. He will eat in front of me now as long as I’m a distance away. They are such interesting creatures! I just wish he was as friendly as the two I had years ago. They were captive bred and would come right out to me any time. I could even take them outside in the sun which I loved to do.

That doesn’t necessarily mean wild caught mine is captive bred and is just as shy yours just hates humans and that’s normal for both captive bred and wild caught you just got really lucky before it’s all up to the individual if they run or not

 

[Hansen]

I’ve been inactive for a long time due to the amount of animals I have to dedicate my time to each for maintenance but I’d like to say they are all doing great and wanted to start a discussion on everyone’s chameleons personality. My little guy almost a year old now with no matter how many roaches and super worms I offer does not trust me and refuses to bond with me which is okay but I’ve learned he is not a fan of interactions and will freeze whenever I do maintenance or run. His colors have come in beautifully but unfortunately I can’t get any pictures due to his shyness. He’s also does not seem to be very driven by food and he eats fine but doesn’t overeat as I put more roaches in his cup to make sure they move around but his favorites seem to be bsfl and of course supers but I don’t offer supers every feeding and he likes roaches but does seem to get bored and doesn’t always eat them mealworms he enjoys in moderation and crickets he ignores unless I haven’t fed them to him in a while I don’t usually use crickets but I only keep them for my crested geckos as they don’t like any other insects for some reason. He also doesn’t like hornworms very much but when he does eat them he eats only half and the over just falls to the ground. He also isn’t very interested in black soldier flies and ignores them flying around and when I put them in the cup they are always left behind. Come to think of it none of my reptiles like the soldier flies and ignore them too. I did take him out to try to weigh him but ended up not because for the first time he decided to gape at me and he does do his chameleon karate arm and puff up but this is the first time he gaped and I decided to not weigh as he still eats fine and seems to be doing well. All my pets are feisty even my “easy” species he doesn’t usually get defensive and instead ignores me when I walk by or hides when I have to do maintenance he is very active and I’d like to believe I’m lucky in that he likes to sleep out in the open most of the time I’d love to hear how all of yours are

My guys are almost 7 yrs old. I have had them since a couple of weeks after they were born. One of them is not a good eater, like yours. The other will eat anything. The picky one will not eat from my fingers no matter what I do. I have learned a lot in 7 years. They were at the vet (ferret in my shoe) 3 weeks ago and she said, for being ancient, they are in great shape, the arthritis being just a part of aging. Drago, the picky guy, will not eat anything except supers and hornworms unless he is very hungry. Everyone has their own ways to take care of their panther chams. Mine is working. Personality wise, panthers have great personalities. It says not to hold them. I did hold mine and they come to me when I open the door...idk. I think they adapt to your personality if you get him early on. Big difference in males and females and veiled ones are hardly ever social

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

I think they adapt to your personality if you get him early on.

I think it depends on the individual. I didn't even try to touch/tame my male panther until he was over 6 months old, but when I finally did, things went very quickly (IMO) and smoothly.

 

[Uri]

I haven’t tried taming my hoehnelii but I know he’s very good motivated I’ve just let him live his life my jacksonii I have but he’s not food motivated so I kinda gave up but that’s fine because he’s beautiful to watch and I didn’t raise my expectations to handling when I got chameleons. My geckos do that for me

 

[Klyde O'Scope]

I haven’t tried taming my hoehnelii but I know he’s very good motivated I’ve just let him live his life my jacksonii I have but he’s not food motivated so I kinda gave up but that’s fine because he’s beautiful to watch and I didn’t raise my expectations to handling when I got chameleons. My geckos do that for me

My panther isn't food motivated either, but very... (How to put it...? ) motivated to get to the Missus plants. My point is, if you can figure out what does motivate your Jackson's (and you're interested), IDT it's too late.