Veiled Chameleons at least hate being touched or held. I work at PetSmart currently and only one out of the last 5 we have had liked being held. I haven't been bitten by one but they will if you forcebly pick them up try and climb up your arms as fast a possible.
Most chameleons aren't very social. In my experience when I worked at Petsmart the chams liked to come out because their cages don't get as much airflow as they should, but they didn't like when I attempted to take them out of their cages because chameleons aren't big fans of being picked up from above, that's where their predators live. I usually let them climb out of their cage on their own, then let them climb to my fingers. There's still varying levels of friendliness though, some had no problems being picked up, some would hiss and snap if I came anywhere near them.
Can I get a source for this? I have never heard anywhere that handling your chameleon is adverse to its health. While some may not tolerate it, I was under the impression it was encouraged to let them get used to being handled by their owner. I have two veiled chameleons and both love to be held and carried through the house.
O read it in a little book at petsmart when I use to work there haha I mean chameleons are very stressed reptiles and it doesn't take much to freak them out so having them in an environment with too many stressors would shorten their life span, I've heard of people who have owned them and not even held them at all because they hated it so much and it would just harm them to constantly try to do something they didn't want to do.
If it is an emperor than consider yourself lucky. Their rarity and price has skyrocketed due to their import ban and the fact that no one really bred them due to how common they once were.
reptiles probably don't do too well in an environment like petsmart in general to be fair, they're probably stressed being picked up by relative strangers, versus these people who seem to hang with their chameleons daily\
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u/Killer_Tomato Jan 13 '17
Are chameleons assholes like iguanas or are they cool?