My veiled chameleon seems overly mean.

Question
I just got my first veiled chameleon about 3 weeks ago. He is a male and I'm not exactly sure how old, probably juvenile. I've read on a lot of other websites that chameleons are not friendly and I am aware that males are supposed to be even worse. My chameleon constantly hisses and will not calm down, I've been hand feeding him mealworms for about 2 weeks and he's still extremely hostile towards me. I had him out a couple days ago and he tried to jump out of my hand, into his cage. (the distance was obviously too far) I'm wondering if maybe he has brain damage or if there is anything I can do to try and calm him down.

Thanks a lot.

Answer
Hi Chase! you are doing just what you should by hand feeding your new pet. 3 weeks is probably not enough time for the little guy to acclimate to your presence. Reptiles have evolved to be wary of anything big enough to eat them, so it can take a VERY long time for them to be friendly, or even civil (non-hissy), in some cases. I would recommend not handling him at all if you can avoid it for now. Keep feeding him by hand, the fact that he will take tings from your fingers is actually a great start, and he will stop hissing eventually. After he seems to be a bit calmer, you still shouldn't handle him very often. Chameleons get stressed out by handling, even when they are a bit more comfortable in their area. They are a very cool pet to watch, but they do take patience and time to "tame". Thanks! Nicole