Huge drop!!!

[drewlowe]

Hello all,

My male veiled cham's cage is in our unfinished shower in our bathroom, well around 3:30 am i had to go to the bathroom. I go do my thing and as i'm sitting there i noticed i woke Neo up. So i turn off the light and watch him for a bit. He has a vertical branch that meets up with a bendable vine well Neo tried to make a huge stretch to the vine from the branch and couldn't quite reach it. As he's reaching for the vine he slips and is hanging there by his hind legs( you can imaging the thoughts going through my head at this time). Well anyway he lost complete grip and started to fall from a little over 5 feet high, as he's falling he trys to grab the side of the cage but can't. When he hits the ground he basicly racks himself on the planter base. I basicly lost it when he fell, but there was absolutly nothing i could do to stop it, by time i would have got his cage unzipped he would have already hit the ground.

So after he falls i open his cage (to check on him) he stands as tall as he can and starts to his and lunge at me, so i let him be and decided to watch him. He climbs up a vine that i lead from the ground all the way up to his first branch. Then he crosses over a few vines and branches with no problems what so ever, he ended up going right to his basking spot and sits there and stares at me. By this time it's about 4:30 in the morning and he only has 2 1/2 hours till his lights come on, well i decided to go ahead and turn his lights on and head to bed and check on him and call the vet when i wake up.

In the morning he seemed fine like nothing happend, he was still his normal pissy self. I called the vet and they basicly told me not to worry to much that they think i just startled him and just to keep a close eye on him and if i feel he needs to be seen then to bring him in and they would see him immediatly.

My concern is chams don't fall unless there's something wrong. At Neo's last vet visit he was given an A+ for health, the vet even had to put him up because he was cutting into his skin. If this was your cham would you ignore the advice and take him in anyway????

I've been watching him like a hawk and haven't noticed anything wrong so far, but i would have thought a drop like that onto hard plastic would have hurt him. Oh and after all of this me and my man plan on buying him more branches and thinking of making a net for the bottom of the cage.

Jamie

[Bartman]

My guy fell the first day I had him and it freaked me out, but till today he seems perfectly fine. I think they just make mistakes, like us

Hope your little guys alright though. If it makes you feel better, then just take him in anyway and that will make you be satisfied that hes okay.

[peterm15]

when i startle mine he falls... hes done it 2 or 3 times.... he only falls like 8" though cause he usually catches himself on the way down. one time he was "running" and he grabbed his tail instead of a branch and nearly took a flip.... if he seems fine id say not to worry.... im sure they fall in the wild too...

[ydnic]

I am sure he is fine too - i mean I`m sure it is highly unlikely you caught him the first and only time he fell - its probably happend more times than you care to know

Maybe he is just one of the clumbsy ones

[meow_mix450]

if it keeps happening then something is wrong. If it only happened once there shouldnt be a problem, when you hold him and he has a strong grip then hes fine

Meow

[galad]

yea chameleons bodies are meant to take the impact of a short fall. Maybe even a big one deppending on whats on the ground. I know aside from lunging to bite or hiding behind a branch there final menoover to get away from danger is to simply fall out of the tree.
Also many live bearing species will drop the younge from a considerable height. The fall is what wakes them and induces them to merge from the egg sac.

peace
ws

[drewlowe]

Thanks everyone, I guess i'm just a bit over paranoid when it comes to stuff like this.

Jamie