better safe then sorry questions.

jmacphee9

New Member
i got my chameleon just under a week and a half ago, and today something a little weird happened. i took him out to get his new cage set up and going nice, and i was setting him on top of the cage, he preferred to dismount my hand onto the railing and started tumbling! i got him about 3 inches down, safe not squished. so then i go to set him on the cage top, he races to the edge and i see bad stuff about to happen, he just lunges off the side.

at this point it became apparent to me not to put him there lol. i put him back inside and he was running around perfectly fine.

my question: is this a case of balance issues? natural instinct to get to the edge maybe? i was just really concerned this may be a possible early onset MBD from what ive read.

about his current lifestyle conditions:
12 hours basking in 90-94, got it back down to 87-90 now that the ambient temperature isnt in the high 90s.

12 hours reptisun 5.0 mini uvb bulb, and he always seems to be in its 9 inch radius.

24 calcium powdered crickets every 2 days, and he eats them all no problem.

his poop is a perfect example of what i saw listed on the forums as the "perfect poop" dark brownish with a white head.

im trying to think positive and that this is nothing, but im obviously really attached to him already and do not want to see anything bad happen to him, so im looking for more seasoned advice:)
 
i got my chameleon just under a week and a half ago, and today something a little weird happened. i took him out to get his new cage set up and going nice, and i was setting him on top of the cage, he preferred to dismount my hand onto the railing and started tumbling! i got him about 3 inches down, safe not squished. so then i go to set him on the cage top, he races to the edge and i see bad stuff about to happen, he just lunges off the side.

at this point it became apparent to me not to put him there lol. i put him back inside and he was running around perfectly fine.

my question: is this a case of balance issues? natural instinct to get to the edge maybe? i was just really concerned this may be a possible early onset MBD from what ive read.

about his current lifestyle conditions:
12 hours basking in 90-94, got it back down to 87-90 now that the ambient temperature isnt in the high 90s.

12 hours reptisun 5.0 mini uvb bulb, and he always seems to be in its 9 inch radius.

24 calcium powdered crickets every 2 days, and he eats them all no problem.

his poop is a perfect example of what i saw listed on the forums as the "perfect poop" dark brownish with a white head.

im trying to think positive and that this is nothing, but im obviously really attached to him already and do not want to see anything bad happen to him, so im looking for more seasoned advice:)

I don't see that its a sign of anything wrong. Little chams need to learn coordination as they grow. He obviously wants off that cage top for some reason, and a spooked cham will let itself drop to the ground to escape a threat. How high off the floor is the cage top? Is it over carpet? Chances are he isn't going to hurt himself severely if he did drop to the floor from a few feet up. Chams can and do fall out of full sized trees pretty often.

What is your gutload and supplement schedule and products? We can check to see if they are correct (and avoiding possible MBD in future).
 
I have given him d3 once but regular calcium daily on the crickets. I usually buy in 4 dozen at a time, and put a carrot with the second ones, I'm still trying to figure out a system for gutloading that will be more n beneficial. I think I'm going to start giving him some guyloaded super worms to supplement the crickets
 
It's definitely normal..I dont think chameleons really think about edges. it makes me laugh cause the same thing happened to me.. I let my cham climb on the table while I was on my laptop and he just took off and fell right off the side of the table. I think it's because of how their eyes are independent. They're not always focused on what infront of themselves they're always looking to the sides and their body just moves them straight. You can also see this when a chameleon gets to the end of a piece of bamboo or branch.. and they'll keep reaching out to grab more of it then realize that there is none left. These are all behaviors I've observed from my chameleon so I do not think it is the start to MBD...MBD is caused by calcium deficiency.
 
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