Chameleon fell :(

[mtgreene]

Hey everyone,

I've been following this forum for about two months now and got a little veiled chameleon in June. The little guy has been doing great, eating healthy, and growing... we took him to the vet and she said he was looking good. I'm worried though... today we bought him some new climbing vines and plants (real and fake) and went to put them in his cage to give him more room to climb around, and we didn't take him out while we were decorating because we didn't want to scare him (he doesn't like being handled). Well, he fell twice and now he's clinging upside down on the ceiling of the tank, looking rigid and shaking. I thought this might be because he was scared so I put a towel over the front screen of the cage so he wouldn't see anyone looking at him. He hasn't moved for a few minutes and I'm kind of worried... could he have a broken leg even if he climbed back on the wall twice and is hanging upside down?

Thanks,

Melissa

 

[Syn]

You said tank... where do you live and what kind of tank is it?

Please fill out this form..
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[mtgreene]

I live in New York, it's a 4 sided mesh cage with a plastic floor

 

[Syn]

Okay, well, please take the time to fill out the form and get pictures if possible.

 

[ChameleonRave]

sorry to hear about your little cham falling. listen to Syn she will do everything she can to give you the best advice she can! she really knows what shes talking about and others input too will help you the form will help everyone know what size, type of cage you have, lighting and more

 

[kinyonga]

If you're worried about it I would take it to a vet.

Does it have good straight arms and legs?
You said that its shaking...have you been providing it with UVB light that does not pass through glass or plastic?

Have you been feeding it well-fed/gutloaded insects that are dusted with a phos.-free calcium powder at most feedings? Have you been using any other supplements or gutloading the insects with commercial feeds? If so what specifically?

 

[carol5208]

is he using and gripping with all 4 legs? Sometimes they will crawl on the top of the cage and hang upside down.

 

[mtgreene]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? He's a male veiled, probably about 4, 5 months old. I've had him for 6 weeks.
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Never... only took him out one time to take him to the vet
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? We feed him crickets mostly, about 7-10 a day. We gutload with greens (collard, romaine, dandelion) and apples. He also eats greens out of a bowl most days.
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Dust the feeders with calcium with and without D3, alternate every day. Reptical and Herptivite
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? We have a automatic sprayer that sprays for 60 seconds every 3 hours. We use a hand sprayer whenever the tank looks dry or the chameleon looks thirsty. I see him drink fairly often.
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Color and consistency looks good... solid brown with a clean white urate. He's never been tested for parasites but he's going soon.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. He's been growing quickly and doing well since we got him... took him to the vet who said he looked healthy

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? 4 sided screen cage. Not sure of the dimensions but probably 17x17x30 if I had to guess.
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? The lights go on at 9am and off at 10 or 1030pm. We use ReptiSun bulbs for heat and have a UVB tube on too.
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? The basking area usually stays around 85-89 and the cooler areas are around 80. The lowest overnight temp is 70. We have a digital thermometer to measure.
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? I'm not sure what the humidity levels are exactly. I maintain the levels by using live plants and spraying the tank. I need to buy a digital humidity gauge but couldn't find one.
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? Yes, we have a few live plants that were designated "reptile plants" at PetCo. He loves to eat them and they haven't caused any problems. We're looking to buy a pothos plant and are ordering an organically grown one online
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? The cage is in our home office, not near any fans, vents, or high traffic areas. It's on a desk about 4, 4.5 feet off the floor
Location - Where are you geographically located? New York, Westchester County.

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

The chameleon fell while we were adjusting his plants and climbing stuff and now looks shaky and scared hanging from the top of the cage. I don't want to take any pictures of him because it freaks him out anyway. I was wondering if the fall could have hurt him even though he got up and climbed to the top of the cage to hang upside down. More details in the first post.

 

[mtgreene]

If you're worried about it I would take it to a vet.

Does it have good straight arms and legs?
You said that its shaking...have you been providing it with UVB light that does not pass through glass or plastic?

Have you been feeding it well-fed/gutloaded insects that are dusted with a phos.-free calcium powder at most feedings? Have you been using any other supplements or gutloading the insects with commercial feeds? If so what specifically?

Yup, his arms and legs are straight and have been and he's always been a very active climber. He only started shaking after his fall, which was only like 30 minutes ago. The UVB does not pass through glass or plastic, just the mesh screen on top of the cage. He does eat well-fed/gutloaded insects and are powdered at most feedings with a phosphorus free powder being used most days and another powder on other days. We gutload them with fresh greens and apples sometimes.

 

[mtgreene]

is he using and gripping with all 4 legs? Sometimes they will crawl on the top of the cage and hang upside down.

Yeah, he's using all 4 legs and he usually climbs upside down when he's in a good mood. He's hanging in one spot right now and was shivering almost, which is why I'm worried he might be hurt, but his grip looks good.

 

[Syn]

A healthy chameleon should not fall, though there are rare exceptions. It sounds like you have most everything under control...

Do you know if he fell on his back? Stomach? Side?

 

[ChameleonRave]

lower is basking temps to atleast 80 and get the humidity gauge as soon as possible. otherwise from reading it seems ok. also get mulit vitamins for him... give him the vitamin w/o d3 very often and d3 atleast 2 a month and the same for multi vit. 2 times a months. ( was reccomended to me a while back) you can try it too but if anyones got a better schedule please correct me

 

[mtgreene]

A healthy chameleon should not fall, though there are rare exceptions. It sounds like you have most everything under control...

Do you know if he fell on his back? Stomach? Side?

He's never fallen before, so I'm almost positive he got scared of all the hands in his tank touching his stuff. There were a lot of hands in there for a guy who isn't usually held at all. We also might have bumped the vine he was sitting on. He fell on his side and took a few seconds to get up, but he got up and climbed to the top of the tank where he was posted... he's since moved to his usual hiding spot where he's hanging on with all four feet. I think the shaking has slowed down, but it's hard to tell because he's hiding.

 

[Syn]

Can you describe the shaking a little more? Is it a full body shake or is he moving himself back and fourth on his feet?

Without a video or pictures it's a little hard to get an image of what's going on.

 

[PedroANDAshley]

Normally,
if a chameleon has broken a leg or hurt it badly they will "drag" the leg along with them and favor the other leg more.
Look for those signs. Though that would rule out any huge injuries to the leg theres still the possiblity he hurt it, even if just a little.
Also, can you provide pics or even a video or his behavior?

 

[mtgreene]

Can you describe the shaking a little more? Is it a full body shake or is he moving himself back and fourth on his feet?

Without a video or pictures it's a little hard to get an image of what's going on.

It's not the normal swinging that they do when they walk; it was more of a trembling. He seemed disoriented and a little stiff. I'll try to take pictures but if it's from stress I don't want to worsen it, unless you think I should. He doesn't really like the camera and he's hiding right now so I'd have to disturb him to get pictures and video.

 

[mtgreene]

Normally,
if a chameleon has broken a leg or hurt it badly they will "drag" the leg along with them and favor the other leg more.
Look for those signs. Though that would rule out any huge injuries to the leg theres still the possiblity he hurt it, even if just a little.
Also, can you provide pics or even a video or his behavior?

Definitely not dragging, he's using all four legs/feet and all his toes like usual. I'll go try to get a video.

 

[mtgreene]

He's not really moving, just poking his head out of hiding, so there's nothing to take a video of. He moved from the top of the cage into his leaves and from there he's gone onto his vines a little bit to poke his head through. His body isn't shaking anymore, his head and the leaves he's hiding under aren't shaking either. Is it possible he was/is just dazed and disoriented from the fall?

 

[Nanotrev]

I'm not entirely sure but could it be possible that chameleons drop from their branches when frightened in an effort to escape? I'm pretty sure this is a myth but it came to mind as I was reading this thread but one would think the chameleon would be hard-wired with the knowledge in its mind that falling has its consequences. Just a thought. On another note, my chameleon has fallen before due to trying to climb out onto a leaf but he's been fine ever since. He's a two-year old Jackson's chameleon and the fall was about three feet at the most. Something you might want to take into consideration is that when people are very stressed or very scared, we sometimes get the quakes. I've been that scared before, as well as being so stressed from fatigue that my muscles were so weak that I shook.

 

[mtgreene]

I'm not entirely sure but could it be possible that chameleons drop from their branches when frightened in an effort to escape? I'm pretty sure this is a myth but it came to mind as I was reading this thread but one would think the chameleon would be hard-wired with the knowledge in its mind that falling has its consequences. Just a thought. On another note, my chameleon has fallen before due to trying to climb out onto a leaf but he's been fine ever since. He's a two-year old Jackson's chameleon and the fall was about three feet at the most. Something you might want to take into consideration is that when people are very stressed or very scared, we sometimes get the quakes. I've been that scared before, as well as being so stressed from fatigue that my muscles were so weak that I shook.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking because everything else about him looks okay. His fall was much less than three feet, probably only about 6-8 inches, a foot max. He's little though.I'm just concerned because he's normally very active and is now just looking around at stuff from behind his leaves. Is that okay? Should I just watch him for a while? Thanks for all the help.