Chameleon injuries and other questions.

[rachmbrooks]

Hello! I have a veiled chameleon who's about half a year old. I've had him since October and he's finally been warming up to me. Last weekend was the first time we were able to get him out of the cage. He usually would just stay in his cage and not dare to come out even when we left him alone. I've been letting him explore around the room and he keeps falling!! I know it's perfectly normal for him to slip but he's fallen pretty far. He isn't the friendliest and the only time we've ever been able to handle him was late at night when he's half asleep, so I can't exactly remove him from the dangerous places he's climbing up to without him hissing and getting defensive with me. A few minutes ago, he fall off my desk leg and when I went to look at him he wasn't moving. It seemed almost as if he passed out from hitting his head. I got worried and was about to go over to him since he wasn't moving and then he started moving again and slowly walked away. I was relieved but I'm worried and now he's moving around the room at a much slower rate than before and was wondering if anyone has an opinion on whether he'll be okay or if I should worry.

As i was writing this, he was climbing right back up to the same spot where he fell!

 

[kinyonga]

Hard to tell if he's OK...just keep an eye on him. If he's fallen a few times then I would be finding a way to chameleon proof your room or don't let him roam around. Maybe you need to wrap something on the legs of the desk that he can grip or keep an eye in what he's doing so he won't fall again anywhere?

Is he out of the cage a lot?

He looks pretty thin....can you post a couple more photos of him and answer the questions in the how to ask for help thread at the top of the health forum.

 

[joshuadh2310]

do you just let him roam around the room? you dont have anything setup for him to climb on outside his cage?

 

[rachmbrooks]

do you just let him roam around the room? you dont have anything setup for him to climb on outside his cage?

Yeah I do have lots of things for him to climb onto, like another plant directly next to his cage, but he isn't interested in them. He sticks close to the walls and at the moment he is sitting on my curtain rod. He usually makes his way up there and then falls asleep.

 

[kinyonga]

Leaving him out of the cage for too long without any warmth or UVB light may be another problem BTW.

 

[joshuadh2310]

like he sleeps during the day time? and i agree with kinyonga if you let him roam the room id chameleon proof(baby proof) the room for him.

 

[rachmbrooks]

like he sleeps during the day time? and i agree with kinyonga if you let him roam the room id chameleon proof(baby proof) the room for him.

no he doesn't sleep during the day. he passed out after hitting his head.

 

[joshuadh2310]

no he doesn't sleep during the day. he passed out after hitting his head.

i gotcha. if you want to let him out more i would recommend making a small free range for him. it can be anything from a fake tree a real tree 2 pothos on top of each other so many things that you can even have a basking light or something. it would be much safer for him than letting him roam the room and not really expensive.

 

[rachmbrooks]

i gotcha. if you want to let him out more i would recommend making a small free range for him. it can be anything from a fake tree a real tree 2 pothos on top of each other so many things that you can even have a basking light or something. it would be much safer for him than letting him roam the room and not really expensive.

great idea thank you!