Climbing

[Charlee]

Hello everyone. Our Chameleon is male and six months old now. However, on his front left foot, he has a slight deformity. On the side where he should have two toes, they aren't split so he sorta only has one! Plus he has no nails (claws) on this "toe" either so struggles occassionally when climbing. Because of this I get really nervous when I see him climbing along the roof of his viv and i knew it was inevitable that he would one day fall

So i get home from work today and see him up there and literally have to cover my eyes. My boyfriend always moans at me when i get worked up about it so my theory is, if I cant see him then I can't worry! Although when I did peep at him, he was only hanging on with one foot so i screamed at my boyfriend, who ran over and went to help him off, although he wasn't quick enough and he fell all the way down We have the extra large exo terra 90x45x90cm. He seems to be walking and climbing again fine? My question is, does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can stop him from getting up there? Thanks!

 

[camimom]

Put more stuff for him to climb on in the cage.

 

[Charlee]

Its already fairly packed!

 

[camimom]

then not much, they are going to climb on things no matter what. all you can do is provide plenty of things to climb on.

what is your basking temp?

 

[Charlee]

Currently 89.9.

In the UK it's obviously not warm. And i do find that when opening his viv it can feel colder in there than it does in our room. Should i have another basking light because the viv is so large? Or should it be turned up all the way?

 

[camimom]

i would get another basking light and make another basking spot.

i find that it helps when you have the bigger cages.

 

[Charlee]

What bulb wattage should I be using?

 

[camimom]

I use two of the same wattage.

I dont know what its like in the UK,

but I use two 60 watt bulbs durign the summer, and durin gthe winter i use 2 100 watt bulbs.

 

[Carlton]

Hello everyone. Our Chameleon is male and six months old now. However, on his front left foot, he has a slight deformity. On the side where he should have two toes, they aren't split so he sorta only has one! Plus he has no nails (claws) on this "toe" either so struggles occassionally when climbing. Because of this I get really nervous when I see him climbing along the roof of his viv and i knew it was inevitable that he would one day fall

A "soft" fall from those heights isn't going to hurt him especially if there is a lot of foliage and other stuff to break the fall on the way down. Really, I think you are worrying too much about this. Chams can fall out of full sized trees without hurting themselves much at all.

 

[Charlee]

Just had to ask as i'm a first time owner so everything is new. Thanks.

 

[lysinlight87]

I live in hampshire- my guy has a 75w basking bulb at 32C (89F), I'm gonna set up another bulb, a 40w & set that to 25C, just to maintain the temp for him.

As you have him in a glass enclosure it may not be necesary to set up 2 bulbs. I just switched from the same cage as you to a screened cage, in the exo terra it was easy to maintain the temp with 1 bulb.

What you descirbe of his toes sounds normal to me, except for not having claws, do you have any photos?

My heart stops when mine falls too, but more often than not, it's because he's climbed onto a really flimsy twig of his ficus that won't hold his weight. They puff up when they fall to protect themselves.