Death from Falling?

[carol5208]

No it did not happen to my cham! I am curious though with the way they precariously hang and climb, if anyone has ever lost a cham from them falling. today I had mine out in a hibscus tree in my patio. The plant got moved too close to my screen(my patio is mostly screen) and the next thing I know he is7 feet or so up in the air on the screen and did not want to come down. I put a pillow under him incase he fell and then I put my hand under him and finally got him to move on my hand but it scared the heck outta me! Would be intererested in some feedback. Thanks.

 

[JaxyGirl]

I haven't had any precarious falls "yet" but little ones like slipping off the couch onto the carpeted floor....But yeah sometimes I do wonder about more serious accidents..but like you, if my guy gets to high I'm after him so he doesn't fall and break a horn or something more serious

 

[SSimsswiSS]

Yes, I've heard of chameleons falling in the middle of the night from their perch, and having fatal falls.

 

[Carlton]

Yes, I've heard of chameleons falling in the middle of the night from their perch, and having fatal falls.

The chance that a healthy cham dying from a fall in a typical captive setup cage is very very low. We are talking only 3-5 feet here. Chams in the wild have been observed falling from 100' trees, hitting the ground and walking off as if nothing happened. They would never have survived if they were so fragile a fall would be fatal. It was a reported legend that melleri females would "sacrifice" themselves for unborn babies by throwing themselves out of trees, bursting open on the ground and releasing babies. Legends usually don't get started unless an event is fairly common. They do have a survival mechanism for falling. When they feel themselves fall they usually puff themselves up with air to soften the impact. Their ribs are also mostly cartilege making them more flexible and less apt to fracture and puncture an organ. I've had chams fall 6-8' from curtain rods onto hard floors with no injuries (except to ME!). I suppose it could happen if they just happened to hit something hard in an odd way or they had seriously weak bones from undiagnosed MBD.

 

[carol5208]

Oh thank you! You answered every question I was thinking of! I knew there would be someone on this forum that would have knowledge of this. I did not know how resilient they were if they fell. I guess you explained it!