Old and falling, help!
- Thread starter Melvin
- Start date
ridgebax1
Avid Member
He is definitely up there age wise! Congratulations on good husbandry. He may be falling due to age, but I am not that experienced with older chameleons. However I have read about younger chams with MBD doing a lot of falling. My first cham had MBD and had a lot of difficulty with walking, he would grab his front legs with his back feet causing him to fall. I kept him in a much lower enclosure. I recall that some folks actually turned their tall enclosures on their sides so there is less height to fall from. They also lined the bottoms with soft towels. It is hard to watch a pet decline. I think it is encouraging that he still eats and drinks. Pete did not do that very well toward the end of his life. Good luck with your boy. You may want to go to the vet to rule out other problems as well.
jannb
Chameleon Enthusiast
I posted on your other thread but I'll post here as well.
For now get him is a short cage and cover the bottom with something soft like towels so he doesn't get hurt when he falls. A really good chameleon vet is a must when you have an aging chameleon. When my guys get older some of them got arthritis also and it caused them to fall so I had to put them on short trees (I free range everybody). They can get Adequan injections and Metacam for that and it helps allot. I also had one with high blood pressure, which caused his eyes to be puffy and hardening of the arteries and that caused him to have a stroke. They also get cancer. Basically they pretty much get everything that we do. It's important to have regular checkups, x-rays and blood work more often when they are older so you can stay right on top of everything.
For now get him is a short cage and cover the bottom with something soft like towels so he doesn't get hurt when he falls. A really good chameleon vet is a must when you have an aging chameleon. When my guys get older some of them got arthritis also and it caused them to fall so I had to put them on short trees (I free range everybody). They can get Adequan injections and Metacam for that and it helps allot. I also had one with high blood pressure, which caused his eyes to be puffy and hardening of the arteries and that caused him to have a stroke. They also get cancer. Basically they pretty much get everything that we do. It's important to have regular checkups, x-rays and blood work more often when they are older so you can stay right on top of everything.
junglefries
Avid Member
Lots of people with older chams use something like ferret hammocks suspended at the bottom of the cage to catch them. It. Will keep them from getting seriously injured upon falling. Like jann said a shorter cage or raise the hammocks up to keep falls to a minimum. 6 years is a good run.
