Veiled jumped from my hand

[YouDontGnomeMe]

Hello everyone. I have a male veiled, probably about 4 months old or so. I'm trying to get him used to being held (he tends to have quite an attitude, but is getting better). Today while holding him, he was "walking" from hand to hand (like on one hand, and I'd move the other in front, etc in a treadmill effect). Eventually he just...spread his front legs and pretty much jumped. I was standing at the time, so he fell, his head hit the top of the cage, and he tumbled down to the floor. All in all...about 4 feet or so. He seemed kinda stunned afterwards, I picked him up no problem, put him back in the cage, and he just seemed to stay in place, looking around. Now he's moving again, he's back on his log stretched out under the heat lamp. But is there anything I need to look/watch for to make sure he's not injured? Thank you...

 

[Kretzy 84]

Same thing happened with my panther the first week I had him... was wondering about this as well. My guy seemed to have no fear.. prob only of me haha thankfully he landed on carpet@

 

[Kate]

Hi you guys welcome to the forum. Chams are known to take a dive now and again. They are built to withstand a knock or two. Just keep a watch for abnormal behaviour. Make sure all limbs are moving well and try to prevent it happening again. They may not be so lucky next time.

 

[kuskye25]

just keep an eye on him, btw thats what they do when they are scared and feel there is nowhere else to go, they drop like a rock... ive had mine do it before when she was young and afraid of me, i went to get her out of her cage and she said heck no ill drop on the floor of the cage, about a three foot drop.... she was fine, and once i knew she was ok i had a good laugh...

end result i dont force her to do what i like... sure i could have trained her, but i figure its bad enough she is captive why not let her do what she wants not what i want...

a lot of people on here pride themselves in handling their chams, im definitely not one of them, although im not bias about what anyone does with their cham...

mine never liked it so i left it at that and only handle her when i have to...

personally it reminds me of pulling a fish out of water, is it going to kill it, absolutely not, do they like it, haha heck no, sure if i pulled my piranha in and out of tanks over and over hed start reacting less freakishly each time....

not to discourage you from doing so, just food for thought, get in their minds and understand what they are thinking and put yourself in there shoes...

 

[Hakai]

just keep an eye on him, btw thats what they do when they are scared and feel there is nowhere else to go, they drop like a rock... ive had mine do it before when she was young and afraid of me, i went to get her out of her cage and she said heck no ill drop on the floor of the cage, about a three foot drop.... she was fine, and once i knew she was ok i had a good laugh...

end result i dont force her to do what i like... sure i could have trained her, but i figure its bad enough she is captive why not let her do what she wants not what i want...

a lot of people on here pride themselves in handling their chams, im definitely not one of them, although im not bias about what anyone does with their cham...

mine never liked it so i left it at that and only handle her when i have to...

personally it reminds me of pulling a fish out of water, is it going to kill it, absolutely not, do they like it, haha heck no, sure if i pulled my piranha in and out of tanks over and over hed start reacting less freakishly each time....

not to discourage you from doing so, just food for thought, get in their minds and understand what they are thinking and put yourself in there shoes...

I like this post.

 

[SaintJimmy]

Mine fell off of my dresser about 3 feet high and landed behind it. He crawled onto the thick wire leading up to the outlet that is used to power his lights eek and I tried to put a vine down there to see if he'd get up, but eventually I had to move the entire dresser and pick the poor nervous spotted little veiled chameleon out of there and put him back.
He was fine afterwards though.

 

[YouDontGnomeMe]

Ok, thanks for the reassuring words. I know some aren't fond of being held. I had one many years ago that didn't mind it, I guess I'm just wanting this one to be the same way. I'll definitely be more careful if I try to hold him in the future. I didn't know they would jump if they're scared. Guess it's a flight or fight mentality or something.

And yeah, I can understand it from his point of view. Guess I can't blame the little guy

 

[Hakai]

Guess it's a flight or fight mentality or something.

It's more of just a flight with them. Lol but yeh.

 

[midcoastchameleon]

I find that if you bring the chameleon above your eye level, they tend to calm down a bit. This may be unique to my experience, but never the less has worked over the years with some Evel Knievel chams of mine.

 

[YouDontGnomeMe]

Ok, I might try that. I HAVE noticed that if I gently stroke his chin, he seems to enjoy that and it calms him down a bit.

 

[crocky]

My guy, Waldo had a good fall about the 2nd week I had him. It was the first time I got him out and he immediately tried to go back in the cage but missed. He fell about 4 feet and hit the hardwood floor. I was worried at first and literally lost sleep over it that night, but to my amazement he was just fine. Of course he has not liked me since and i lost any trust he may have started to develop for me but is starting to come around again slowly but surely

 

[YouDontGnomeMe]

Yes, I lost a lot of trust with him on this one. He kinda did it before when I'd only had him about a week, but i was sitting on the couch when he bailed, so he only fell about a foot or so onto the couch. He hit the ground hissing lol. Ever since then he's not liked me trying to hold him, but I'd been making progress lately. I tend to put on green leather gardening gloves, 1) so he can't bite me and 2) hopefully the green, that's about the same shade as him, calms him. But today I gently reached in the cage, and he was having NONE of it.