Zuri had a fall...please help!

[christineacero]

Zuri, my male rudis chameleon was crawling on the roof of his enclosure tonight after lights out, and before i could get to him he fell and landed on his back! he righted himself and walked over to a plant near the front of his terrarium, so i put my hand out to see if he'd crawl on me so i could check him over for any obvious injuries. He willingly crawled onto my hand (the first time ive actually held him- hes new) and he laid there with his eyes closed for almost an hour. every once and a while he'd open his eyes and look around, but then he'd just lay his head back down and close them again. I tried to move him to a tupperware with paper towel to give my hand a rest and he perked up and sat normally on my thumb, so i tried my luck with his favorite branch and he went over to it, but went right to sleep. Would this be normal behaviour since it was already lights out in the terrarium? Do chameleons accidentally fall like this often? I've only had them for 2 full days so I'm new to this, and now I'm terrified about what's going to happen. Any advice or past experiences would be helpful!

 

[KatiLemons]

He is probably fine. Just see how he is tomorrow. He might just be really tired and cold and wanting to sleep.

 

[laurie]

Chams are known to fall sometimes. It sounds like he was just very soundly asleep. I would watch him very closely as I have not known one to fall on its back. Just make sure all his movements seem normal.

 

[Juliaf3]

How's the little fella doing today?

 

[christineacero]

sorry for such a late reply! I forgot about this thread...Zuri is totally fine! Hes a very active little guy actually. Needless to say though, hes never again crawled on the ceiling- lol!

 

[Cait0420]

I thought you had two females?

 

[christineacero]

i do. Zuri was supposed to be male, but turned out they sexed them wrong and I have 2 females instead...

 

[Cait0420]

I figured something like that. I like how you picked a good name that could be male or female

 

[laurie]

Did you know a wide band of scotch tape around the top will keep her from getting to the top? Just a useful tip.

 

[christineacero]

I figured something like that. I like how you picked a good name that could be male or female

haha good thing i did that eh?! Its funny, I picked Zuri because it meant "handsome" in Swahili, but then I found it on another site saying that it meant "beautiful." I guess it works no matter what!

 

[christineacero]

Did you know a wide band of scotch tape around the top will keep her from getting to the top? Just a useful tip.

what a great idea! Thankfully, after that first fall, I've never seen her crawl on the top again...i guess she learned her lesson! Silly girl...

Sometimes though when I turn off their lights for the night, Zuri will crawl on the sides of the screen, and sometimes fall asleep there for the night. Is this normal? And is there any way I can get her to stop? It scares me to death when she does these acrobats!!