I just moved my chameleon to her 175g reptarium outdoors full time. The enclosure is loaded with foliage from 4 ficus trees and with most of the filmsy part, which Lola seems to gravitate toward, i postioned several long skinny wooden bird perches so she has something more sturdy to climb on. I have two problems.



One is that she has lost the prehensile end of her tail after surgery she received last fall. This greatly compromises her balance and climbing ability. The enclosure is about 4 feet tall, but the bottom foot or so is packed with towels, clothes and other thing to give her a soft landing in case she falls. She has fallen and Im concerned. I want to give her room to move around (shes been recovering in a 38 gallon reptarium for the last 6 months) and strengthen her muscles, plus get used to climbing without her tail. But, of course I dont want her to get hurt. What should I do? Am i risking too much by keeping her in a large outdoor enclosure? Should I down size the enclosure?



Second concern- Since she's been outside she become very "stand -off-ish", in a chameleon way. I was actually happy to see this because I had read that they will revert back to their wild "roots' (i.e.- they become mean,) when they become comfortable outside. She wont let me near her. It's kind of bittersweet, haha. The problem with this is that during her recovery, I had been hand feeding her and as a result, her aim with her tongue sucks. So, I made her a feeding station out of a small container tied to a branch. I saw her use it the first day I put it out and I was thrilled. Unfortunatley, I havent seen her use it since, and that was 2 days ago. In fact, she seems to steer clear of it intentionally. I'm hoping she's been eating the ficus leaves. The cage is too large to let the crickets free-roam, so she'll never find them. What do you all think I should do?



Sorry for the long post, but I feel like I need to thoroughly desribe everything. I'm like that in person, too. Haha.

Anyway, any thoughts, comments, or siggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks very much.

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