Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Has anyone ever been told that if a chameleon falls it will die, no matter the height? I had a herp store employee tell me this, saying it was a stress issue. Sounds weird. Any truth to it?
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Diego

Diego & Tiffany's Zoo:
SNAKES
3.4 Corn Snakes (Different morphs)
1.0.0 Boa Constrictor
0.1.0 Dumeril's Boa
1.1.0 Rosy Boas (Mexican & Mid Baja)
1.1.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
0.1.0 Indonesian Dwarf Pacific Boa
0.1.0 Tangerine Honduran Milksnake
1.0.0 Honduran Milksnake
0.1.0 Pueblan Milksnake
1.2.0 Ball Pythons
1.0.0 Woma Python
1.1.0 Cape York Spotted Pythons
1.1.0 Macklot's Pythons
0.0.1 Ribbon Snake
1.0.0 Western Hognose
1.0.0 Albino San Diego Gopher Snake
0.0.1 Sonoran Gopher Snake
0.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
1.1.0 Gray Banded Kingsnakes (River Road)
0.1.0 Desert Kingsnake
0.1.1 California Kingsnakes
1.0.0 Yellowtail Cribo
0.1.0 Blacktail Cribo

LIZARDS
1.0.0 Frilled Dragon
3.1.0 Bearded Dragons (2 Normal, 1 RedXGold, 1 Citrus)
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
2.3.0 Leopard Geckos
1.1.0 Yellow Niger Uromastyx
1.1.0 Green Anoles
FROGS
2.2.0 Southern Bell Frogs
1.0.1 Green Tree Frogs
0.0.2 Striped Walking Frogs
1.1.1 White's Tree Frogs

I had a fischer's multi that used to jump/fall off the valance of my curtain many times and he never died from it....never injured himself either. I have also had ones that open the door to their cages and fall with the screen door to the ground and it was no problem. In the wild, chameleons fall out of trees and survive.

I think what the person is referring to is that when a chameleon is trying to escape from you (the predator) out of fear/terror and falls there is a possibility of it dying....but its not from the fall usually....its from the terror/fear that its feeling....and its a very rare occurence. Some species exhibit more fear responses to us than others.

Don't believe the hype ! Obviously the people who care for chams as well as any other animals, truly care for the well being of them. Well, at least we hope they do ! Not to worry though, my chams have had a few falls whether it is from climbing on the roof of their screen cages or trying to get away from their daddy (me). I think the sales clerk was possibly misinformed or trying to scare you into not handling them as much. In nature chams do fall from some extensive heights sometimes, either to escape predators or possibly lose branches or quarrels between their own kind. Just be careful and don’t freak out. It's the stress that gets to them, not so much the fall. Offer your cham some appropriate size branches to hold on to and leaves to climb through and drink off of. They should be as happy with their surroundings as you are with them. READ READ READ. Knowledge is power and the more you know about their NEEDS the healthier and happier they will be. Good luck

You know what's funny, is the guy talked us out of everything in the store! This Blue Tongue is mean, that Uro will eat you out of house and home, you don't really want a Green Tree Python, Chameleons die from falling...

This was a long time ago, and the reason I brought it up is it just happened to my Veiled. He was hunting crickets in his cage as usual, hanging upside down when he fell. My girlfriend saw the whole thing. When she didn't see him get back up, she looked at him and he was on the floor of his cage with his mouth open and his tongue sticking out.

She called me into the room and I picked him up to look at him. He still had a firm grip, but his tail was limp. He was every color in the spectrum. When he finally pulled his tongue in and closed his mouth, I tried to put him back in his cage. He wouldn't grab his branches, so I set him down on the floor of his cage again, and told my girl he was probably still in shock from the fall ( which was 4-6 inches, max). Let's give him a half hour or so, and if he's not any better we'll give the vet a call.

Twenty minutes later he was dead. When I looked in on him again, he had stuck out his tongue again and clamped down on it so hard it had bled.

I am at a loss. He was eating regularly, Calcium/Vitamin dusted crickets, mealworms, the occasional pinky. UVB lighting.
78-85 enclosure with a basking spot in the low to mid 90's. Wire mesh cage, so no reflection. Water dish with an airstone in it. About the only thing I can think of that I didn't have right was the humidity, which always stayed around 30%.

What happened??
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Diego

Diego & Tiffany's Zoo:
SNAKES
3.4 Corn Snakes (Different morphs)
1.0.0 Boa Constrictor
0.1.0 Dumeril's Boa
1.1.0 Rosy Boas (Mexican & Mid Baja)
1.1.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
0.1.0 Indonesian Dwarf Pacific Boa
0.1.0 Tangerine Honduran Milksnake
1.0.0 Honduran Milksnake
0.1.0 Pueblan Milksnake
1.2.0 Ball Pythons
1.0.0 Woma Python
1.1.0 Cape York Spotted Pythons
1.1.0 Macklot's Pythons
0.0.1 Ribbon Snake
1.0.0 Western Hognose
1.0.0 Albino San Diego Gopher Snake
0.0.1 Sonoran Gopher Snake
0.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
1.1.0 Gray Banded Kingsnakes (River Road)
0.1.0 Desert Kingsnake
0.1.1 California Kingsnakes
1.0.0 Yellowtail Cribo
0.1.0 Blacktail Cribo

LIZARDS
1.0.0 Frilled Dragon
3.1.0 Bearded Dragons (2 Normal, 1 RedXGold, 1 Citrus)
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
2.3.0 Leopard Geckos
1.1.0 Yellow Niger Uromastyx
1.1.0 Green Anoles
FROGS
2.2.0 Southern Bell Frogs
1.0.1 Green Tree Frogs
0.0.2 Striped Walking Frogs
1.1.1 White's Tree Frogs

I'm sorry to hear this. If you don't mind my comments, there were some things wrong with your husbandry that may have lead to his fall. The humidity was much too low and unless he actually learned to drink from the bowl every day (and you saw him do it) he was not getting nearly enough moisture. Drinking water from a container is pretty unnatural for a cham and most just don't do it. Feeding mealworms and pinkies can result in vitamin deficiencies and intestinal problems too. If you were dusting every day he was getting an overdose of minerals and vitamins. No healthy cham would die from such a short fall. I think probably the fall was the result of long term problems, not the cause. But, without a necropsy you won't really know for sure.

I don't mind your comments at all. I welcome any opinions and insight.

I know for a fact he did drink water. He would lick the mist that collected from the airstone's bubbles.

I only did mealworms and pinks as treats. He got mealies maybe once a month (I hardly use them cause I hate digging them out!), and in the 9 months we had him, he got 3 pinkies total.

I dust cickets about every two weeks. 2:1 Calcium to vitamin powders.

I'm sure he had something wrong with him. If he showed any signs, I missed them all...
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Diego

Diego & Tiffany's Zoo:
SNAKES
3.4 Corn Snakes (Different morphs)
1.0.0 Boa Constrictor
0.1.0 Dumeril's Boa
1.1.0 Rosy Boas (Mexican & Mid Baja)
1.1.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
0.1.0 Indonesian Dwarf Pacific Boa
0.1.0 Tangerine Honduran Milksnake
1.0.0 Honduran Milksnake
0.1.0 Pueblan Milksnake
1.2.0 Ball Pythons
1.0.0 Woma Python
1.1.0 Cape York Spotted Pythons
1.1.0 Macklot's Pythons
0.0.1 Ribbon Snake
1.0.0 Western Hognose
1.0.0 Albino San Diego Gopher Snake
0.0.1 Sonoran Gopher Snake
0.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
1.1.0 Gray Banded Kingsnakes (River Road)
0.1.0 Desert Kingsnake
0.1.1 California Kingsnakes
1.0.0 Yellowtail Cribo
0.1.0 Blacktail Cribo

LIZARDS
1.0.0 Frilled Dragon
3.1.0 Bearded Dragons (2 Normal, 1 RedXGold, 1 Citrus)
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
2.3.0 Leopard Geckos
1.1.0 Yellow Niger Uromastyx
1.1.0 Green Anoles
FROGS
2.2.0 Southern Bell Frogs
1.0.1 Green Tree Frogs
0.0.2 Striped Walking Frogs
1.1.1 White's Tree Frogs

I'm so sorry for your loss. Its always hard when we lose a pet...especially when we don't know why. Hope you have some good memories of him.

I'm betting that your chameleon was already in the process of dying when he fell. Such a short fall should not have caused any problem for a veiled.

You said..."Water dish with an airstone in it"...did you ever see him drink from it? Was the water changed every day and the dish cleaned out? Did you not mist his cage or usea a dripper?

Do you gutload the insects? Do you dust with a D3 powder once or twice a month? Did you offer him greens? How frequently did you dust with the calcium and vitamins? Which brands did you use?

Where the plants in his cage non-toxic and well-washed (both sides of the leaves)? Was the soil covered or water run through it to leach out any fertilizers or insecticides? Did you use a substrate in the cage?

Was he pooping?

Hopefully if anything you were doing wrong concerning husbandry can be corrected for the future.

Thank you all for your condolences.

"You said..."Water dish with an airstone in it"...did you ever see him drink from it? Was the water changed every day and the dish cleaned out? Did you not mist his cage or usea a dripper?"

Yes, there were fake leaves in the dish that caught the mist off the bubbles. I observed him licking these on a few occasions. He had this set up for 5 months, so dehydration should have set in long ago if that was a problem. Honestly the water was not changed everyday but every two to three days at least.

"Do you gutload the insects? Do you dust with a D3 powder once or twice a month? Did you offer him greens? How frequently did you dust with the calcium and vitamins? Which brands did you use?"

Yes I gutload all my crickets. Jurassi Cal and Repti Cal powder no more than twice a month. I offered him greens by hanging them in his cage, but he never ate them. I started putting chopped greens under his crickets in a cup at feeding time and I know that he ate those.

"Where the plants in his cage non-toxic and well-washed (both sides of the leaves)? Was the soil covered or water run through it to leach out any fertilizers or insecticides? Did you use a substrate in the cage?"

All plants in his enclosure were fake. His substrate was orchid bark.

"Was he pooping?"

Regularly.

As far as we could tell, he was active and healthy up until that last moment when he fell. I realize that it probably was a husbandry issue that led to his demise, I just want to know what it was in case I try my hand at another chameleon.

Thank you.

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Diego

Diego & Tiffany's Zoo:
SNAKES
3.4 Corn Snakes (Different morphs)
1.0.0 Boa Constrictor
0.1.0 Dumeril's Boa
1.1.0 Rosy Boas (Mexican & Mid Baja)
1.1.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
0.1.0 Indonesian Dwarf Pacific Boa
0.1.0 Tangerine Honduran Milksnake
1.0.0 Honduran Milksnake
0.1.0 Pueblan Milksnake
1.2.0 Ball Pythons
1.0.0 Woma Python
1.1.0 Cape York Spotted Pythons
1.1.0 Macklot's Pythons
0.0.1 Ribbon Snake
1.0.0 Western Hognose
1.0.0 Albino San Diego Gopher Snake
0.0.1 Sonoran Gopher Snake
0.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
1.1.0 Gray Banded Kingsnakes (River Road)
0.1.0 Desert Kingsnake
0.1.1 California Kingsnakes
1.0.0 Yellowtail Cribo
0.1.0 Blacktail Cribo

LIZARDS
1.0.0 Frilled Dragon
3.1.0 Bearded Dragons (2 Normal, 1 RedXGold, 1 Citrus)
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
2.3.0 Leopard Geckos
1.1.0 Yellow Niger Uromastyx
1.1.0 Green Anoles
FROGS
2.2.0 Southern Bell Frogs
1.0.1 Green Tree Frogs
0.0.2 Striped Walking Frogs
1.1.1 White's Tree Frogs

Unless they've changed the ingredients, Jurassi-cal and reptical are not good supplements. The last time I looked at their ingredients, they had improper calcium: phosphorous ratios, and too little D3.

IF the ingredients are the same, then I am sure that's at least a part of your problem. Not all of these suplements are the same - oin fact, some can be 100% worthless.

What would you recommend then?
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Diego

Diego & Tiffany's Zoo:
SNAKES
3.4 Corn Snakes (Different morphs)
1.0.0 Boa Constrictor
0.1.0 Dumeril's Boa
1.1.0 Rosy Boas (Mexican & Mid Baja)
1.1.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
0.1.0 Indonesian Dwarf Pacific Boa
0.1.0 Tangerine Honduran Milksnake
1.0.0 Honduran Milksnake
0.1.0 Pueblan Milksnake
1.2.0 Ball Pythons
1.0.0 Woma Python
1.1.0 Cape York Spotted Pythons
1.1.0 Macklot's Pythons
0.0.1 Ribbon Snake
1.0.0 Western Hognose
1.0.0 Albino San Diego Gopher Snake
0.0.1 Sonoran Gopher Snake
0.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
1.1.0 Gray Banded Kingsnakes (River Road)
0.1.0 Desert Kingsnake
0.1.1 California Kingsnakes
1.0.0 Yellowtail Cribo
0.1.0 Blacktail Cribo

LIZARDS
1.0.0 Frilled Dragon
3.1.0 Bearded Dragons (2 Normal, 1 RedXGold, 1 Citrus)
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
2.3.0 Leopard Geckos
1.1.0 Yellow Niger Uromastyx
1.1.0 Green Anoles
FROGS
2.2.0 Southern Bell Frogs
1.0.1 Green Tree Frogs
0.0.2 Striped Walking Frogs
1.1.1 White's Tree Frogs

rep-cal or minerall, not repto-cal, or repti-cal.
Rep-cal and minerall work, I've raised dozens of chameleons with the two of them.

Thank you. I'll switch.
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Diego

Diego & Tiffany's Zoo:
SNAKES
3.4 Corn Snakes (Different morphs)
1.0.0 Boa Constrictor
0.1.0 Dumeril's Boa
1.1.0 Rosy Boas (Mexican & Mid Baja)
1.1.0 Kenyan Sand Boas
0.1.0 Indonesian Dwarf Pacific Boa
0.1.0 Tangerine Honduran Milksnake
1.0.0 Honduran Milksnake
0.1.0 Pueblan Milksnake
1.2.0 Ball Pythons
1.0.0 Woma Python
1.1.0 Cape York Spotted Pythons
1.1.0 Macklot's Pythons
0.0.1 Ribbon Snake
1.0.0 Western Hognose
1.0.0 Albino San Diego Gopher Snake
0.0.1 Sonoran Gopher Snake
0.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
1.1.0 Gray Banded Kingsnakes (River Road)
0.1.0 Desert Kingsnake
0.1.1 California Kingsnakes
1.0.0 Yellowtail Cribo
0.1.0 Blacktail Cribo

LIZARDS
1.0.0 Frilled Dragon
3.1.0 Bearded Dragons (2 Normal, 1 RedXGold, 1 Citrus)
0.1.0 Eastern Collared Lizard
0.1.0 Merauke Blue Tongue Skink
2.3.0 Leopard Geckos
1.1.0 Yellow Niger Uromastyx
1.1.0 Green Anoles
FROGS
2.2.0 Southern Bell Frogs
1.0.1 Green Tree Frogs
0.0.2 Striped Walking Frogs
1.1.1 White's Tree Frogs

There are accounts from biologists in the field describing melleri falling out of 80 ft trees and walking off as if nothing had happened. There is also a fable about the females sacrificing themselves by climbing to the top of a tree and throwing themselves off. They hit the ground and burst open, freeing their babies. If you really watch a cham that falls, you probably noticed it looked bloated. Chams can inflate themselves with air to cushion a fall. Its a really quick reaction as they do the same when trying to intimidate a rival or a predator. Also, their ribcage is more cartilege than bone, and very flexible.

Chameleons have cartilaginous ribs that allow them to simply fall from a branch or tree top and be virtually unharmed. I will try and find the article where i read it from and post it here. But falls should not hurt the chameleon in the least.