Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
I'm new here and also a new cham owner. I got a male veiled about a month ago (I absolutely LOVE him, he's about 7 months old). I'm just wondering if chams ever fall off of branches, hands etc? Mine likes to crawl on the side and top of his pen and it kind of freaks me out! He's in a Reptarium so the mesh is woven really close together so he seems able to grip it well but even so...............

BTW there are some really knowledgeable people here that have answered many questions for me (without me even having to post) and I appreciate it.

Thanks,
Meemee

Chams don't fall off of branches THAT much. I mean it will happen, but it's more of a problem falling from screens, and even then it's not too common. From what I understand (read in a book I think) they can jump from a tree in the wild and be ok (like if something attacks). I have seen one of my panthers fall from the screen top of his cage (3 feet) and after sitting there a minute he was ok. If it begins to happen alot, keep plants pretty thick in the cage so he can't fall to the hard bottom.
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
1.2 Nosy Be Panthers
2.2 Sambava Panthers
1.0 Tamatave Panther
1.0 Nosy Be X Unknown Cross
1.1 Veiled Chameleons
0.0.2 CBB Desert Tortoises
0.0.1 Sulcatta Tortoise

Falls happen. Chams have ribs of cartilege not true bone and generally they don't hurt themselves when they fall a short distance (such as in a cage) as they can inflate themselves with air to absorb the impact. If your cage has a lot of foliage and branches for climbing it shouldn't happen very often. The most common problem is pulling out a toenail by getting it caught in the cage screen. Watch for missing claws and swollen toes. Again, if the cage has lots of climbing routes the cham should not need to climb on the screen as much.