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My baby cham took a 3 foot drop onto a desk! I was cleaning the cage so I put him on this tall plant. It landed on its side and a little while later that portion of the side appeared to be darker. Almost as if bruised (I cant say it is because I'm not certain). 30 minutes later when it was back in its cage everything seemed normal. The coloration was gone and she active and not having any problems moving. Everything seems well, but are there anything I should look for? Has anyone here experienced a bad slip and fall accident and known any information on the afteraffects of a fall like this?

No, I have not experienced this, as I would display some common sense and NOT put a baby in such a tall tree, or if I did I would place some very dense padding so that such an incident would not happen.

If a bruise appeared, I would take him to a vet immediately.

My male veiled once took a fall of about 4 feet (and I wanted to kill the woman who dropped him, a supposed "cham expert" who wasn't quick enough to hold him as he ran). He ended up with black on his side, where he had landed on some squishy toys... He seemed ok from it, bounced back nicely. Tho he did fall into a box of soft stuff... If the "bruise" lasts for more than a few hours, I'd take her to the vet asap... but a vet visit to check for any unseen injuries is also a good idea wether or not the bruise goes away. Try a shorter plant next time, or supply padding if you have to use the same tall plant... Hope she is well.
And a note about the new cham in your household... It's easy to get wrapped up in how cool chams (and herps in general) are, but know your limits in taking care of them. I recently had to find new homes for 3 of my herps b/c we had substantially more income when I got them... since having to switch jobs, I couldn't afford having 4 herps anymore. As much as it killed me to do it, I found 3 of them a new home with someone that I know will take good care of them. And down the line, I might get more, but that will have to wait until I have a better job & know I can pay for it all. You and your brother may have a harder time doing that (paying for all the unexpected expenses). Just know that really caring for your chams may, at some point, mean realizing that you can't care for them properly & need to find someone who can. Good Luck & read as much as you can on their care... =o)
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1.0 Crazy dog... or duck, sheep, snake, cat & grumpy old man combo... (Gizmo)
0.2 Vacationing Kitties (Puddy, PeeWee)
1.0 Veiled Chameleons (Charlie)
0.1 Amazing Fiance =o)

Well the dark spots are gone, and its eating and drinking so I put a hold on the vet visit. But I will keep a close eye on it. Also I think IT is a HE still unsure.

He was climbing upside on his cage (like he always does) and never before have I seen him fall. Well one second he was hanging, then I hear the leaves of my umbrella plant in the cage bruste (his fall), and then I find him clasping onto a leaf with two feet and his tail. He's also going through a complete shed I dont know if this information is relevant. Should I take him to the vet? He has no relevant signs of illness, pain, and he is as active as ever not to mention its $75 just for a checkup.

the shed might be playing a roll in the fall, esp if there's still shed on his feet (sorry about the gender mix-up). If he falls again w/in the next couple of days, $75 or not, take him to the vet. It might seem pricey at $75 now, but later it may be MUCH more, or the problem may be too far along to help. Maybe you could call around for better vet prices, but then you may be compromising knowledge for a lower cost.
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1.0 Crazy dog... or duck, sheep, snake, cat & grumpy old man combo... (Gizmo)
0.2 Vacationing Kitties (Puddy, PeeWee)
1.0 Veiled Chameleons (Charlie)
0.1 Amazing Fiance =o)

how large a cage is he in? you may need to put him in a smaller cage for a while so that if he does fall it is a shorter distance. also, if you have plenty of foliage for him to grab on to a fall should not be an issue (unless, of course, there is something wrong with the cham). Chameleons also will instinctively puff themselves up with air during a fall in order to keep injury to a minimum, but I don't know if that is only when it is an intentional fall (escaping a predator) or if it is triggered no matter what.

lele
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.5 Mad. Hissers
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula (no name yet)
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha

OH I hope you didn't take to offense my comment on his sex, lol. He just ate 3 crickets, and I think the fall might have been because he is squirming so much. He is rubbing the skin on the cage and he must have lost his balance. His feet are already shed, and I figure if he is strong enough to hang upside down and walk there can't be anything too wrong with him as far as injuries.

When he was on the plant this morning I observed two things. He skin color was ALOT lighter, pale almost and there was a LIGHT pale coloration of blue, red and green similar to the picture found below. He's getting new colors as he reaches 3 months of age but I never really seen them when he is in the cage, he usually dark and he paces the top of the cage. I thought of this as him being an active cham. Does this mean he was happier on the tree? I remember reading the lighter the less stressed? The setup in the cage is perfect, and I have went through with my Vet who has dealt with carpets and he says its great. Do you think I should get a bigger cage (its 18 X 12 X 20 ATM but he only 1.5 SVL) and stick the 3 foot tall plant in it?

hey jeffrey,
nice lateralis you have. Do you have a pair or only this one? Cause I was wondering if i can put a couple of them together? I have a enclosure of 31.5*18*39. If not, i can make a wall in the middle to seperate them but one whole enclosure is much nicer and easier to make it look good. Any advice is welcome
thx and greetz,
Allen

The only time you should keep a pair together is for mating. They are not very social animals and will cause each other stress if kept together for a longer term. Plan on a divided cage unless it is extremely large (such as one you could walk into).

Anyway you could post a pic of your animal?

Carl

Stress color depends on the species. I have not seen carpets much, but would guess that being dark while climbing upside down on the cage top is general reaction to the intense light, part of this being stress. My young veileds often looked very dark when doing this. Babies often climb on cage tops, maybe because they are learning the limits to their new territories and they are a bit frustrated at not being able to climb as high toward the "sun" as they might want to. When most chams are BADLY stressed or trying to absorb some heat they look darker. When a cham's MARKINGS are brighter colored it is also due to intense activity, excitement, or mild stress (stress can be good and bad...basically anything other than complete boredom could be considered stress to some degree). It is a bit hard to explain. Also, he's growing fast and going through a lot of hormonal changes too, so this is probably complicating things. I'd leave him in his present cage until he is ready for his adult cage...why move him more than once? As for falling, all chams fall sometimes, babies probably more due to their learning curve. Their ribs are mostly cartilege so pretty hard to injure. A bruise to the skin can look dark for a while. It should be very temporary. If he hurt himself he would be sitting crouched on a perch not moving. Now that you know how active he is, if you need to take him out of his cage I'd suggest putting him in a box or critter keeper rather than loose on a big plant that he could fall out of. If there is enough foliage in the cage he would have a very hard time hurting himself.

Thanks, hes still on the cage. And a majority of the tops of the cage has some heat source, UV lamp and heating lamp so your probably right about a reaction to heat.