Reptile & Amphibian Forums

...so i was trying to clean out my cham's cage and i take him out whenever i do this, so i can do it safely and stress free. well as he's in my hand he decides to jump off, he was probibly a good 6ft in the air and he hit something on the way down than hit the carpet!!! he's only 8-10 weeks old. i pick him up and he seems fine! walking, climbing, everything without a limp. is this possible? should i be worried?

Yes, it is completely possible that he is fine. Chams do fall out of trees in the wild and they have several adaptations in their favor. Their ribs are cartilege not bone so they flex. When a cham feels itself falling it can inflate itself with air to help slow and cushion its fall. If you don't see any dark greyish areas on the skin (that's the sign of bruising in a cham) and no swelling on a leg or tail, he's probably fine. Bruises should heal on their own.

alright, thats what i figured...i just thought since he was younger he might be a little more fragile, but he seems fine today. a little more active than usual, but thats better than not active at all.

thanks for the reply carlton.

Jake

P.S. im useing a exotera 5.0 bulb for a light. is that enouph?

edit: exo-terra 26w 5.0 bulb.

I'm not familiar with that bulb as I have used a combination of ReptiSun 5.0 and regular incandescent house light bulbs for UV and basking heat.

I used to have a deremensis I would sometimes take to schools to talk about keeping exotic animals, husbandry, etc. He would sit quite calmly on my hand MOST of the time, but every once in a while he would decide to leap off without warning and hit the floor with a sickening thud (usually hard linoleum of course) right in front of the horrified students. He was always fine, but it would give me heart failure every time.

ouch! yea he's doing fine now, i dont see any grey areas on him so im assuming there isn't any bruising. he does however like to sleep upside down now (literally hang upside down from the top of tha cage and sleep). anybody else's do this?

Jake