Jackson Cham falling constantly.

Raffi

Member
Hey all, don't know if its a prob with his nails or not being able to grasp the screen but my chams been falling and I'm scared hes gonna break something soon if I dont keep my eye on him at all times. Any suggestions or has it happened to any of you???:(:confused::confused:
 
Chams are good fallers but they should not be falling very often. I would make sure that he has alot of good climbing sticks and vibes and that they are of appropriate size for him to grasp well.
Also i would fill out the how to ask for help form here https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

it will help members see if there may any other things casuing your issue.

I doo have a panther that is a little nuts and gets himself into some freaky situatuion and sometimes falls but he is a good faller LoL and in great health so i dont worry (KOW)
 
Yes please do fill out the form, with special attention to supplements.

I had this issue, and it was a supplementation imbalance.
If that is the issue, its easily corrected, but the longer things are out of whack, the longer the recovery will be, and the more likely an illness could set in.
 
Here is the Info& Pic

Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - Jackson, Male, 8 months. Been in my care seven months.
Handling - Once to twice a week, (no more than 5 minutes total)
Feeding - Crickets, 12-15 daily. Reptashy gutload.
Supplements - Reptical w/o d3 tue-thu-sat. Reptical w/d3, Reptitive, Miner-all once a month. (beginning, middle, end in that order)
Watering - Little dripper constant. Misting 2-3 times daily. He does drink
Fecal Description - Normal
History - Use to have times where he would have weird feces. (The urate was very watery or sometimes hard w/orange crunchy part attached to it)

Cage Info:

Cage Type - Glass/screen top. 18x18x25
Lighting - Reptiglo 5.0, 7AM-7PM, Reptisun Halogen spot 8AM-6:30PM
Temperature - DAY:78-84 TOP 70-73 BOTTOM, Night:57-60 TOP, 55-60 BOTTOM.
Humidity - 50-70 top, 60-75 bottom
Plants - live plants, bromeliad, pothos
Placement - Top of desk, near window.
Location -Glendale, Ca.

Current Problem - Chameleon has recently began to constantly fall from top of cage(screen top) while hes trying to grasp screen and move around. He is also trying to go from one branch to any surface but is unsuccessful(as seen in the picture, that is an example of what he is trying to do)
 

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Hi! I know it's scary when your chameleon falls, but as noted, they are built to take a fall so the real concern is why is he falling. I would be really interested in seeing pictures of the chameleon and the enclosure...

What I'm wondering is if this is a chameleon who grew up being able to climb all over the screen, but is now too big to do it well. If all the falls are happening on the cage walls/ceiling...he's not falling from vines or branches, then that might well be the issue. If so, you might consider lining the inside of the cage with plastic mesh or plastic wrapped wire mesh in a larger gauge than the screened cage...that would give him something to grab onto.

Here's an example: http://www.wayfair.com/Mat-0.5-Mesh...PA49-BFJ1020&gclid=CKr-ib-k7a8CFYeo4AodZShm1w

**edited to add**

You posted while I was composing....I suspect I'm right: he used to be able to climb on the top, but now he can't...if you give him a way to climb the top safely, he might stop falling.
 
If you could be a bit more specific on your suppelementing that would be great. You are using alot of products and I want to make sure I understand :)
From what I can see in the pic he could definatly use some more branches to climb on, and or some vines. I use an exoterra at times to and if the chams dont have alot to grab onto they often lean out to the glass and end up falling.
 
PERTAINING TO SUPPLEMENTATION


On Tues, Thur, Sat I supplement crickets with ZooMed's ReptiCalcium without D3

Once a month (on seperate weeks) I dust crickets with:
Sticky Tongue Farms Indoor Miner-All
Zoo Meds Reptitive
Zoo Meds Repti-Calcium w/d3

So lets say the first sunday is miner-all
Middle of the Month will be Reptitive
And towads the end of the month will be the repti-cal with D3.

too much? do you guys have a better sched i can follow possibly?
 
I don't think it sounds like too much...I think we sort of got a "snapshot" and thought it was representative of "daily" supplements.
 
i DEF think his enclosure is too small for a 8 month old. (18x18x25)and Im working on buying a new one this week. its currently a glass enclosure and he falls from the top(screen) he use to be just fine prior to today. Weird because I moved stuff in his cage around today.
 
Ok if I am reading it right it is too much in my opinion.

so he gets calcium w/o d3 3 times a week so say 12 times a month.
and then he gets the others one time each a month.

I would use the plain calium at most feeding and once a week to every 10 days would use the reptivte.
or simply just stop with the repcal w/d3.
All 3 of those products contain D3 and the rep cal is VERY strong. Using it 1x a month alone would prob be enough D3 for a jax IMO

Here is my blog for keeping montane species https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/hoj/634-montane-chameleon-care-info.html
 
Ok if I am reading it right it is too much in my opinion.

so he gets calcium w/o d3 3 times a week so say 12 times a month.
and then he gets the others one time each a month.

I would use the plain calium at most feeding and once a week to every 10 days would use the reptivte.
or simply just stop with the repcal w/d3.
All 3 of those products contain D3 and the rep cal is VERY strong. Using it 1x a month alone would prob be enough D3 for a jax IMO

Here is my blog for keeping montane species https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/hoj/634-montane-chameleon-care-info.html

/\This.

I also think you should stop everything but plain calcium for a month.
This will give him time to get any excess built up D3 out of his system, and just let him get more balanced all around.

Also, make sure you are dusting as light as possible.

I would say that he needs more appropriate sized things to climb on as well. Maybe trade those larger sticks out for smaller ones. ;)
 
/\This.

I also think you should stop everything but plain calcium for a month.
This will give him time to get any excess built up D3 out of his system, and just let him get more balanced all around.

Also, make sure you are dusting as light as possible.

I would say that he needs more appropriate sized things to climb on as well. Maybe trade those larger sticks out for smaller ones. ;)

Good call on the rest period for the d3. ;):) I forgot that part :eek:
 
You did not read correctly. He said he dusts 3 days a week with calcium without D3.

Once a month he dusts with Sticky Tongue Farms Indoor Miner-All.

Once a month he dusts with Zoo Meds Reptitive.

Once a month he dusts with Zoo Meds Repti-Calcium w/d3.

Assuming that the Sticky Tongue has D3, then he's giving calcium without D3 3x per week, D3 2x per month and a vitamin supplement 2x per month.

That's really spot on for board recommendations. Even for a Jackson's I don't think D3 twice a month is excessive.

Note that you are saying Zoomed's Reptivite with D3 and Zoomed's Reptivite are the same, which I have to think is wrong.

I tend more to your thinking...I don't supplement mine overly (and they are both small montanes) but people who have kept these chameleons for decades have reported that D3 twice a month is a valid regimen.
 
Reptivite is a high potency full house multivite already containing d3;preformed A, in the generally accepted ratio of d3;A@1;10. Imo, because of its high potency its not one of my favorite products but imo 1x a mth given sparingly for this product would be plenty, without any other vitamin products. Because of their high potency they should be given extremely sparingly, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that (sparingly) is not the case.
Rep cal with d3 is also a high potency d3 only product so adding it is simply adding a high potency d3 product to d3/A product that is aready balanced. stf indoor formula also has a negligible amount of d3. So based on all of that, I would agree with the others and say imo a more than likely probability of hypervitaminosis d exists. Jmo
 
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