Lost and found!

Damicofam6

Damicofam6

Established Member
So this morning like every morning i wake up and check on my chameleons. Today was a bit different though, I went and did not see skittles in his cage... I checked all over his cage and then noticed that the bottom door of his reptibreeze cage was OPEN! I told my family to keep an eye out for him and we looked all over my room My first thought was that he would be on top of my turtle tank because there are wired from the floor up and heat because of their bulbs... but he was not there. We looked all over and i was starting to get scared because my door was left open overnight so he could have gone anywhere. I checked near my window..nope. I left to check the other rooms and still no sign of him. I walked back into my room and spotted him, he was just chillin on top of my trophy shelf... I walked over and picked him up. I'm guessing he was out of his cage with all the freedom in the world for about 5 hours! I was surprised he stayed in my room. This stand is right next to my window so im assuming he was basking there in the morning sun for a bit! I'm just glad i found him, thanks for taking the time to read this! Do any of you have story's of chams getting out?
 

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Glad you didn't step on him by accident or hit him with a door. There is a thread on here about a person who lost their cham in their house and didn't find him for 4 months.
 
Virgil1972 said:
Glad you didn't step on him by accident or hit him with a door. There is a thread on here about a person who lost their cham in their house and didn't find him for 4 months.
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im just happy my dogs didn't find him and he didn't find my other Panthers cage
 
Damicofam6 said:
So this morning like every morning i wake up and check on my chameleons. Today was a bit different though, I went and did not see skittles in his cage... I checked all over his cage and then noticed that the bottom door of his reptibreeze cage was OPEN! I told my family to keep an eye out for him and we looked all over my room My first thought was that he would be on top of my turtle tank because there are wired from the floor up and heat because of their bulbs... but he was not there. We looked all over and i was starting to get scared because my door was left open overnight so he could have gone anywhere. I checked near my window..nope. I left to check the other rooms and still no sign of him. I walked back into my room and spotted him, he was just chillin on top of my trophy shelf... I walked over and picked him up. I'm guessing he was out of his cage with all the freedom in the world for about 5 hours! I was surprised he stayed in my room. This stand is right next to my window so im assuming he was basking there in the morning sun for a bit! I'm just glad i found him, thanks for taking the time to read this! Do any of you have story's of chams getting out?
Click to expand...
We let Herbert out of his cage whenever we're home. We don't have any dogs, cats, or any animals that can harm him. He normally climbs down his cage, walks over to the glass sliding door or goes under this car.
image.jpg
He likes crawling under it and poking his head out of the other end, while keeping his body covered. He'll stay there for an hour or more sometimes, then goes back to the sliding door. In this photo, he packed his bags and was going to drive out of there. The other day I checked all of his normal spots and couldn't find him for about 5 mins. That's when I noticed him just hanging out on the side of the vacuum cleaner, clinging to the cord which gets wrapped in a loop on the side. I was walking and crawling right by him when checking under the car! I also find it funny when it starts to get dark around 8pm, he'll crawl across the living room and go back up onto the side or top of his cage and put himself to bed! They're always doing silly things in my opinion. Glad that your guy ended up being ok.
 
Great he didn't get into too much trouble while out. I have a similar story. I took my largest ambilobe Salvadore out for some sun a couple months ago and was doing some work in the yard while i watched him. He's extremely calm and generally just basks in the same spot so I can take my eye off him for a few minutes. However I got an important phone call and had gone inside, ended up losing track of time while on the phone. Maybe 20 min later I came back out and could not find him. I searched the yard for an hour. Then alerted my close neighbors to be aware and on the look out. There is a creek right past my fence and some wooded area so I proceeded to look out there and anywhere i could think. It had also began to rain a bit as I was searching. After hours and hours of worrying and exhaustion it was beginning to get dark and I decided to take one last look around the yard. There he was , sitting on a branch of a large bush in the corner of my yard. He hadn't gone 15 yards. Although it certainly became an adventure for me. View attachment 161306
 
EnterThePanther said:
Great he didn't get into too much trouble while out. I have a similar story. I took my largest ambilobe Salvadore out for some sun a couple months ago and was doing some work in the yard while i watched him. He's extremely calm and generally just basks in the same spot so I can take my eye off him for a few minutes. However I got an important phone call and had gone inside, ended up losing track of time while on the phone. Maybe 20 min later I came back out and could not find him. I searched the yard for an hour. Then alerted my close neighbors to be aware and on the look out. There is a creek right past my fence and some wooded area so I proceeded to look out there and anywhere i could think. It had also began to rain a bit as I was searching. After hours and hours of worrying and exhaustion it was beginning to get dark and I decided to take one last look around the yard. There he was , sitting on a branch of a large bush in the corner of my yard. He hadn't gone 15 yards. Although it certainly became an adventure for me. View attachment 161306
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I'm glad you found him. The other day I had Skittles outside and we were taking some pictures of him, my dad wanted me to let him walk in the grass but I was too scared to. Even though I would be watching him I didnt want to take any chances.
 
Not my cham but my female acanthurus is an escape artist...
I think I had to get her from behind her previous terrarium 2 or 3 times because she would find a way out...
She also liked to dig holes into the tempex rockwall in her previous terrarium..

I'm going to hang my chams cage from the wall so it's less likely he would make it to the floor if he escapes.
 
Damicofam6 said:
I'm glad you found him. The other day I had Skittles outside and we were taking some pictures of him, my dad wanted me to let him walk in the grass but I was too scared to. Even though I would be watching him I didnt want to take any chances.
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Don't let him walk on the grass--it is a very scary place for him. He'll be out in the open with no cover. Put him in a bush where he can feel safe and protected and make sure you keep a really close eye on him because not only can he make a run for it but predators--dogs, cats and especially birds--can take him. Accipiter hawks (sharp shinned hawks and coopers hawks) are very very common all over the US and are very bold. They will take him right off your shoulder. So will seagulls, crows and ravens.

I never put them in a bush unless I am right beside them watching all the time. I drop a big Reptibreeze around a bush. You can also make a really quick little cylinder cage and drop it over your bush. Use 1/2" mesh and make a cylinder of it and a top. Zip tie it all together. You can just lift it over a bush in the yard and he will be safe outside during the day. Just make sure whatever predators you have around can't knock it over. It will not be safe at night, of course, but during the day you should be okay, especially if you are around in the yard.
 
No small pets are safe from birds when out in the open. I know a guy whos mini doberman pinsher and he lives out in the middle of nowhere. He took his dog out so he could take a dump and a big owl came down and carried his dog away.
 
The other day, while feeding I left the door of a cage full of baby graciliors open. As I opened a cage door to another chameleon across the room from them, instead of grabbing the top of the door, I grabbed a baby chameleon. Yikes! I did a head count and was missing six. My chameleon room is stuffed with caging and racks I have more than 20 cages in that room with all the wires and misting lines for all those cages. How the heck would I ever find any in that jumble of chameleon hiding spots. Miraculously I found them all in about 45 minutes. I found them under racks, on top of racks, behind racks, on computer cables, wires and pressure hoses, The best find--I still haven't a clue how I possibly found that one--was on top of a cage less than two inches away from a blazing Arcadia lights. Right under the hood! A nice wet-loving gracilior baby, black and as flat as a pancake on his side just enjoying all that UVB. He was very hot, too; I have no idea how he wasn't dead from overheating and drying out because those lights are hot. I ran misters for a long time that day.
 
Shilohpsu said:
We let Herbert out of his cage whenever we're home. We don't have any dogs, cats, or any animals that can harm him. He normally climbs down his cage, walks over to the glass sliding door or goes under this car.
View attachment 161305
He likes crawling under it and poking his head out of the other end, while keeping his body covered. He'll stay there for an hour or more sometimes, then goes back to the sliding door. In this photo, he packed his bags and was going to drive out of there. The other day I checked all of his normal spots and couldn't find him for about 5 mins. That's when I noticed him just hanging out on the side of the vacuum cleaner, clinging to the cord which gets wrapped in a loop on the side. I was walking and crawling right by him when checking under the car! I also find it funny when it starts to get dark around 8pm, he'll crawl across the living room and go back up onto the side or top of his cage and put himself to bed! They're always doing silly things in my opinion. Glad that your guy ended up being ok.
Click to expand...

Cool...driving lessons! :cool:
 
large predatory birds are definitely my main concern when I take any of my chams out. Especially the smaller ones, I always stay very close to, although I know they are all at risk when you hear a story like that dog that was taken. Ive also noticed that they get very uncomfortable when not placed in a bush or something with plenty of hiding places. they do not want to be in the open. If placed on the open grass they will book it for the nearest cover. The only other story I have like that happened recently too. My big Tamatave adult escaped thru the bottom due to a cage issue as well. That room is stays closed but there are many other panthers in there, so he basically just wandered around for a few hours pissing everybody off im sure. The worst part was that I had just gotten two adult females the day before and one was pretty stressed out by him.
 
Herbert is currently out exploring as usual because I always let him out when I'm home. I just checked all of his normal spots and couldn't find him for a good five minutes. This is the first time that he has crawled up into the car instead of just crawling underneath it. He's getting pretty sneaky....
image.jpg
 
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