new cage disaster

[Jewel]

I am beginning to hate the size of our new cage. He was fine the first few days in there until today. He has now decided to keep climbing on the screen and he has falling twice from half way up the cage and twice from the top of the screen to the bottom which is a 4 foot drop. He appears to be fine, he just gets up and climbs back up again. I think we have enough for him to climb on in the cage so I am unsure why he keeps doing this. Every time I hear a thud, I am scared to go over and look at him. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[boothy]

he doesnt feel safe in his enclosure so put more foilage and hiding places in there for him

 

[Jewel]

Thanks Boothy for the help. I just added more branches and some plastic plants I have here until I can get to the city to buy more live plants. I hope this stops him from crawling on the screen.
before

after

 

[Jordan]

When a chameleon can not get everything it needs in a cage they will go to the ground and try to get out. This maybe why you are seeing him at the bottom of the cage by the door. I would suspect the problem is that he can not get warm enough. I would add a crap load of branches throughout the cage. Pay close attention to the area around the basking bulb. You do not want any branches running directly under the bulb, at least tell you get some distance down and it cools off. They can burn their head and simply not feel it. I would offer your guy alot of branches in the basking area. Alot of my males day is spent at the top of the cage manuevering around keeping really warm. Veileds love the heat. Once they are hot they will usually roam the cage a bit and come back up to warm up again. Multiple branches in this area will let him decide on how much heat he wants. That being said I do catch my guy on the ground from time to time. I imagine he is looking for food and protecting his cage. Making sure they can do something like this is good, at least I think. In the picture you posted when the cage was done his colors where looking way better. Once you get him a nice area set-up for him at the top they will get way brighter. I believe he is still holding on to some of those darker colors trying to stay warm.

Falling can cause injuries but if he is in good shape I would not really worry about it. They are made to fall. This is actually something they would do in the wild to escape say a bird. Keep in mind we are talking about some really big trees there.

Sorry I posted this and saw that you already posted some pictures. That is about what i had in mind. I am sure he will settle in good in another day or two.

 

[Jewel]

Thanks Jordan for the advice. It is late here now so tomorrow my son is off school for exams so we will spend more time on his cage to make if better for him. Our basking spot is 95, is that high enough or do we need to go higher. Our ambient temperature is 80 and night time temp is 69 to 70. I am already using a 175w bulb. He doesn't ever seem to crawl down to the bottom of the cage on his own, the only time I have seen him there is after he has fallen. It seems like he is crawling on the cage to try to get out. Every time we open the door to feed him he tries to crawl on our arm. He is a very loving chameleon and loves to crawl up on our shoulders or head so I am wondering if he just wants out. He does seem to go back and forth between the vines in the top part of the cage a lot.

 

[Brian S]

I would have to guess that this cage is not at or above head hight. If he comes our and then goes directly to the top of your head, thats what i would expect.

 

[Jewel]

I would have to guess that this cage is not at or above head hight. If he comes our and then goes directly to the top of your head, thats what i would expect.

The cage is above head level because it is sitting on top of a dresser and the cage is 4 feet tall so I don't think that could be the problem.

 

[roo_71]

I suspect 2 things, for one its a new cage and he is going to explore it and unfortunately climb on the screen. Second, he needs way more cover at the top level. It looks like the cage is wood, so adding more items affixed to the wood using eyelets and such should be easy. What would help is to elevate that plant using a plant stand. Fake vines strewn across the top covering the screen gives more privacy too. If he hangs on the screen constantly in one place, then put up some netting (like from a lacrosse stick) for him to hang onto instead of the screen.

Here is a pic of my veileds setup:

 

[Brad Ramsey]

I agree with Roo.
He's exploring his new home. More coverage up top would be nice for him though. I've got so many plants in my veiled's enclosure now, it sometimes takes me several minutes to locate him, and that's the way he likes it!

-Brad

 

[Jewel]

Thanks roo_71 and Brad. I will pick up a plant stand and more vines when I get to town. Thanks for the help.

 

[Jordan]

Is he liking it any better now?

 

[Jewel]

Is he liking it any better now?

So far so good. He hasn't climbed on the screen since, at least that I know of.
He spends most of his time hiding in the upper right corner and I can hardly see him.
Thanks for all the wonderful suggests.