New Cage for my Old Guy

[SycoSquirl]

So I bought a new cage for my veiled cham Gilligan. We are steadily getting vet results back about what all he has wrong with him. So far he has Arthritis and Anemia and possible liver infection. He has lost one nail so far and has had trouble gripping his drift wood, or having the strength to climb the thick drift wood. His driftwood in his old cage is wrapped with gentle wrap so he can grip it a bit better. So far this is how I have his new, slightly larger, cage set up. I will be cooking some branches tomorrow after work and placing them horizontal along with some vines. He does fall a lot so I was hoping the ficus would make it less painful then falling on glass/ a hard water bowl, or the driftwood like he does now. Does anyone else have a cham with arthritis that could give me some pointers on how to set up the cage for optimum movability for my guy?

Sorry I dont know why its making the picture sideways....

This is my poor little guy

 

[Alan12013]

I would go to the hardware store and get some various sized dowels. You can get them for like 68 cents each. I would place a bunch in there if he is having a hard time grabbing and he's falling. You can get them going in all directions and put a tack through the screen to hold them and then zip tie them inside to each other so they don't slide on him. I'd also even consider hand making a couple hammocks like the lizard ones they sale... Id have one on each side in case he wants to get lazy plus I would try to strategically place them where he might fall. That is a huge tree in his cage! I see a lot of people using those, do you think your chameleon likes it? I am curious about having one like that in there as the primary space filler since I see so many do it. I have a lilac in my big cage with some hanging pothos but The Dude mostly just uses the dowels to travel around in there. I wish you the best of luck with Gillian, how old is he?

 

[jannb]

I recommend turning the cage on the side to set it up. That way if he falls he want have far to go. You could also cover the bottom in some towels to cushion his falls. You don't want him to have yet another injury from a fall. The best of luck to your little man.

 

[SycoSquirl]

I would go to the hardware store and get some various sized dowels. You can get them for like 68 cents each. I would place a bunch in there if he is having a hard time grabbing and he's falling. You can get them going in all directions and put a tack through the screen to hold them and then zip tie them inside to each other so they don't slide on him. I'd also even consider hand making a couple hammocks like the lizard ones they sale... Id have one on each side in case he wants to get lazy plus I would try to strategically place them where he might fall. That is a huge tree in his cage! I see a lot of people using those, do you think your chameleon likes it? I am curious about having one like that in there as the primary space filler since I see so many do it. I have a lilac in my big cage with some hanging pothos but The Dude mostly just uses the dowels to travel around in there. I wish you the best of luck with Gillian, how old is he?

We were innitially told he was 9 months but my vet told me 3-4 or older years old.

I recommend turning the cage on the side to set it up. That way if he falls he want have far to go. You could also cover the bottom in some towels to cushion his falls. You don't want him to have yet another injury from a fall. The best of luck to your little man.

My vet told me to do that as well but I thought that since they are arboreal that defeated the purpose... I will be putting a towel in the bottom, Its currently in his current cage, and needs to be washed since he went to the bathroom on it lol

 

[carol5208]

I left my cage upright as my chameleon always liked to hang out as high up as possible. I lined the whole cage floor with a bundle of towels, so if he lost his grip and fell, he would not get hurt.

 

[SycoSquirl]

I left my cage upright as my chameleon always liked to hang out as high up as possible. I lined the whole cage floor with a bundle of towels, so if he lost his grip and fell, he would not get hurt.

Yah my guy likes to climb up high as well, so I have a towel on the bottom as well, Im just glad I have 2 of the same towels so when he goes to the restroom on one I just pick up the turds and urate and then throw that one in the wash and put the other one down =D right now he is highly enjoying his ficus, I will be keeping an eye on him and broken twigs and eating them to make sure it doesnt cause any more problems with his health. right now he is asleep in it and literally had to hunt for 5 minutes to even find him, it was so cute =)

 

[junglefries]

You can use an iguana or ferret hammock to catch his fall.

 

[SycoSquirl]

You can use an iguana or ferret hammock to catch his fall.

I was looking into putting in a few hammocks actually, Im just trying to figure out how I would attache these to the cage if all the reptile ones comes with those stupid suction cups. (beyond annoyed everything is suction cups) Do you have any ideas on how to attach them to the sides of the cages?
I want to have 2-4 of them placed through out the cage so if he gets tired he can just go lay down without having to worry about loosing his grip and falling.