omg im in tears - 6 foot + fall

[torhne]

so i had my cham out this morning, he came charging out of his cage to get on my hand and explore, so he climbs to my shoulder and is just chilling, and goes to jump from my shoulder to the top of the door, and slipped and fell from the top of the door he had all his arms flat out to the side when he hit the carpet, but didnt take off running. I put him back in his cage, he was dark, and then lightened up and is basking in his favorite spot, all his feet are working fine, doenst look like anything is broken. so if hes moving fine and light colored hes going ot be fine right? i have made an appt with the vet to get him checked out, which is going to be an overnight tonight, or not till next monday im so scared. has anyone else had their chameleon fall from that height ? it happened so fast. ugh!

I'm 6'6, so when hes on me, hes usually just fine, because hes the tallest thing in the room, but this time he thought the door would be way better, and jusdt went for it

 

[Lazy Boy]

If he's moving fine he should be good. If you don't see any bruising then I wouldn't even take him in. They kind of sit there for a bit after a fall and don't just run off. There was a member who's 6m old cham fall from a second or third story balcony and he found him basking in a bush down below. He sounds fine just look for bruising and keep a eye on him.

 

[torhne]

he looks fine, i have been in there every 5 minutes looking him over for any swelling or bruising. how hard is it to see the bruising on them? he looks fine, i thought his rib cage would be busted, but he looks ok. I'm just super nervous, never expected him to make a run for it like that, he has never done it before

 

[Olimpia]

On carpet? He's fine. I've seen chameleons fall from much higher than that onto carpet and unless he is suffering from weakened bones for whatever reason or had the bad luck to land on something hard/sharp (like a corner) he should be a little stunned but fine.

 

[ZiggyStardust]

When I put Ziggy into his big boy cage, which I know is only four feet he got disorientated and fell from the top to the bottom.

I crapped myself in case he was hurt, but as soon as I put him on the branches, he was moving fine, no limping or any sign of any injury.

i would say if your cham is moving about okay, then he is fine. It's worrying though - I know!!

 

[carol5208]

I think he should be ok especially since he fell on carpet. I had mine fall from higher onto my outdoor patio carpet which is not padded, and they were ok. I would wait and see how he gets around before running him to the vet. jmo

 

[shmeenakoz]

My guy fell from 4ft onto hardwood floor. He puffed up to protect himself (the sound was terrible) but after a few minutes dazed on the ground he started to move slowly and was totally normal again in about 10 min. I was beside myself So by what your saying, it seems he will be ok

 

[torhne]

thanks for the reassurance guys! makes me feel better, ill continue to monitor him, the downtime kind of gives me time to work on his water drain pan i had in mind, so i can kind of sit in his room and work on it and keep and eye on him, hes moving around just fine by the looks of it! i need to get him in for a checkup anyway at some point this coming week, so i can have them go over him then, instead of an emergency run

 

[inlinefourpower]

yeah, my guy falls every once in a while and he's fine. Kind of the old adage that "If you're gonna be dumb you've gotta be tough." I'm sure yours is fine, too, if he's moving around like normal.

 

[Kiwiflage]

Similar falls have happened to me. I had one chameleon who would fall from the top of his 4 ft cage almost daily(sight maybe?) but he was always right back to the top. Never slowed him down much. Keep an eye on him but if his toes and legs are all facing the correct way I'm sure he'll be fine

 

[sharp229]

They are built to fall, so he should be fine as long as there is not abnormal behavior. In the wild they will intentionally fall out of trees to escape predators, and they puff up involuntarily for protection when they fall.

Almost all my chameleons have tried to do something crazy at some point that caused them to fall from the top of their 4ft cages, and on certain occasions they have managed to fall farther with no issues.

 

[ChameleonFan1989]

Chameleons are designed to take falls even wild chameleons can jump from 8-12 foot trees to get away from a potential threat and be fine, so since its 6 foot and carpet, he'll be fine just a little stunned. Maybe something startled him and he went for an adventure lol