Oh man I feel like such an idiot. My moms cham is a cb flapneck that I bought for my mother as a gift because her veild passed away due to old age. She had him for over 7 years which is very long for captive chams. Well anyway the flapneck is a juvenile that lives in some trees right by the window for some sun. I went over to give him some crickets and after he was done eating I got the sprayer to mist the plants but not the cham directly. Well he got scared and fell from the tree. He wasn't using his backlegs so I got his screencage with a potted plant in there and placed him in. My mom shortly came home and told me he shpuld be fine and he's using his back legs again. Still I don't know the extent of his injuries and I feel like such an idiot. Hopefully he will be fine. He's using the back legs again and I think we're gonna keep him in the screen cage for a while to keep an eye on him.

The reason why we keep him on the tree is because he like it much more plus he's getting some direct sunlight which he loves.
Also there are 2 trees we have next to 2 windowns in our living room. So if theres sunlight in the other tree he will walk over and go to that one.

Anyone have any ifo on the backlegs thing? Was it shock or is he really hurt?

Sorry for the long post.

Firstly, he will probably be fine,. our cham used to get spooked when we went near him after initially acquiring him and being so young wasn't too steady on his feet, and did have a couple of minor falls from the branches. Keep a close eye on him and if there are any signs that he is not using his legs properly get him straight to the vet.

Chams are pretty unforgiving of any housing mistakes, and you are making one very big one - the cham isn't getting any UV through the window, unless you have it open. UVB doesn't penetrate glass, and although he may like the heat and the light where he basks he isn't getting any benefits from it. You need to get him a UVB tube or bulb for his cage, or on nice days you can try him outside in his screen cage. Be careful not to allow him to get too high levels of UVB though.. chams live where it is shady and require lower levels of UVB.

As for having a free-roaming cham, sounds pretty cool but I would keep him in the screen cage when you are not there to supervise.

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

i think I read somewhere that a juvenile chameleon's bones aren't yet hardened up all the way, mother nature expects them to fall out of trees and they have evolved to not get so injured. anyone heard of this?

just a thought...

lola

makes sense lola

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-Adam

"Help Protect our Planet from Overcollection, Purchase Aquacultured Livestock and Captive Bred Herps"

Bitis he does get UVB daily. 3 ways: My mother gardens every single day and has the cham out with her in his screen cage with a potted plant in there. The window usually is open during the day, dont worry there is a screen so he cant just walk out the window. And lastly, he has a UV light while he's in his screen cage. Oh and also we don't leave him in the trees while we are gone. He's only there while we are in the house. I've actually heard quite a few people have a free roaming cham. Actually I don't know if you can even call it free roaming because he never leave the tree except to walk about 4 feet to the other tree by the window.

Anyways he's doing just fine. Full usage of his back legs. My guess is that yes that fall probably did hurt but no serious damage ws done and he probably suffered more from shock.

thanks guys

i think having a free roaming anything is really cool. the best thing about that is it makes your home seem more.........wild!

__________________
-Adam

"Help Protect our Planet from Overcollection, Purchase Aquacultured Livestock and Captive Bred Herps"

Its not necessarily that the bones arent hardened, or that they are juveniles, but the way the ribs are designed is to allow them to be vertical or at roughly 45 degree angles with eachother. This flexibility leads to less injuries from falls compared to an animal with single bone, fused/solid ribs.