falling upside down when i'm not around

[furbyteeth]

so recently, gnomeo accidentally fell off his tree trying to turn around on it. he's perfectly fine, but he was flipped upside down during the trip and it scared me to death. i'm glad i saw it when i did, but now i'm constantly worried about him falling when i'm not home. i was wondering if it's possible for them to help themselves back up without being injured, because i know how hard it is for them to breathe like that. i'm thinking of getting him a bigger and better branch soon with how big he's getting, just to make sure he'll be alright

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Sorry to hear your dragon seems to be having such a hard time.
Can you review your tank setup with us, such as the type/brand of UVB light are you using?
Are you using good supplementation for him also?
If you can post pictures of your dragon, along with the tank setup, etc so we can see what
it all looks like that would be helpful.

Tracie

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from General to Health

 

[MrSpectrum]

so recently, gnomeo accidentally fell off his tree trying to turn around on it. he's perfectly fine, but he was flipped upside down during the trip and it scared me to death. i'm glad i saw it when i did, but now i'm constantly worried about him falling when i'm not home. i was wondering if it's possible for them to help themselves back up without being injured, because i know how hard it is for them to breathe like that. i'm thinking of getting him a bigger and better branch soon with how big he's getting, just to make sure he'll be alright

Cool name (gnomeo). 8)
Calm down, he'll be fine. Did you think this doesn't happen in the wild? It does. BDs being semi-arboreal, fall out of trees, off walls, fence posts, and other precipices more often than one might think. Nature has provided for them uprighting themselves--just like turtles. Even better because that tail provides a lot of balance/counter-balance. It weighs almost as much as the rest of the dragon. :wink:

The thing about not being able to breathe on their backs is a bit of a myth. If they couldn't breathe on their backs, veterinarians wouldn't be able to perform anterior surgery, and they certainly do. (Gross-out WARNING on the link.)

A bigger branch couldn't hurt, but please don't lose any sleep over this question. There's no way to tell how many times this may already have happened that you didn't see.

 

[furbyteeth]

so recently, gnomeo accidentally fell off his tree trying to turn around on it. he's perfectly fine, but he was flipped upside down during the trip and it scared me to death. i'm glad i saw it when i did, but now i'm constantly worried about him falling when i'm not home. i was wondering if it's possible for them to help themselves back up without being injured, because i know how hard it is for them to breathe like that. i'm thinking of getting him a bigger and better branch soon with how big he's getting, just to make sure he'll be alright

Cool name (gnomeo). 8)
Calm down, he'll be fine. Did you think this doesn't happen in the wild? It does. BDs being semi-arboreal, fall out of trees, off walls, fence posts, and other precipices more often than one might think. Nature has provided for them uprighting themselves--just like turtles. Even better because that tail provides a lot of balance/counter-balance. It weighs almost as much as the rest of the dragon. :wink:

The thing about not being able to breathe on their backs is a bit of a myth. If they couldn't breathe on their backs, veterinarians wouldn't be able to perform anterior surgery, and they certainly do. (Gross-out WARNING on the link.)

A bigger branch couldn't hurt, but please don't lose any sleep over this question. There's no way to tell how many times this may already have happened that you didn't see.

thanks for the reply, i know it's a pretty stupid worry. i assumed it was no problem since he's probably used to his own clumsiness by now, but he just kinda sat there upside down for a while and i wanted to make sure he had the strength to help himself lol. owning him makes me completely forget his species is from the wild ?

 

[MrSpectrum]

BTW--How far did he actually fall? I spoze he might have been stunned--or more likely--just bewildered. :shock:

Mine has a 16" high basking tower that he falls and/or jumps off all the time. If he knows there are worms in his bowl, he'll jump off head-first and face-plant into the bowl. Sometimes if he's basking on the edge, he'll roll off like a dog rolling off a bed or sofa. He usually hits the ceramic tile floor, but he's also crashed on top of plants or piles of loose tiles.

 

[furbyteeth]

i don't know the exact height, but it's not too big of fall, his tree just slopes down. i was just worried because he does have a minor case of mbd (it's being treated and he doesn't let it affect him at all, thankfully), and if he's rolling down his branch 24/7 i don't want him getting hurt. he was probably just shocked like you said, though. a trip like that is guaranteed to muddle his brain a little

 

[MrSpectrum]

i was just worried because he does have a minor case of mbd .... and he doesn't let it affect him at all, thankfully

Animals don't. That's why you can see 3-legged cats & dogs running around & playing like they're whole. To them, as long as they;re not in too severe pain, things just are what they are. We should learn more from them.

Self-pity

I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.
_________________________---D. H. Lawrence