is jumping dangerous?

[aSpikeyBoy]

hi! my apologies if this is a rather odd question, ive looked all over the internet but i can’t seem to find anyone else wondering the same thing.

i’ve had bearded dragons for a very long time and i recently took in two rescue beardies. I’m a pretty relaxed owner and i usually let one of them out at a time so they can run around and do whatever they want in a beardie-safe/ barricaded room. it’s recently come to my attention that one of them isn’t afraid to jump off of beds/couches and i want to know if i shouldnt let him do that? i don’t know if the force of falling would hurt his little legs. all of the floor is carpet and the couches/beds are average height. they eat right and have the correct lighting/UV so i’d consider him an average healthy adolescent.

thanks!

 

[Queen1OG]

well my dragon drogon jumps all the time as long as it is not to far or on a hard surface then it is ok like if they jump on carpet

 

[TheRamiRocketMan]

My dragon leaps off of desks, chairs and beds all the time, and she's fine. While it looks like a long way compared to their body size they actually experience roughly the same equivalent forces you'd experience falling the same distance (obviously their bones are weaker but they also weigh alot less). If you feel comfortable falling the distance they're falling then chances are it's fine for them, lizards in the wild utilise leaping off ledges as a means of confusing and escaping predators all the time.

 

[aSpikeyBoy]

thanks guys! just wanted to make sure

 

[JessPets]

Honestly, it depends on the height. Anything more than a foot or two could present to be dangerous, especially if it is a hard surface. The worst would be for them to land on their back, which could do some serious damage. If avoidable, I wouldn't let my beardie jump, just as a precaution.

 

[EllenD]

Yeah, this is a common-sense question, or should be, and as Jess just said, the answer to this question is not a static or definite one, and saying that your own dragon "Jumps off of things all the time, like desks, couches, beds, etc. and is fine" is not a very good answer at all in my opinion. I'm not trying to criticize anyone that answered this question before Jess did, but it would be completely irresponsible to answer it in the way that it was answered before Jess.

You absolutely cannot assume that a Bearded Dragon of any size is going to be perfectly fine jumping off of couches, beds, desks, etc. simply because someone else's Dragon is "fine" doing this, or so they say...and they should not at all assume that their Dragons are always going to be fine jumping off of couches, beds, desks, etc. all the time just because they have been "fine" so far...And carpeting should not give you any kind of false-sense of security, as if your Dragon falls off of a bed that is 3-4 feet off the ground onto a carpeted floor, do you really think that means he'll be fine all the time? No, absolutely not!

A carpeted floor cannot prevent your Dragon from falling off of your bed in an odd way, can it? Nope. So if your Dragon jumps off the same bed, couch, desk, etc. that is 2-4 feet high onto a carpeted floor 100 times without a problem, and on the 101st time his he lands with his leg/foot in a twisted position or a leg/foot that is underneath him, then that will be the time he breaks his foot or leg. Or if on the 101st time he lands on his head and breaks his neck or spine, then that's the time that he'll end-up either dead or paralyzed for the rest of his life...You see what I'm getting at? Common sense people. Should you just feel comfortable with your 500 gram Bearded Dragon jumping off of your bed, couch, desk, table, or ANYTHING ELSE on a regular basis, from any height? NO, OF COURSE NOT! Not anymore comfortable than you'd feel letting your puppy, kitten, or baby do the same the thing...

So to me, the answer to this question is simply a matter of how responsible a Dragon owner you are. Why in the hell would you fell perfectly fine with your little 22", 500 gram adult Dragon (or younger/smaller) regularly jumping off of beds, couches, desks, tables, etc.? I don't get that at all...I mean, are you comfortable with your Dragon breaking/dislocating bones and being in pain? Are you comfortable with him paralyzing himself? Are you comfortable with paying a Reptile Specialist Vet hundreds if not thousands of dollars for x-rays and/or surgeries?

Unnecessary risks that can totally be prevented but that are ignored because nothing catastrophic has happened by allowing them to happen prior are just irresponsible and in my opinion stupid. It's your job as a pet owner to protect and care for your pets, and if you don't know the answer to this question then you shouldn't have a pet to begin with.

 

[talktothetail]

Extremely well said Ellen.

 

[kingofnobbys]

I discourage my pet bluetongue skinks and bearded dragons from even climbing off the lounge onto the carpeted lounge room floor, if they look over the edge and look like they want to go down onto the floor, I deposit them there , there are times they get down of their own accord and I hear the plop , so far so good , but I do not encourage this and worry every time they do this , as Ellen said , it's risky and they can all too easily land awkwardly and injure themselves , it's simple high school physics to calculate the g forces involved in the sudden stop when the reptile hits the floor..

I never walk around with bt or beardie on my shoulder or head, they are either supported on my arm or held against my chest.

That said I've seen plenty of wild eastern and central and rankins bearded dragons on a tall tree stump or termite mound or farm fence post or tree branch maybe 6 ft off the ground leap off onto the grass or leaf litter and run away none the worse for the drop. The natural surfaces (thick very long grass or leaf litter is very forgiving and not like landing on concrete or solid hard stone or floor tiles.

I think a good rule of thumb is allow no drop higher than the body length of the dragon ==> if the snout to vent length is 7 inches , the longest drop should be no more than 7 inches , so this is how I try to arrange my basking spots for the beardies and in this case the maximum height for the basking spot would be 7 inches.

I use a different rules of thumb for my bluetongue skinks and for my water skink.