Does constant falling hurt him?

Hey all.

Today I changed the terrarium of my male ball. He loves to climb and his old terra was low, and there wasn't much room for him. So he now has a higher, wider and longer terra with more branches up to the ceiling.

He's been discovering his terra for a while now, he climbs through the wall and branches but when he reaches to the ceiling he falls to the ground. I hear the sound of his falling. It's not that high, I mean when he climbs all the way up his tail still touches the ground. Yet I'm concerned if this constant falling hurts him. He just doesn't quit climbing.

This is the setup (it's not all finished yet)
http://i67.tinypic.com/f1id8x.jpg

And this is him while climbing
http://i68.tinypic.com/23wuuf7.jpg

Thank you all for your replies.

It shouldn't cause any damage. One of my adult corns is in a glass tank, he'll put the majority of his body up there (he used to escape from it with the prior owner so he doesn't give up trying) and falls all the time (18.5" tall tank). He'll fall against his hide and rock water bowl and it's hard to not to worry, he's been perfectly fine.

He needs a hide on the warm and the cool side. It could be all the climbing is due to his not liking the husbandry. I would add another hide and see if that helps. Usually an active BP is trying to get out of its enclosure because it's not happy with its environment (could also be many other things, like hunger).

@AbsoluteApril thanks for the reply.

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Originally Posted by O'Mathghamhna

He needs a hide on the warm and the cool side. It could be all the climbing is due to his not liking the husbandry. I would add another hide and see if that helps. Usually an active BP is trying to get out of its enclosure because it's not happy with its environment (could also be many other things, like hunger).

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He did the same thing with his previous terrarium for a few days and when he got used to it he calmed down. I changed it because he likes to climb and it was low.
I'll add another hide to see if he stops climbing. Climbing is not a problem for me as long as he's happy. And to be honest, I like to see him around. My main concern is if it hurts him. I'm not comfortable to see him falling that often and even considering to change the husbandry back. And now he fell, again! I feel like he's going to hurt himself.

I would be more concerned about him falling on one of the branch limbs then the ground.

Remember that he doesn't weigh that much, so he doesn't hit the ground that hard when he falls a short distance. Plus the impact is spread out over a longish area of his neck/body. He won't hurt himself just by climbing up and toppling.

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Originally Posted by chrid16371

I would be more concerned about him falling on one of the branch limbs then the ground.

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By hurting himself I mean all possible ways, including falling on a branch limb :(

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Originally Posted by Coluber42

Remember that he doesn't weigh that much, so he doesn't hit the ground that hard when he falls a short distance. Plus the impact is spread out over a longish area of his neck/body. He won't hurt himself just by climbing up and toppling.

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So should i just let him fall?

I'll add another hide on the cool area to see if it changes.

My corn hides almost all the time and when I first got her (the corn) I was told that a happy corn is the hiding one. Does it apply to balls as well? I had him 2 weeks ago so still learning how to make him happy. Should I expect him to hide most of the day, cause he doesn't.

More hides is always good. You can use cardboard boxes, tubes, empty containers, etc - you probably have lots of stuff around the house that would work. My bp's favorite hide is a piece of moss mat rolled into a tube. You could also cover three sides of the tub with something opaque so he doesn't feel exposed, but you can still see in.

I still wouldn't worry about the falling. He may need to build some muscle and coordinating if he's young and has only lived in shallow tubs. But you can't really stop him from falling if he climbs.

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Originally Posted by kopork

My corn hides almost all the time and when I first got her (the corn) I was told that a happy corn is the hiding one. Does it apply to balls as well? I had him 2 weeks ago so still learning how to make him happy. Should I expect him to hide most of the day, cause he doesn't.

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Yes, and that's why I made the husbandry change suggestion.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Coluber42

More hides is always good. You can use cardboard boxes, tubes, empty containers, etc - you probably have lots of stuff around the house that would work. My bp's favorite hide is a piece of moss mat rolled into a tube. You could also cover three sides of the tub with something opaque so he doesn't feel exposed, but you can still see in.

I still wouldn't worry about the falling. He may need to build some muscle and coordinating if he's young and has only lived in shallow tubs. But you can't really stop him from falling if he climbs.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by O'Mathghamhna

Yes, and that's why I made the husbandry change suggestion.

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Thank you very much. I'll add another hide as soon as possible.

He's young, i don't know about his previous husbandries but the one i used to put him in was 1 ft 7 inches in height, 1 ft in width and 9 inches in height. Should i keep using it?

My snake has a climbing branch in his terrarium that he climbs every night and falls off of. When I get tired of hearing him flopping around I confiscate his branch sometimes lol. Your snakey will be okay. Glad I'm not the only one with a clumsy snake [emoji4]


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Coluber42

More hides is always good. You can use cardboard boxes, tubes, empty containers, etc - you probably have lots of stuff around the house that would work. My bp's favorite hide is a piece of moss mat rolled into a tube. You could also cover three sides of the tub with something opaque so he doesn't feel exposed, but you can still see in.

I still wouldn't worry about the falling. He may need to build some muscle and coordinating if he's young and has only lived in shallow tubs. But you can't really stop him from falling if he climbs.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by O'Mathghamhna

Yes, and that's why I made the husbandry change suggestion.

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It kinda worked. I added another hide on the cool area and his climbing through the wall is mostly stopped, he still climbs to the branch though, i guess he climbs it cause he likes to. And he seems to like his new hide on cool area. Thank you for your suggestions.

Yes, more hides was my first thought. That terrarium is way too open and exposed for a ball!! I find mine likes lots of cover, and gets nervous if he's out in the open. The more hides and leaf cover I give him, the calmer and happier he has become in his terrarium. (Keeping the humidity from 50-70% seems to be his favorite zone too.


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Falling from that short distance won't hurt him but I'm worried about him landing on the branch and getting impaled. Might want to remove those decorations

Awesome! Glad it worked out, and yes, the fact that he's younger may have something to do with it. It should continue to improve with time. If not, again just re-assess his husbandry (humidity, temps, hide size, etc). :)