donnak0125
New Member
My male cham has a strong grip, and at times while he's been climbing on the screened in his cage he's hung a nail or two & then pulled it/them out/injuring it/them to the point they wouldn't grow back. He's missing all three nails on one side of one back-foot and just now lost another nail on a front-foot so that front-foot is now missing all three nails on one side as well.
On his back foot with missing toe-nails the injury (was an accident that's my fault) initially happened when I had him in a smaller cage that was blown over in a wind storm (while I was in the process of moving him inside the house), so two nails were yanked out/injured at once during that incident and the third nail kept getting hung-up & over-used on the screen so it soon feel-off too. I don't know how the front-foot nails became injured.
I seems like if there is only one nail left it will eventually fall off too (due to the over use and getting hung on screen). I've had to add many vines and other things for him to crawl on because he's not able to crawl on the screen (screen is his preference). It's taken him a lot of time to use the vines & plants because he has difficulty realizing the nails are missing. I feel bad for him because he tries and tries to crawl up the screen but can only do it a little due to the missing nails... Anyone else have this problem?
I don't know if I should just keep them trimmed (which is scary because I could injure him) so he can not longer use them & injure his nails/toes. Should I just cut the hooks-off the tips so they won't hang-up on the screen? I have had to take him to the vet once regarding this issue due to swelling and fear of infection after the first two nails were injured. The foot healed but nails never grew back. I'm unnerved by the whole situation... What should I do? Any suggestions?
On his back foot with missing toe-nails the injury (was an accident that's my fault) initially happened when I had him in a smaller cage that was blown over in a wind storm (while I was in the process of moving him inside the house), so two nails were yanked out/injured at once during that incident and the third nail kept getting hung-up & over-used on the screen so it soon feel-off too. I don't know how the front-foot nails became injured.
I seems like if there is only one nail left it will eventually fall off too (due to the over use and getting hung on screen). I've had to add many vines and other things for him to crawl on because he's not able to crawl on the screen (screen is his preference). It's taken him a lot of time to use the vines & plants because he has difficulty realizing the nails are missing. I feel bad for him because he tries and tries to crawl up the screen but can only do it a little due to the missing nails... Anyone else have this problem?
I don't know if I should just keep them trimmed (which is scary because I could injure him) so he can not longer use them & injure his nails/toes. Should I just cut the hooks-off the tips so they won't hang-up on the screen? I have had to take him to the vet once regarding this issue due to swelling and fear of infection after the first two nails were injured. The foot healed but nails never grew back. I'm unnerved by the whole situation... What should I do? Any suggestions?