Loosing toenails

VanCham

New Member
I've got a friend with a female veiled chameleon who is ~10 months old, and she started loosing her toenails a few months ago. So far shes lost three. She has a good setup, a UV fluorescent tube light on one side of the cage, a heat lamp for night time, and a dripper that runs 24/7. She appears very healthy, eats ~6 crickets daily, drinks from the dripper, munches on kale and bok choi sometimes. She has a 1.5m by 1.5m by .5m cage, and gets let out sometimes for a supervised runaround. So i'm just wondering what the toenail loss could be from? Oh yes, she also eats butterworms and all meals are dusted with calcium powder(but not the calcium + D3 stuff). Any suggestions? Thanks!!
 
Sometimes the screen on the side of the cage catches the nailes and will pull them out...How big are the holes in the screen?
 
ohh ya i actually was just looking over some previous queries on this issue(AFTER i posted, haha)...that seems to be the common suggestion..theres a metal screen with small holes, but its the lid of the cage, and she never climbs on it...so i'm kinda stumped...its not a calcium deficiency, to be sure...she is a pretty large veiled, with a very strong grip, and shes held daily...could it just be from handling? sometimes peeling her off to put her back in the cage (shes very domestic)?
 
Your welcome...there grip is so strong if you pull them they could break something so coax her onto your a hand by gently touching right above the tail....NEVER pull them.
Mike C.
 
theres a metal screen with small holes, but its the lid of the cage, and she never climbs on it...so i'm kinda stumped...its not a calcium deficiency, to be sure...she is a pretty large veiled,

Is she in a glass tank or other enclosure with only a screen top? Be careful that temps don't heat up and that it is large enough for her. I know some keepers in the north use partially enclosed setups to help with humidity and temps (then there are others - me - who struggle with misters and humidifiers;)) but things need to be closely monitored.

Cyrus has lost several toenails from a lot of climbing on the screen as a baby - still waiting for them to grow back and am afraid they may not. He slips on certain surfaces due to it :(

lele
 
...and all meals are dusted with calcium powder(but not the calcium + D3 stuff)...
Howdy,

Are you saying that she doesn't get any Ca/D3 dusted food items? Unless she spends her days outside, I think that most would agree that she needs a dust with D3 somewhere between twice a week down to twice a month. Let us know.
 
ya she gets that as well, and the UV light. she just doesnt get the D3 every time like the calcium...she gets the D3 average once weekly...
 
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