Missing Toenails :/ ??

kgallego

Member
It finally started happening. I knew it would. Aluminum screen cages have pulled out some of my dude's toenails.

Do they grow back fairly quickly?

Do I need to treat him or anything?

Obviously I've put a safe barier up for him.
 
If the area is puffy and there is blood at all you will need to take him to a vet to be sure that an infection has not started. It's very VERY easy for them to aqvuire an infection.
 
If the area is puffy and there is blood at all you will need to take him to a vet to be sure that an infection has not started. It's very VERY easy for them to aqvuire an infection.

I don't have a picture right now. But he's not swollen at all and it actually looks really good. No indication of infection, no seeping fluids. It also looks old, like this happend over a week ago and I never noticed it.

I'm just hoping they grow back and he doesnt develope an infection.
 
Some people have had nails grow back some haven't I really am not sure why that is. My friend adopted a Cham that has 3 missing and over a 6-7 month period he's had him they have not grown at all. I'm going to take an educated guess and say if the Cham is young - since their nails are still growing so its not exactly "growing back" but just still growing. It seems as though once its a mature adult that they have the only nails they will get and will not "grow back"
But I could be wrong. Ill just have to wait for someone else to chime in, these are just my thoughts on the subject from having researched chameleon illnesses and injuries for the past years.
 
Some people have had nails grow back some haven't I really am not sure why that is. My friend adopted a Cham that has 3 missing and over a 6-7 month period he's had him they have not grown at all. I'm going to take an educated guess and say if the Cham is young - since their nails are still growing so its not exactly "growing back" but just still growing. It seems as though once its a mature adult that they have the only nails they will get and will not "grow back"
But I could be wrong. Ill just have to wait for someone else to chime in, these are just my thoughts on the subject from having researched chameleon illnesses and injuries for the past years.

You'd think that in the wild, their nails would wear down over time and they would grow them back...but idk, just my $.02.
 
They probably do wear down and grow like our fingernails, but if completely ripped out it probably rips out some sort of fingernail "root" therefore it cannot grow back most of the time.

That's just my two cents..

Mine has been climbing on the screen occasionally and lost a nail but it doesn't really affect him much aside from it looking weird.
 
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