Pardalis Not wanting to Use Front Arms

[Calavera]

Hey, Today I noticed that my 2 year old Ambilobe was holding onto his basking stick with his rear legs and his tail. His front arms were hanging limply off of the branch. If I encourage him to hold onto my hand, we will use his front hands, but his front grip appears very weak. I don's see this problem in his rear legs or his tail. Has anyone ever experienced this before? He ate yesterday and everything appears normal. All my chameleons, including him are housed in proper all-mesh ventilated enclosures and I have them all on Repti-sun 5.0 UVB bulbs. He has an ambient temperature 75 degrees and a 90 degree basking area. I have had him since he was a neo and have never had any problems with him. His arms do not appear soft or deformed and I use rep-cal and miner-all in proper regiments, so MBD does not seem likely. Honestly, this seemed to have occurred "overnight" and I am completely stumped. As usual, any insight would be greatly appreciated.

-Cala-

 

[Fred]

Wish I was more experienced and could help, but all I could say is a vet visit may be in order???? I would like to say he is VERY beautiful, I know that doesn't help but he took my breath away!!

 

[Vampire.queen]

Does this problem remain? You know, chams time to time do strange things for no reason...
And your buddy looks like he is healthy.

 

[Chameleon24]

Has he fell at all? i had a nosy be that i had for about a month do this with his back legs. fell 10 times a day, if you put him on the ground he would just drag his back legs. i took him to a vet and he had no idea what was wrong. but i also dont know how much experience he had with chameleons.

 

[Calavera]

I agree, this is very "out of the ordinary" and this morning he seemed to be asleep in that same position. I think he probably fell in his enclosure at some point because otherwise he is healthy and robust. I am going to keep a close eye on him and hope that he is just a bit sore from a minor fall off the highest limb on his ficus.

--cala-

 

[Chameleon24]

i would try and find a vet who is VERY experienced with chameleons. better not to wait. chameleons can fall about 20 feet without getting hurt so i doubt he fell about 3 or 4 feet in a cage and injured both front limbs.

 

[BocaJan]

From the looks of his back legs he may have MBV. Do you have a UV linear tube less than 6 months old? Have you answered the How To Ask For Help stickie?

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[Debmonster]

I had a female Jackson who began exhibiting this same symptom only with her rear foot. Within a week swelling occurred at her "ankle". I took her to the vet and his conclusion was she had a calcium deficiency.

Unfortunately there are many other reasons why your chameleon is not using his front legs but my first concern would be because it hurts him...which means a vet visit. Good Luck

 

[Sepioteuthis]

The only time I have seen that behavior is in a chameleon with gout. Gout basically means that uric acid crystals build up in the joints (and other parts of the body) because the kidneys are damaged. Gout is very painful, so the chameleon will avoid using the affected legs.
So, definitely time for a vet visit for a blood panel.

 

[veiledchamguy]

The only time I have seen that behavior is in a chameleon with gout. Gout basically means that uric acid crystals build up in the joints (and other parts of the body) because the kidneys are damaged. Gout is very painful, so the chameleon will avoid using the affected legs.
So, definitely time for a vet visit for a blood panel.

If it was gout or possibly edema..wouldnt there be swelling in the joints and at elbows?

 

[Sepioteuthis]

The swelling can be pretty subtle, at least it was in my cham.

 

[ponders]

This happened to my jackson. He held his feet out and they were painful. You can read the old thread -search for Sick jackson cham. Sorry don't know how to insert link. Anyway it was very painful and the vet didn't help. I think he had gout from liver failure, but the vet didn't. He was from a petstore and I only had him for 4-5mo. He didn't make it
Definately go to a GOOD reptile vet asap.

 

[Calavera]

His repti-sun 5.0 is new and my husbandry has not changed over the course of his life. I have all the proper husbandry aspects satisfied (based on information I have acquired from the breeder, this forum, and years of my own pardalis keeping experience) so I am thinking it may be gout. MBD doesn't stand out as a likely diagnosis because his limbs do not appear warped or deformed and he is on all the proper supplements and under a 5.0 UVB light. If it is gout, has anyone hear ever had a chameleon with this condition? Also, what may have caused this in the first place? It seemed to have started overnight.

 

[CleanLineChameleons]

Check you PM...I don't believe it is gout...normally gout forms a little slower and kind of a joint at a time...not both front arms at once. Also most gout you can actually see build up around the joints. Honestly I don't know what it is, I have seen it before and never got any answers on it. It possibly could be high metal content in your water or something in his genetics.

Good luck and I hope you figure it out,

Chris

 

[Sepioteuthis]

First off, I'm not saying that I think that this is what your chameleon has, in fact I really hope I'm wrong.

Anyway, I've had 2 chams with gout. Both passed away within weeks of the symptoms (like the sore legs) becoming obvious.
Gout is caused by kidney damage and kidney damage is caused by dehydration (or long-term suboptimal hydration), an infection, nutritional imbalance, a combination of the above or the animal can just have been born with a kidney defect.
According to my vet, kidney problems is what they see most in chameleons and unfortunately it irreversible.