Pedicure!!!

YOSHI

New Member
I handled my Cham today for the first time in a while and his nails have become so sharp he drew blood when he gripped onto me, i was told that a chams nails would only ever need clipping if they started to curl, but this isn't the case, is this normal? What should i do?! :confused:
 
Sounds to me like you have a healthy chameleon! A strong grip is a great sign.. although not great for your hands...

Maybe you should just wear gloves when you need to handle him
 
I clipped my veiled's nails. They were really long and I didn't want them to get caught in the screen. I would not suggest doing this unless you have someone to help you though! I have a ton of experience clipping various species' nails and my husband was gently restraining him (I've trained him well) so there wasn't a risk of accidentally clipping too short. But if you get them too short they can bleed and it will hurt. Or if they wiggle too much you could accidentally get their foot. Or if someone is restraining your cham poorly they could hurt themselves. So the message is: "don't try this at home" unless you know what you're doing. :)
 
My male Homer is 2 yrs old and I have never had to clip claws. Sufficient natural surfaces in the enclosure such as real branches, should wear them down naturally.
Chams , like any other lizard, use them for digging (females) and climbing (both) and combined with their characteristic foot strength and design (zygodactylid?) serve them well indeed.
A trail of pinpricks from your chams feet is part of the 'joy' of keeping them! :D
 
My male Homer is 2 yrs old and I have never had to clip claws. Sufficient natural surfaces in the enclosure such as real branches, should wear them down naturally.
Chams , like any other lizard, use them for digging (females) and climbing (both) and combined with their characteristic foot strength and design (zygodactylid?) serve them well indeed.
A trail of pinpricks from your chams feet is part of the 'joy' of keeping them! :D

stop saying what I was going to say. :eek:

Harry
 
stop saying what I was going to say. :eek:

Harry

Regarding the "pain we tolerate for loving our chams", has anyone been bitten by theirs? Mine (my female when she was alive) and my male have threatened at times, but it always seems like a "false" threat and I've never been bitten. Does it hurt?:confused: I think to myself "how bad could it really hurt, they don't have but tiny teeth & no hard beak". I guess it could scare/shock me more than anything?...:rolleyes: A little pinch?:eek:
 
I think I've read of people putting sand paper over a dowel and making it available as a walkway, just to help with the natural filing of the nails.
 
Regarding the "pain we tolerate for loving our chams", has anyone been bitten by theirs? Mine (my female when she was alive) and my male have threatened at times, but it always seems like a "false" threat and I've never been bitten. Does it hurt?:confused: I think to myself "how bad could it really hurt, they don't have but tiny teeth & no hard beak". I guess it could scare/shock me more than anything?...:rolleyes: A little pinch?:eek:

I have no idea what kind of cham you have but if it is a male veiled or even panther, you will notice a bit more that a pinch - well quite a bit more.:eek:
 
If they get ahold of you, don't rip you hand out of their mouth!! Make sure they let go first.
 
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I have no idea what kind of cham you have but if it is a male veiled or even panther, you will notice a bit more that a pinch - well quite a bit more.:eek:

I have a small (unknown age) male veiled cham. Glad I haven't had any bites yet. Had a female she didn't bite either, thank goodness!
 
Regarding the "pain we tolerate for loving our chams", has anyone been bitten by theirs? Mine (my female when she was alive) and my male have threatened at times, but it always seems like a "false" threat and I've never been bitten. Does it hurt?:confused: I think to myself "how bad could it really hurt, they don't have but tiny teeth & no hard beak". I guess it could scare/shock me more than anything?...:rolleyes: A little pinch?:eek:

Yes. It hurts. My veiled hates the world so if I have to grab him, to put him outside or weigh him, I have to be quick because he'll try to bite. He got me one time and it was impressive! He drew blood and I had perfect bite marks on my finger for a day or two. He's plenty strong and it did hurt. Nothing like an iguana bite luckily, but not pleasant. :)
 
i haven't bothered reading the all of the post, but i will throw in my opinion to the original poster.

i would not advise chameleon nails to be cut. chameleons may slowly grow their nails in length, but if anything were too happen, the claws themselves will not grow back at all. chameleon oven mitts just wont cut it for climbing, thus they absolutely need their claws to climb well and safely. as i read before, maybe you should wear gloves, although it doesn't hurt that bad :rolleyes:, Kiwi has a tremendous grip and very long nails, she looks like a sloth lol. they do pinch very bad, especially when they hook onto nerves in your joints lol. but IMHO the nails should always be left alone, unless like the O.P was informed, their nails start to curl.
 
i haven't bothered reading the all of the post, but i will throw in my opinion to the original poster.

i would not advise chameleon nails to be cut. chameleons may slowly grow their nails in length, but if anything were too happen, the claws themselves will not grow back at all. chameleon oven mitts just wont cut it for climbing, thus they absolutely need their claws to climb well and safely. as i read before, maybe you should wear gloves, although it doesn't hurt that bad :rolleyes:, Kiwi has a tremendous grip and very long nails, she looks like a sloth lol. they do pinch very bad, especially when they hook onto nerves in your joints lol. but IMHO the nails should always be left alone, unless like the O.P was informed, their nails start to curl.

My male cham is recovering from having an infected elbow lanced. I'm giving him antibiotics and flushing the wound as intructed by the vet. It appears to be healing nicely but still has inflamation (went to vet about 5 days ago). It appears a toe (on same leg) was injured at some point too from about that time. Perhaps the nail was caught in something. Now the toe has fallen off! It is dry and doesn't seem to be infected. Should I just watch it now or what should I do? Bummer!!!:eek:
 
Ouch!:) If its all dried up and not swollen at all (which might indicate infection) and not giving it trouble, then it'll likely be fine. If it was more than a single toe, if the side of the foot was damaged it might make things tricky, but infection is a bigger threat.
Do keep an eye out as part of your daily routine, so that you'll notice if its infected or he's favoring that foot, but if its dry I wouldnt be too concerned.
Ofcourse be sure it cannot sustain the same kind of injury from any snags etc in your cage, and when the lizard sheds makes sure the skin comes of nicely if the toe/s are crooked in any way. Toes and tail tips are places you want to make sure of clean shed.
:)
 
i haven't bothered reading the all of the post, but i will throw in my opinion to the original poster.

i would not advise chameleon nails to be cut. chameleons may slowly grow their nails in length, but if anything were too happen, the claws themselves will not grow back at all. chameleon oven mitts just wont cut it for climbing, thus they absolutely need their claws to climb well and safely. as i read before, maybe you should wear gloves, although it doesn't hurt that bad :rolleyes:, Kiwi has a tremendous grip and very long nails, she looks like a sloth lol. they do pinch very bad, especially when they hook onto nerves in your joints lol. but IMHO the nails should always be left alone, unless like the O.P was informed, their nails start to curl.

Ouch!:) If its all dried up and not swollen at all (which might indicate infection) and not giving it trouble, then it'll likely be fine. If it was more than a single toe, if the side of the foot was damaged it might make things tricky, but infection is a bigger threat.
Do keep an eye out as part of your daily routine, so that you'll notice if its infected or he's favoring that foot, but if its dry I wouldnt be too concerned.
Ofcourse be sure it cannot sustain the same kind of injury from any snags etc in your cage, and when the lizard sheds makes sure the skin comes of nicely if the toe/s are crooked in any way. Toes and tail tips are places you want to make sure of clean shed.
:)

Okay, thanks. Yes, it's totally dry, but I'll be watching it for the next couple of weeks since it is on the same limb I'm doctoring from the elbow infection. It was really strange because I'd looked at them closely checking out his nails and didn't see any injury to the toe. When I did notice it, the toe was already dried, and shriveled. It happened fast (the shriveling). I didn't pull at it but I did think it was dead already. It almost looked like a finger nail, but I knew it wasn't. It was on the side of the foot (I think inside where there's three toes), now there's only two. When I handled him yesterday for medication it just fell right off. He never seemed to notice or favor it (odd). There's no blood or redness so I'll watch and keep my fingers crossed. I want to be a responsible owner, but his bill last week at the specialist's was $450.00 so I hope Romeo will be considerate of me and my finances and not get sick again for a while!!!!:(:rolleyes:
 
I think "romeo"? lol, will be just fine now, he has an amazing responsible and caring owner!
Kudos and best wishes for both of you! :)
 
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