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I just recieved a beautiful male tamatave in the male today, To my horror he seems to have filed his nails down alot! he is not really griping the large vines in his cage very well (he has a strong grip on my hand he's just not able to hold onto the vines wihtout his nails I guess). he keeps losing his footing and falling. I put him in a small hatchling cage and padded it with a towel. How long will it take before his nails grow back decent size????? should I do anything to help? is there an easy to grip plant I can use? any advice would be helpful. like I said he has nails! they have just obvously been filed down ALOT. I guess from him clawing during shipping.
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From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.1 Veileds
1.0 Ambanja Panther
0.1 Tamatave Panther

awww poor guy. I'm not too sure on how long it will take for his nails to grow back, but a good plant would be a pothos. I keep my elderly veiled that has disintegrating joints on that. The vines and smaller, easy to grip, and they can even just 'sit' on top of the plant because the plants are usually in the hanging type planters with shallow pots. That way he won't fall off all the time, yet still feel like he is up in his tree.

Hope this helps

Kaitlyn

or lack there of.

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From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.1 Veileds
1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther

and the same problem. I bet we got them from the same person. Would you e-mail me and let me know who you got them from.
I think he is trimming the nails before he sends them out thinking he is doing us a favor but the nails should not be trimmed because they use them for climbing and can get hurt in a fall. Try keeping the bottom padded for a while but they do grow back eventually.

As long as the nails are not completely missing and toes infected (they will swell and get hard) he may be fine, just not be a great climber. The claws may continue to grow out, but not always. I had a big melleri whose claws were blunted like this. They never grew out much over 3 years, but she was generally just fine. It may depend on the cham's age. Suggestions: choose plant branches and live plants that have stems small enough for him to grip with toes alone. You could even use some braided rope netting such as a car cargo net hung in the cage. Put a denser network of climbing routes in his cage so he falls less and can get around easier. Falling a couple of feet in a cage is not going to be very dangerous for him, but you can help a lot by choosing smaller diameter perches instead. Just be aware of how limited he could be and plan for it.

Using screen cages or reptariums are the best ways to create this problem. MESH cages are the way to go. I've seen this many times and I've never seen a chams claws grow back...ever.

E
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That's it, screw you guys!
I'm goin' home

-Eric Cartman

*sigh* people read the post before responding! I'm such a good mommy I take EVERY precation for my children(chams). THIS IS A NEW CHAM! he came like that! he was not like that before shipment. he did it in the box to himself. he still has nails just real short stubby nails. (sorry for biting your head off, I just take offence when people think I'm being neglagent)
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From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.1 Veileds
1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther