Reptile & Amphibian Forums

is it a smart idea to trim the claws of my veiled? they are getting to the point where they are leaving scratch marks. i know they use them to climb and all, but will triming or fileing(sp) them be a bad idea?

if you trim the nails the cham will not be able to stayon branches in the cage....so no you cant trim them...

Please dont trim his nails... someone trimmed my tamatave's nails before sending him to me and he cant grip bairly anything. he falls all the time, even now, I have to pad the bottom of his cage.
-----
From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.0 Veileds
1.1 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther

No..Trimming of claws is usually not recommended. There are blood vessels that run almost to the tip of the nail and if you trim them,you may cut right into the blood vessel, causing the nail to notgrow back. If you absolutely must have them trimmed, I would recommend taking your chameleon to the vet and having the vet trim its nails. As long as your vet knows what he/she is working with. They perform a similar procedure on birds.
Good luck.

Their toenails can be filed down just from climbing on the screen. They can also be pulled completely out, but I've had a male file down most of his nails just from climbing on the screen and "scratching" at it. Almost 2 males, until I changed his cage. So far, they don't grow back either. It's been well over a year. He's just learned not to climb on the screen anymore.
-----
Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

My tamatave still has not figured out that if he does not climb on the screen he wont fall... he still tries it all the time. he makes such an awful sound when he falls too
-----
From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.0 Veileds
1.1 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther

thanks for all of the help. i knew that he would need them to climb, but i didn't know that they wouldn't grow back. i am glad that i had asked now instead of going ahead and doing it.