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since a while now my veiled has shaking hands.
if i'd see that behaviour on a human i'd say he suffers from parkinson. his whole hand shakes from time to time when he has it in mid air. when he then finally grabs onto a twig i can still see his muscles contract under his skin.

everything else is ok. i wonder if any of you has seen this on his/her chams as well?

No, cham's do not, to my knowlege get Parkinson's. But what you described could an early symptom of kidney disease. I'd recommend a vet do a Ca ratio on him. Oversupplementation can do this. If it's what I think it might be, it requires immediate attention.
Ed

I've always thought this to be normal, my 2 month old veiled has always seemed to do this if he is on a complicated plant. If its a strait vine he can easily move down it and doesnt shake and all but when hes trying to manuver through a more dense plant he must try to reach for the next leaf and sometimes shakes his legs while he does so.

It might be normal. Thy often do a little "stutter-step" when walking but I thought that what was being described was more of a tremor. Watch him closely. If you see him grabbing his own leg, get him to a vet ASAP and do the Ca ration via bloodwork.
Ed

hey there epollak

thanks a lot for this advice! i think i'll go and have him checked. it is not a careful grasping of the twig but really a shaking hand.
i would be surprised if it was an oversupplementation since i read about it and only dust my fodder every week or so.
now another question: what is a Ca ratio? english is not my spoken language so i'd appreciate it if you could spell this out so i know what to ask for.

ok.. i now got an appointment for wednesday.
i already told him that i'd probably like to do a calcium phosphoros ratio (thx to google.. )
we'll see what happens...
thx again for the information!

Ca = the ratio of Calcium to Phosphorus

Ed

another question... why would he grab his leg if the kidneys are not in a good condition??

I have no idea. I've just found it o be true. Ca is very important in determining muscle fiber excitability as well as neuronal excitability so abnormalities of Ca could, theoretically, hqave drastic effects on motor coordination. But I'm just guessing here.
Ed

My adult male veiled has never had any history of tremors, but does grab his own leg from time to time if he is turning around quickly to run away or to grab food. He has fallen once, and only once, when i let him wander out of the cage on to the cage door, and then attempted to let him on my hand, but he freaked out and tried to turn around by grabbing his hind leg. He fell a few feet but was fine after some tense hissing and tail lashing moments...
I recently switched his supplementation after his stoppage of growing at about 10 months. I WAS supplementing with Herpcare cal/D3 every 2nd insect that was fed. I now use Sticky tongue farms' miner-all every 3rd feeding, so about once a week (every 4 or 5 weeks there is a twice-a-week supplementation, the regularity causes that because I supplement by number of feeding, not per week).
This is what's said on the back of the container. I belive they are correct that every 3rd feeding is ok, but I may be wrong. I believe it because most, if not all, other supps say to use EVERY feeding!

I also use Vit-all, Sticky Tongue Farms' gutload.

My girlfriend's veiled has been doing this too. His hands are very shaky in midair when he's reaching. He is only a few months old. I kind of thought it might just be nornal behavior for chameleons so I'm glad you posted this question.

If the cham is doing this shaking thin JUST prior to grabbing a branch in a high perch, then it just may be its way of simulating a leaf in the breaze. If the chams muscles are twiching after it has made contact with the branch then it may be the kidney problem mentioned. My cham did the "shake" thing when I first got him but doesnt do it anymore. Maybe it feels non threatend in its enclosure - so maybe it feels that it doesnt need to do the "leaf shake". I dont know, but I do know they shake and move their hands back and forth when grabbing branches - this is instinctive.

-roocat71

just wanted to say that the photo with the chives and lobelia(?) is a nice change from the ususal cham/plant photos. His position adds to it as well

lele

p.s. hope the shaking is nothing serious and the vet is able to help if it is
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta