Feet and Tail Problems

[ilovevolcomstone]

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2787380270102501192svsChu
http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2331968770102501192invlpV
Cage Type -
What kind of cage are you using? Screen and Wood.
What is the size? same size as my 15 gallon fish tank that i temporarily used.

Lighting -
What kind of lighting are you using? a heat bulb and a uvb coil bulb.
How long do you keep the lights on during the day? until it gets dark outside

Temperature -
What temperature range have you created? 75 degrees
Basking spot temp? 85 degrees
What is the temperature at night? 70 degrees

Humidity -
What are your humidity levels? usually 40%
How are you creating and maintaining these levels? misting

Plants -
Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? no

Location -
Where is your cage located? For the past 3 weeks, it has been on top of my bathtub, next to the window.
Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? no, only an airvent on the other side of the bathroom.

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon -
The species: Jacksons
sex: Male
age of your chameleon: 5 or 6 months old

Feeding -
What are you feeding your cham? meal worms and crickets
What amount? at the most 4 crickets, or 3 crickets and 1 mealworm.
What kind of schedule? whenever i have time to offer him them a day.
How are you gut-loading your feeders? these orange gel calcium balls. (im at work and cant remember the specific brand of everything.)
Supplements - What are you dusting your feeders with and what kind of schedule do you use? calcium dust.
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? Do you see your chameleon drinking? misting the tank, and hand watering him by droplets. yes
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. not sure. havent looked. im at owrk.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. he was sick before, but i got him better.
Current Problem - The current problem that you are concerned about.

Right now, I noticed that his front hands are clamped together, but his back legs are fully functioning. His tail is off colored and extremely lighter than the rest of his body. It also doesn't seem to curl, or use it anymore.

What could be wrong?

 

[Cainschams]

The uvb coil bulb is bad for your cham. This could be from a supplement problem. You really need to have 4 supplements. Calcium with d3, calcium with out and both phosphorus free, minerall, and a multivit like herptivite. Does your guy get natural sun, artificial, or both. Use calcium with d3 if your guy gets more than a few hours of real unfiltered sunlight a day. They can creat d3 with the suns rays but not the uvb bulb. If he doesnt get sun use the d3 and without alternating between them. Minerall provides minerals and some vits you can get it with or without d3 depending on your sunlight schedule. multivit for vitamins of course. I use Minerall and multivits once a month or once every 3 weeks. I try for the most nutritional gutload to give so I dont have to supplement as much.

 

[kinyonga]

Your pictures are't clear enough to tell anything for sure. Does it normally walk with its body lifted off the branch?

You said you use a coil UVB...compact/coil lights have been known to cause problems with reptiles. You need to get a tube/linear light. (The UVB light should not have plastic or glass between it and the chameleon, BTW.)

To help keep the humidity up I would recommend using live (non-toxic, well-washed, both sides of the leaves) plants...and mist more than once a day.

You said its located next to a window....does the sun shine on the cage? Does the chameleon have a place to get out of the sun?

I'm not a fan of meal worms because sometimes they can cause impaction.
Crickets are good because they are easy to gutload.

You said..."at the most 4 crickets, or 3 crickets and 1 mealworm"...what size are the crickets?

You said..."these orange gel calcium balls"...you can feed your crickets a wide variety of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, zucchini, sweet red pepper, etc.)

Most feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous so dusting them before feeding them to your chameleon with a phos.-free calcium powder helps to make up for this.

I dust twice a month lightly with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene source of vitamin A. Beta carotene won't build up in its system like preformed will. Excess preformed can prevent the D3 from doing its job and lead to MBD.

If the chameleon gets no direct sunlight you may also need to dust lightly twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder.

You said..."he was sick before, but i got him better"...what was he sick with?

You said...."Right now, I noticed that his front hands are clamped together, but his back legs are fully functioning. His tail is off colored and extremely lighter than the rest of his body. It also doesn't seem to curl, or use it anymore"...is he grasping his own hands as if he is searching for the branch and can't find it? Could he have fallen?