hand/feet splitting

[papercut2008uk]

i have had my new chameleon for 1 month, it's a little wild so i haven't handled him untill now, i have only just got him used to my hands, he still hisses, but now that i have had the chance to examin him, his feet ate split in the middle, very dry clumps of skin and dry blood in the muddle.

he's a yemen chameleon
male
7 months old (i've had him for a month)
he's been getting his vitamins and calcium through dusting with Minerall i/o and pure calcium (vitamins every day and calcium every day)

have a UV lamp 5.0 and heat lamp
he's in a Exoterra vivarium for now.

What can i do to help his hands and feet?

 

[sandrachameleon]

is it possible there is retained shed on his feet that is causing the split? if so, soaking the feet in warm water may help the build up of dead skin to come off

or is it possible he was housed in a cage that damaged his feet (such as from climbing on chicken wire)? if no sign of infection, time should heal.

You might take him to a vet for a check-up

p.s. - most people do not provide vitamins via supplements daily

 

[carol5208]

First of all you have to determine if something in the cage is causing his feet to split. Check all your branches, vines, plants etc. Is it on all feet? There is a possibility that it may not be anything physically that is causing it. It could be old shed that never removed itself, but I don't know about there being any dried blood in this case. I would try to soak the feet in warm water(if he will let you) to soften up the old skin and then gently try to remove it. If it does not come off easily then do not pull it off, as you might do more damage. If you can remove the skin I would then apply neosporin. I have a problem with one of my chameleon's back foot right now. I think it was caused by chicken wire(which I have since changed out) in an outdoor cage. I have had him seen by a vet twice. We started with neosporin and Baytril which is an antibiotic and now I am using another topical med. Bottom line is, if it doesn not improve you have to see a vet. If you are not comfortable with handling him and trying to remove the skin, then I would just get him to a vet. You don't want the feet getting infected. Could you post a few pics of the feet? One thing you have going against you, is it is on the underside of the foot which is constantly being used. That is one of the issues I have had with my guy that it keeps getting irritated when he climbs.

 

[carol5208]

is it possible there is retained shed on his feet that is causing the split? if so, soaking the feet in warm water may help the build up of dead skin to come off

or is it possible he was housed in a cage that damaged his feet (such as from climbing on chicken wire)? if no sign of infection, time should heal.

You might take him to a vet for a check-up

p.s. - most people do not provide vitamins via supplements daily

lol Sandra....great minds think alike!!!!

 

[papercut2008uk]

there isnt anything that he could be grasping and causing this, it's more to do with his shedding as there are some clumps of dried skin on his hands/feet.

the only reason i'm dusting daily is because i just got him a month ago and i've read online that under a year you should dust every day.

the best way i can describe it is:

it's on all feet/hands. towards the toes there is thick dull coloured skin and on all feet in the center where the foot bends it has split and you can see dried up red splits some looks like it's swollen.

his back feet on inspection look quite swollen, on both feet his nails seem to be missing on 1 toe on both feet.

i have soaked them now hopefully it will get better

 

[carol5208]

If they are swollen, there could be some infection. If you do not see improvement pretty quickly I would get him to a vet. Good luck and keep us updated. Sometimes if they loose a nail it can become infected in that area also.

 

[sandrachameleon]

If they are swollen, there could be some infection. If you do not see improvement pretty quickly I would get him to a vet. Good luck and keep us updated. Sometimes if they loose a nail it can become infected in that area also.

I agree

 

[papercut2008uk]

i'm a little scared rite now. i cleaned off some of the dead skin (it was a lot!) but there still is some there, after cleaning i went to put him in his viv and he just closed his eyes, lightened in colour and puffed out a little, now he appears to be fast asleep on my hand. all in a few seconds (although it is his time to sleep)

he has never done this, he wont usually let me anywhere near him, but i dont know if i should be worried by this because he's never done this, or could it be that he's just now more comfortable that i have removed the dead skin, or could he be in a lot of pain, or have i hurt him and he's just gone to sleep in shock or something!

i'm really scared that i might loose him now because he has never done this before, ever!

 

[djfishygillz]

the only reason i'm dusting daily is because i just got him a month ago and i've read online that under a year you should dust every day.

[/QUOTE]

They need to be dusted with calcium every other day, calcium with vitamin d3 about twice a month and "multivitamin" about twice a month also. It sounds as if you are dusting multivitamin every day with can be really hard on the organs and would probably result in a harder shed and him not being able to heal as easily.

I think you should do some reading or find a care sheet from someone on here and post some pictures and maybe a vet visit. I would really recommend taking further action than the foot soak just to be positive your chameleon is in great shape.

We are here to help!!!

 

[djfishygillz]

Anyone hear from this guy yet? I am nervous for his cham

 

[papercut2008uk]

sad to say but my cham took a turn for the worse and passed away 2 days ago, kept soaking his feet, most of what was on there had come off.

came to switch on his lights and found him at the bottom of the viv lifeless.

dont think i'll be getting another one for a long while.

 

[Chameleon Company]

sad to say but my cham took a turn for the worse and passed away 2 days ago, kept soaking his feet, most of what was on there had come off.

came to switch on his lights and found him at the bottom of the viv lifeless.

dont think i'll be getting another one for a long while.

By "splitting", do you mean as in what would be the underside "palms" of his feet ?

 

[papercut2008uk]

Yes the palms.

Because I wasn't able to handle him untill recently, what I thought was splitting was infact retained sheds on his palms/hands/feet. This was quite thick and splitting and brown which is why when I saw them I was really shocked and thought that they were split all the way through his hands, but it was the retained sheds that were split and dirty which looked like blood clumps.

I'm sure that it wasn't just 1 layer of retained shed but a few because it was quite thick on each foot. Because of how wild he was when I got him from the pet shop, they must have never inspected his feet (needless to say I'll never buy from them again) to see if everything was going as it should.

My other chameleon who died after 5 years, I bought this one to replace him, I would help him to remove the thicker parts of the shed off his hands and feet, something I couldn't do on the new cham due to how wild he was, but I wouldn't have thought it would be so thick in a month, I thought he would be in good health but guess I was wrong.

 

[Chameleon Company]

yes the palms.

because i wasnt able to handle him untill recently, what i thought was splitting was infact retained sheds on his palms/hands/feet. this was quite thick and splitting and brown which is why when i saw them i was really shocked and thought that they were split all the way through his hands, but it was the retained sheds that were split and dirty which looked like blood clumps.

i'm sure that it wasnt just 1 layer of retained shed but a few because it was quite thick on each foot, because of how wild he was when i got him from the pet shop, they must have never inspected his feet (needless to say i'll never buy from them again).

my other chameleon who died and i bought this one to replace him, i would help him to remove the thicker parts of the shed off his hands and feet, something i couldnt do on the new cham due to how wild he was, but i wouldnt have thought it would be so thick in a month, i thought he would be in good health but guess i was wrong.

OK. I had inklings going this direction. We can't know for sure without an actual vet inspection, but this is what usually happens.

Athlete's Foot. A fungus.

It happens when there is too much moisture in the cage, possibly encouraged by misting, and poor ventilation, AND where the chameleon's perch is of a material that does not wick away moisture. This could be any kind of plastic or rubber or painted wood. What they need as a perch is plain bamboo, or a branch, or unfinished dowel. Something that will pull moisture away from the palms of their feet at night. Otherwise, you will get a fungal lesion. And eventually an infection.

Caught in time, it can be remedied using a human anti-fungal, such as tinactin, and by going to a real wood perch, such as a tree branch or stick.

On a related note, even if your chameleon is mean, there are times when you need to perform a hand's-on inspection and intervention. Grab it securely behind the head, with the rest of your fingers restraining it around the torso. It won't like this, but it does not matter. And check it out. In this case, removing that unshed build-up, and then swabbing with an antibiotic and antifungal. And a new perch. The animal can handle it.

 

[papercut2008uk]

i did have 3 wooden peach tree branch's that i put in the oven to steralise and then in the cage, they were from my older setup, also had repti vines and plastic plants. the humidity was around 75%.

but it's too late now anyway, i'll not be getting another for a long while.

 

[PantherEnvy]

I am so sorry. What was the actual cause of death?

 

[papercut2008uk]

I'm not 100% sure but might have gotten an infection from the removal of the skin on the palms of his feet/hands, or an infection from his missing nail (but looked like they were there, as his feet were no longer swollen and I could see a small bit of nail).