TimothyOnTop
Established Member
My year old male had the tip of his nose horn break off and it's hollow is this normal??
Jackson's Cham horn broke and it's hollow??
- Thread starter TimothyOnTop
- Start date
Klyde O'Scope
Chameleon Enthusiast
IDK, but I gotta ask how that happened. 
Lindasjackson
Chameleon Enthusiast
I don’t know if that’s normal either. I’m going to tag a couple Jackson’s people.
@Mendez @JacksJill @Kaizen
@Mendez @JacksJill @Kaizen
Alycia
Established Member
Do you have any pictures of it? While I've never personally dealt with this I can get input from some incredible keepers of Jackson's. But I am curious as to your supplementation schedule and lighting? Horns don't generally break off unless there is an injury or nutritional problem.
Kaizen
Chameleon Enthusiast
So my first advice is to consult a vet. The cost is well worth the safety of your Cham. However, I bet @JacksJill will be able to offer some sage advice here. And, dare I call upon the talents of our resident research guru? @kinyonga.
Breaking the horn can expose the bone beneath it. I would get some triple antibiotics ointment on it and consider seeing a vet. It would be good to see pictures to judge the severity. Hollow seems odd to me it is basically a fingernail like keratin over a bone. I guess if the outermost part came off it would be hollow but then their would be exposed bone. As I said pictures would help.
This might help a little...see what ferritinmyshoes has to say...
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/broken-horns.95530/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/broken-horns.95530/
Thatcher
Chameleon Enthusiast
Pics would be helpful I would suspect
Klyde O'Scope
Chameleon Enthusiast
Horns can reattach/heal?
That would be so great if it happens, but TMK, horns can't/don't regrow, so I'm not sure how it could be okay. Does anyone know of a case where this (reattachment) has happened?
(General curiosity & learning more about this.)
Alycia
Established Member
Not chameleons...but horn repair...
http://www.chameleondatabase.com/2019/02/22/cranial-protuberances/
http://www.chameleondatabase.com/2019/02/22/cranial-protuberances/
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Mendez
Chameleon Enthusiast
If there was no blood coming from your jacksonii's broken horn, then reattaching it is going to be impossible--not that I would try reattaching it in the first place. And by the sounds of it being hollow, I doubt that there was any blood flow there anyways.
Goat horns get quite a bit of blood flow which makes anything easier to reattach and heal. The more blood supplied to an area, the faster it heals (to an extent). When I had a skateboarding accident and broke my scaphoid bone in the wrist, they said that it would take longer to heal since the blood supply is quite diminished in that area of the wrist:
"Blood flow to the scaphoid bone occurs via retrograde ('backwards') flow, meaning blood enters at the distal (top) portion of the bone and there is no direct blood supply to the proximal (bottom) portion of the bone. This retrograde blood supply is what can cause a fracture nonunion to go on to AVN (Picture 4)."
And the reason that I said that "The more blood supplied to an area, the faster it heals (to an extent)," is because too much blood flow can be dangerous. If anyone is familiar with "rock climbing hands," they know that over time, their hands and fingers get larger due to increased strain which increases tendon size and blood flow to the hand. World-renowned rock climber Tommy Caldwell accidentally sawed off his finger when cutting some wood for a house project. The amount of blood flow to the area made it impossible to reattach the finger. And after several attempts at the hospital to reattach it, they gave up and now he just has a missing finger. He lost a lot of blood in the process but recovered. Of course, too much blood flow increases your chances of bleeding out.
Looking at past threads where jackson's chameleons lost horns, there was little blood to no blood which suggests that either A) these animals that broke their horns all had horn deformities which made them susceptible to break (i.e. poor supplement schedule, hollow horns) or B) all jackson's chameleons have little bloodflow in their horns. Obviously, with the data we have at the moment, we cannot form a conclusion. Plus, there could be some other unknown explanation.
TL;DR--I agree with @Alycia, it could be poor supplementation that led to your cham's broken horn. Since it was the tip of the horn that was hollow, it was probably the breeder who gave you this chameleon who is at fault. Since the base of the horn is the newest part, which didn't break, it suggests that your cham is (maybe/probably) okay. It will still help to tell us your supplementation schedule so we can make sure that everything is on point.
IDK, just my two cents on the matter. As always, sorry for the long and somewhat off-topic response haha
Goat horns get quite a bit of blood flow which makes anything easier to reattach and heal. The more blood supplied to an area, the faster it heals (to an extent). When I had a skateboarding accident and broke my scaphoid bone in the wrist, they said that it would take longer to heal since the blood supply is quite diminished in that area of the wrist:
"Blood flow to the scaphoid bone occurs via retrograde ('backwards') flow, meaning blood enters at the distal (top) portion of the bone and there is no direct blood supply to the proximal (bottom) portion of the bone. This retrograde blood supply is what can cause a fracture nonunion to go on to AVN (Picture 4)."
And the reason that I said that "The more blood supplied to an area, the faster it heals (to an extent)," is because too much blood flow can be dangerous. If anyone is familiar with "rock climbing hands," they know that over time, their hands and fingers get larger due to increased strain which increases tendon size and blood flow to the hand. World-renowned rock climber Tommy Caldwell accidentally sawed off his finger when cutting some wood for a house project. The amount of blood flow to the area made it impossible to reattach the finger. And after several attempts at the hospital to reattach it, they gave up and now he just has a missing finger. He lost a lot of blood in the process but recovered. Of course, too much blood flow increases your chances of bleeding out.
Looking at past threads where jackson's chameleons lost horns, there was little blood to no blood which suggests that either A) these animals that broke their horns all had horn deformities which made them susceptible to break (i.e. poor supplement schedule, hollow horns) or B) all jackson's chameleons have little bloodflow in their horns. Obviously, with the data we have at the moment, we cannot form a conclusion. Plus, there could be some other unknown explanation.
TL;DR--I agree with @Alycia, it could be poor supplementation that led to your cham's broken horn. Since it was the tip of the horn that was hollow, it was probably the breeder who gave you this chameleon who is at fault. Since the base of the horn is the newest part, which didn't break, it suggests that your cham is (maybe/probably) okay. It will still help to tell us your supplementation schedule so we can make sure that everything is on point.
IDK, just my two cents on the matter. As always, sorry for the long and somewhat off-topic response haha
TimothyOnTop
Established Member
Here are some pictures it's completely hollow no blood and I can see all the way down to the tip of his nose
Lindasjackson
Chameleon Enthusiast
How did it happen?
Mendez
Chameleon Enthusiast
Oh wow, well the good news is that he still looks healthy despite the broken horn. But the fact that his horn is hollow all the way through is concerning. Would you mind sharing your supplementation routine? And don't worry, this is a judgment-free zone. You won't get yelled at like some of the facebook groups out there. I'm just happy that you are on the forums asking these questions in the first place. And if there is something wrong, we can correct it so your cham lives a long and healthy life!
TimothyOnTop
Established Member
I give him calcium withoutD3 every feeding and multi vitamin once a month and calcium with D3 once a month I have uvb strip bulbs keep his basking perch at 80 have a mister goes off twice a day and a fogger that runs 8 hours every night he is in a 4 ft tall 3 ft wide 18 inch deep cage he is very healthy sheds eats a lot gains weight like he should very curious always climbing around had him checked for parasites a month ago
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