Losing Nails, Will They Grow Back?

[paul]

My cham is doing well, getting bigger, eating, shedding, etc. Recently, I have noticed he is losing some of his nails. The two times I noticed for sure was during handling (I wear gloves now because his sharp nails hurt!) The one occurrence, I noticed his hand had a small blood bubble where a nail was missing. The second time, I noticed a nail stuck to my glove.

I don't pull him from his terrarium or off the glove, I let him walk on. He does also have a fine mesh cage - but I'm working on getting a larger one with bigger screening.

Its obvious that he is probably losing his nails from climbing the cage, and possibly during handling. My real concern is.. will the nails grow back?

 

[Nicodemayo]

Some will claim they wont grow back but my adult male ambi was in a borrowed cage temporarily when he was young and lost a few and they have since grown back.

 

[Champhibians]

I have never had one grow back.

 

[Nicodemayo]

im sure alot of it has to do with where the nail broke off from. Im sure if it was pulled completely from the root it wont grow back. I noticed my males lost nail a couple of days after he was done using the cage and his toe was just a little nub with a scab at the end but like i mentioned above, it has grown back so maybe the root was still embedded. It took months before i new nail started to show up.

 

[Champhibians]

also I wonder if it is like teeth at all.(also not trying to say you were wrong I believe you)If I remember right you said it was a juv. So maybe like if you knock a baby tooth out your adult tooth will grow sooner or later. But if you knock out an adult tooth it will not grow back. Well you know what I am saying

 

[Nicodemayo]

That could be a possibility. Im assuming chameleons have quicks in their nails because pretty much every animal on earth with nails does so maybe the nails he lost were just broken off really really short and the scabs were blood from the quicks clotting up. Im sure nails have a point of no return though but when i looked at my guy i could have sworn he would not be getting them back.

 

[kinyonga]

paul...are there any swellings at the ends of the toes?

 

[ChameleonsTree]

Some grow back some dont...and sometimes they grow back all wonky.

 

[Champhibians]

That could be a possibility. Im assuming chameleons have quicks in their nails because pretty much every animal on earth with nails does so maybe the nails he lost were just broken off really really short and the scabs were blood from the quicks clotting up. Im sure nails have a point of no return though but when i looked at my guy i could have sworn he would not be getting them back.

Chameleons do have quicks for sure. I had to have a nail removed before. The vet showed me where the quick ended. It was pretty far back, so I am sure you have nailed it. Just a thought on the teeth, you never know

 

[louise1980]

male ambilobie nails

iv noticed my males nails have fallen off he has a mesh viv and i think he has done it while climbing around can this be dangerous for him, they have fell off before and grown back but just abit worried

 

[Lovereps]

Hello Louise1980 and welcome to the forum!
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It's really impossible for anyone to tell you whether or not his nails will grow back.
Usually they don't but it depends on exactly where they broke off from.
If your cham is climbing the screens a lot, be sure that he has enough plants to hide in and vines to walk along.
Some chams seem to just like to take a daily stroll along the screens but adding plants and vines works for some screen climbers.