Help Sick Veil Chameleon

This is my first post, I'm new to the board and I just want say hello. The two front claws seems to be not growing anymore, only his hind legs have claws. His last nail fell off after soaking him in a bowl of warm water. He doesn't eat as much and his color on his tail isn't as vibrant as it use to be. He is very weak b/c he doesn't have the ability to climb. My question is

Will the nails of his front claws grow back? and is that a symptom of some sort of sickness.

Everytime he climbs on the branches he falls off. Not sure what to do at this point???

Chris

What kind of cage do you have?

How are you providing moisture and how often?

What are you feeding, what supplements, gutload etc.

The first thing that comes to mind is that with a small mesh aluminum screening the nails are often damaged and/or broken off, that would not cause him to become weak though. I have pruchased adult veileds with a few nails missing, they did not grow back but they were not bothered by it either, they did just fine climbing.

The weakness makes me think it could be a lack of humidity and mistings or a poor diet.

It could even be stress, how much do you handle the cham, is he in a quiet room or a room with a lot of noise and activity.

The more info you can give on how long you have had him and the care for him the more we can help you with any problems you are having.

Sorry, I should have stressed that he has been lying either on his side or belly for the past 6 hours and demonstrates hardly any movement or response to any stimuli. He keeps loosing his grip and falls to the ground (he fell to the ground about 10 times, 3 ft. drop) from the tree limbs. I have decided to keep him on the floor of the cage until he begins to show some activity. Overall, he appears to be very weak, the tail is a dull green compared to the rest of his vibrant green body color. His breathing seems labored. His eyes are often closed and he is very unresponsive. His back legs are the weakest allowing him no support or strength to walk and his eyes are frequently shut. Finally, we thought he might be severly dehydrated, so we sprayed with water and gave him as much to drink as possible, however we have not seen his tongue at all and hasn't been eating for about a week. We even bathed him in a bowl of water for a while; however he barely would open him mouth to drink.
We usually feed him crickets about twice a week and supply him with vitamins. He was about a couple of weeks old when I bought him, he is now about three years old.

Please help,

Chris

Males usually live for 7-8 years or more in captivity so it leads me to think there is an issue with husbandry.....

Is there any new stress in his area, any changes in his caging or care right before this started to happen?

Do you offer fruit, veges and greens added to the insects? Where do you get your feeders?

What kind of plants are in his cage and have they changed recently?

Also, what type heat and UVB do you have on him?

I use a solar brite 70310 UV bulb Ive been spraying water on him but at this point his hiind legs and tail are darker than the rest of his body. I hope he can recover....

Howdy Chris,

If your Veiled survived the night, your best bet is to take him to a vet that knows chameleons. What you described is a very sick chameleon. His condition is likely not to turn around without medical intervention right away.

If you don't already have a chameleon vet, look though these reptile vets and see what you can find. Since it is Easter Sunday, it may be tough to find one available today. It may be too late already anyway but here you go:

New York:
http://www.herpvetconnection.com/newyork.shtml

USA and the rest of the world:
http://www.herpvetconnection.com/

I agree with Dave if he males it til Monday a Vet trip is your best bet.