Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well the white spots have started to turn black and I am now a little worried. Anyone have any ideas what is going on here?

Robert

Right side

Left Side

Those spots look bilateral which would concern me if it were my cham. Apologize if this has already been asked but have you taken it to a vet?

-roo

I second that. Take the day off, go to an experienced vet and eventhough he is small, I would be sure to get a blood test and x-ray. JIC.

I would bet that this is an internal problem or injury and he is showing it through his skin at the problem area. They like to do that where they were punctured (in case of syringe)or hurt. BTW, you don't have any kids around that could have squeezed him hard or anything that could have got ahold of him and crushed or poked him?

Michael

Looks like a grab mark. Like someone grabbed him, forcefully, with thumb and index finger. Could he have been bitten? If a significantly larger chameleon bit him, it oculd have caused that. No signs of any V-shaped bitemarks on his sides?

I find when a larger chameleon is trying to chase away another, they often bit that area as the other tries to escape. I have seen several chameleons with V shaped bite marks on both sides of the lower back - the same spot as your animals marks. Has he been housed with other chameleons?

Also, it could be a burn. It looks like a minor burn looks - though the skin usually darkens soon afterwards. Could he be re-burning himself? If he's basking in the same spot, every day, the burn coudl be repeated on both sides, depending on which side he's putting to the light.

I agree Eric, that does look a bit suspiciously like a burn. I think I've read that sometimes mild burns look gray first, then as the tissue dies or starts to heal it turns darker. It is just weird though! Odd that it is on both sides in just the same spot...it's not that likely that a burn happens in just the same spot on both sides as the cham turns. One thing that won't hurt and might stop an infection is to put some triple antibiotic or Silvadene on it just in case. I don't remember if you put anything on it before. This is really a stretch, but I know the treatment won't cause any other problems.

I'd have recently have had some experience with a female of mine that had the same problem. She was gravid, and within the last week before she laid she started developing these whiteish spots almost completely simetrical on both sides of her body. I thought that maybe she had fallen and broken an egg, or damaged an internal organ. Despite the spots she seemed fine. She didn't show any signs of dehydration or any apethy at all. She eventually laid here eggs and the week following the spots started getting bigger, and a bit gray. I noticed her basking quite often about 8-12" away from the 100W bulb I provide for her. Then it clicked. It had to be burns. They didn't really resemble burns to me at that point, but then again, I've never had any experience with basking burns on my chams in the 3 years I've been keeping and breeding them. So I changed her 100W out for a 60W. Over the next couple weeks the spot turned dark black and it was outlined by a whitish area. After her next shed I could definately tell that both spots had started to scab up. Its now been about 2 months since she laid her eggs and I've been treating the spots daily with silver cream. The scabs are almost all gone, and all that remains are slightly lighter spots on each side that are definately smoother than the rest of her body. Looking at the pics you've supplied, I'm guessing that your guy is having the same problem I just dealt with. My advice, lower the wattage on your basking bulb. And a vet trip can never hurt.

I am glad you guys replied.

I probably was leading Robert down the wrong path, but a vet visit wouldn't be a bad thing to do.
I have never had any hard burns like that happen to my animals, so thanks for your input or I would have missed a possible diagnosis for my husbandry knowledge.

Personally, I use 40 and 60W bulbs UVA bulbs with the fluoroescent because I am cheap (about that) and because they provide plenty of warmth for my chams.

Thanks,

Michael

When we give advice on basking bulbs remember it is not the wattage of the bulb that helps...it is the actual temperature at the basking perch you need to determine. A 40 w bulb in one setup might be too cool or too hot in someone else's. You need to measure the temp of the basking cham itself to really know just how hot it is getting REGARDLESS of what size bulb it's sitting under. A glass tube or stick-on plastic thermometer strip that isn't right under the light will give you a false reading as it measures air temp or the temperature its own housing reaches. Now that non-contact infrared thermometers are so cheap there is no good reason not to have one. You can get an accurate temp reading right off the cham as it basks. Check out the Pro Exotics ads on kingsnake (tempgun.com I think)...they are really reasonable and work great!

Yes, thanks, I have a temp gun. It was good to mention it and the false sample by using a secondary material to measure temperature. BTW, you can also get them in autoparts stores and nursery catalogs. Seems the applications are wide ranging.

Michael

I also agree that it looks like a burn. My cham burn itself the exact same way in the exact same spots on both sides. I was confused at first because it was only a 60 watt bulb, but holding my hand under the light for more than a minute it got pretty hot, and 10-15 minutes could and did produce a small burn. The good nuews is that after you correct the problem, the burn will eventually completly dissapear. I noticed that after every shed the black spots got smaller until after about 4 months they wew totally gone.