Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey! I'm in desperate need of help, I have a chameleon who is about 8 months old, and I love the little guy to death. His name is Cricket and he loves me to death of course. Well every time I get him out to handle him, everywhere he walks on me, I break out in a terrible rash. It welps up and swells and itches and it's red - I'm talking immediately after he walks on me, the rash comes up right behind him. I have a ton of allergies anyway, so it's not unusual for me to break out in a rash and not know what it's from. But with him I'd really like to know and see if anyone else has had the same thing happen. Tonight the rash was up both of my arms, and I had to take benedryl and put lots of cortizone10 on it, and finally i'm not itching to death anymore. Even though the red is gone, it's still welped up... has anyone else had this problem or heard of it? Got any ideas of what it might be? I mean like I said I am allergic to SOOOO much stuff, most animals, but I'd hate to think I'm allergic to HIM too! I'd really appreciate any input you might have, or anything you might know about this rashy stuff Thanks so much!!!
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coheed196
1.1 raptor leos (gordo, sunshine)
0.1 beardie (scarlet)
1.1 veiled chameleon (e-yore, trixie)
1.1 panther chameleon (apollo, polly)
0.1 jackon's chameleon
0.1 albino burmese (peaches)
1.0 pit bull (ajax)

I'm no expert (I just started getting into chameleons and I don't even own one yet), but it seems to me that this is only happening to this specific chameleon out of the 5 or so chameleons you have. I'm guessing it's something that's on his limbs that's making you itch rather than him. If you have another chameleon of the same species and possibly the same sex, and they don't give you the same reaction I would definitely find out what's the difference between the two. Is he exposed to a different plant, insects, vitamin supplement that you might be allergic to. This is just a theory that I came up with so take it however you want to.

Your not alone. The same thing happens to my girlfriend when she handles any of my chameleons, panthers or veileds. We are not sure exactly what is going on, but we assume it is some sort of allergic reaction to the chameleons. It could be the bacteria in their nails which is causing the irritation. Even a very small scratch that cuts through the first couple of layers of skin could be enough to trigger an adverse reaction. We haven’t really figured it out either, but when my girlfriend handles any of my chameleons she wears long sleeves. It's not the perfect solution, but it works until we check it out with a doctor.

Good luck,
Taylor

Thinking about this, I wonder if some type of plant in this particular cham's cage is the problem. After all, the cham's feet and claws spend all of their time in contact with the branches and leaves in the cage. Cham's claws are very finely pointed and can scratch both you and the plant surfaces pretty easily. Ficus sap is known to cause skin reactions in some people...maybe there is some sap residue on this cham's cage branches? If you rub the plant on your hands do you get a reaction? It may be gloves/long sleeves for you when you handle him. Just keep a pair by the cage.

There is actually quite a bit of info out there on hypersensetivity to the latex in ficus trees particularly among people with latex type allergies. I actually came across a bunch of info about this in some study on trees in the ficus genus unrelated to chameleons, I do not use ficus for chameleons personally but a lot of people do this may be something worth looking into. Another point about this and not to sound mean or anything but chameleons usually don't care to be handled much anyway perhaps you should reduce the frequency with which you handle your chameleon. It appears that doing so could have positive benefits for both of you.

Hey, there are no live plants in his cage, but we did find out that it is a reaction to the proteins in his blood. Thank you for your input anyways though
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coheed196
1.1 raptor leos (dorito, sunshine)
0.1 beardie (scarlet)
1.1 veiled chameleon (cricket,penny)
1.1 panther chameleon (apollo, athena)
0.1 albino burmese (peaches)
1.0 pit bull (ajax)
0.1 pyrenees mix