Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a nearly 6 month old female veiled that I'm a little concerned about. I have noticed recently that she gets a crusty, skinlike ring around her nostrils everyday. I would suspect repiratory problems, but she breaths, acts, and eats normally. In fact, this crust breaks off usually when she strikes her prey, and it melts off when i spray the enclosure. She is housed in a 175g reptarium with 2 uvb bulbs and a basking lamp, and 3 different ficus trees. It almost looks like crusted up salt or something. I see no forced breaths, no gaping. I dont get it. oh, she is also regularly supplemented with calcium and vitamin/mineral powder. Any suggestions? thanks

dont worry chameleons cant sweat so the exess salt is sent out through the nostrils

yup, that's probably all it is but if it is a lot and every day you may want to get your water checked and/or consider a filter of some sort. We have very hard, acid well water where I am and i only see it on Luna occasionally.
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & Tia (both MIA
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog (for summer)
0.5 Mad. Hissers (for summer - all girls, no little ones, whew!)

Thanks for the quick reply. Someone on another site said that it could also be oversupplementation. Any truth to that statement? What are some signs of oversupplementation? Thanks again.

hi,it kinda sounds like oversuplementing to me
How much do you dust?

Could you elaborate on that, please? Also, what is the regiment for supplementing a veiled? I find so much contradicting info about supplementing adults, sub adults, etc. etc. My chams snout to vent length is roughly 5 inches, I'm not too sure what category that puts her in (sub adult, adult..) Currently she eats twice a day with calcium supplement on one of the feedings, and a vitamin mineral supplement once a week. Please let me know ASAP. I'm trying to avoid a vet visit. Those people have been really getting alot a business from me lately! Thanks

Could you elaborate on that, please? Also, what is the regiment for supplementing a veiled? I find so much contradicting info about supplementing adults, sub adults, etc. etc. My chams snout to vent length is roughly 5 inches, I'm not too sure what category that puts her in (sub adult, adult..) Currently she eats twice a day with calcium supplement on one of the feedings, and a vitamin mineral supplement once a week. Please let me know ASAP. I'm trying to avoid a vet visit. Those people have been really getting alot a business from me lately! Thanks

Could you elaborate on that, please? Also, what is the regiment for supplementing a veiled? I find so much contradicting info about supplementing adults, sub adults, etc. etc. My chams snout to vent length is roughly 5-6 inches, I'm not too sure what category that puts her in (sub adult, adult..) Currently she eats twice a day with calcium supplement on one of the feedings, and a vitamin mineral supplement once a week. Please let me know ASAP. I'm trying to avoid a vet visit. Those people have been really getting alot a business from me lately! Thanks

sorry, i dont know what the heck i did there.

Well, in my humble opinion, if you were using a regular 5.0 or 8.0 bulb, you wouldn't be over supplementing with your schedule... a little on the heavy side, but not to an extent that it would cause a problem.

U said u had two mercury vapor bulbs, and if u ask me, one would be enough. There is much debate over the use of Mv bulbs, some would absolutely recommend it, while some experirenced users won't advocate it.

Personnaly i think two MV bulb is a bit too much. i think your cham gets plenty UV from just one. Combined with your everyday supplementation, that might just be too much.

I know there is a lot of contradicting information on how much to supplement, but it is better to under supplement, than to over supplement, as long as u have good UV light source.

Now i am not a professor in chameleon keeping, but if your chameleon is showing the effects of oversupplementation, My suggestion would be to perhapes remove one MV bulb, and slow down on the calcium supplementation. Your vitamin supplemntation is fine. perhapes only suppelment calcium twice a week. with proper gutload,and good UV lights, your cham shouldn't need artificial supplementation so much.

Im not sure if this is true?
i read somewhere that the 5.0 means 5% of the uv averagly givin off by the sun?
if anybody knows about this please post,as i am curious to know if its true?

I didnt mean to make it sound like I was using MV bulbs. Actually I use two 5.0 bulbs and a seperate basking bulb. Another thing I should throw in. Last week I moved her from a 38 gallon reptarium to a 175 gal reptarium. In that time, she has only defecated twice. Both were extremely large and the second one seems a little "flat", like a patty or something and the urate was yellow. I've heard that the yellow urate could be a sign a dehydration, but I have a little dripper in there that I see her use pretty frequently. Also, her appetite has slowly diminished. She needs a little more coaxing to eat than she used to. She maintains good weight though so I dont know. She is also around the age that they get gravid, though, so that may play a factor. Her coloration is much more drab as well, but not like the gravid colors I have read about (like blue spots and extreme dark). Sorry for all the questions, but I want to make sure everything is ok. All else fails, I've already make a vet appointment for monday. I would love to cancel it, though! Thanks again everyone.

It doesnt look like you should be alarmed
probably a mix of things like changing the cage and possibly being gravid like you said
but its easy for me to say that since its not my chameleon
its your pet so you would recognize problems faster than anybody
if shes not better by the vet appointment take her!

All i can tell you is what works for me
i use calcium two to three times aweek
vitamins three to for times a month
and i use 1 5%uvb bulb
i see no ring round the nostrils on my chams
i also use tap water that has sat at least 24 hrs

My apologies, i have no idea why i thought you said two MV bulbs. Must be seeing things! Anyway, the problem you seem to have doesn't absolutely require imediate vet attention. Personnaly, if i dont see any other health issues like breathing problems, lethargy, sunken eyes, or signs of weakness, and i'd wait and see if the problem goes away. Lots of times it is merely us keepers worrying too much for our loves ones(chams). Butt hey, if you have the money to spend, seeing a vet regularly to check your chams would absultely benifit your cham.

Hopefully, I am just overly concerned. But what do you think about the feces, appetite, and coloration that I mentioned earlier? As I'm sure you can tell, I'm pretty anal about my pets!

So I took my 6 month old veiled to the vet on Monday the 9th. They ran a fecal test and said that everything looks ok, and that my husbandry sounds ideal. They sent me home with a de-worming medication to administer 3 times, just to be on the safe side, ( and to make the bill more $) However, she is still behaving weird. She is a very nice green color but that makes me more nervous b/c if she were her gravid colors, i would understand the change of appetite and additude. she is still eating and defecating less. She actually had a "big" meal today...about 5 crix, which is about 1/2 of what she used to eat before i introduced her to her new enclosure. i also see her laying on some of the horizontal branches when she basks. I s that normal. oh, and when i spray the enclosure, she drinks like there's no tomorrow, almost everyday. Weird because I have a dripper in there, too. Any more advice to calm down a paranoid owner,please? Thanks in advance.