Reptile & Amphibian Forums

On my veiled cham, I've noticed that the edge of his veil is becoming less and less colored relative to the rest of his body. Is this normal? These pictures are directly after a shed (some skin still remaining on hi tail, but I'm pretty sure there is none left on the veil that would lend to the faded color. It's actually white....

the only thing i could guess is maybe some sort of fungus?

you should probably give some detailed info about your setup and care, so the more knowledgable people on here can offer their advice

I've seen this on veileds before, but there wasn't necessarily a problem. Is the tissue harder or stiffer than the rest of the casque? Doesn't look like a burn or infection as there is often a definite edge to skin disease or injury. It might be age related. He doesn't look overheated (chams who are overheated can look bleached out). Is your water high in calcium or softener salts (do you see hard water spots on your plant leaves)?. Has his behavior or appetite changed? Not sure if there is anything specific to pin this on.

Well, Raja's setup is currently a 20 L that was vacated recently by two tiger salamanders. He originally (as a baby) was in a 10gallon, but outgrew it before I bought his future home (in a month when I move) of a 40 G Oceanic Chameleon tank, with the screen sides and top. He drinks out of an Exoterra waterfall and has the UV coil bulb and a 75 W dayglo bulb. When he was in the 10 gallon, I had switched to only a 50 W Nightglo all the time because he was constantly distancing himself as far as he could from the bulb and was gaping his mouth a lot, so I figured he was hot. (the temperature in my room is usually between 78 and 80º as it is, without any added heat bulbs). Recently, the temp outside dropped to around 60, and we've left any air conditioning/heat off, so the room temperature is probably closer to 70 and he has been darker in color, so I changed back to the 75 Watt bulb, and he's back to his normal green color.

As for the water, I really dont' know about its chemical makeup, I work in a petstore so I could easily bring home a couple test strips to see howo it balances out. I haven't been using any ReptiSafe though, so I could start doing that if you think the water could be affecting his coloration.

I'm not sure about the water being the cause, it's just an idea. Did you say he's in a glass tank? You need to get him into a screen cage ASAP. Chams are very succeptible to URI and skin problems in too-warm-too-stagnant air setups. There is a very slight possibility of skin fungus or infection from poor air conditions, so watch the skin area for swelling, the discoloration spreading, change in color, lifted edges around the discoloration, signs of discharge, etc. Also, I am not familiar with the type of UV bulb you described. Almost all fluorescent "UV" lights don't produce much if any UVB. The only one that consistently tests out OK for UVB in the useable spectrum is the ReptiSun 5.0. It is possible he's working on a deficiency related to poor UVB exposure. As you found out, tanks get hot really fast and don't allow cooling at night to at least 10 degrees lower. Chams require a nighttime cooldown and NO visible light at all. I'd get your screen cage sooner than later.