Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 2 1/2 year old female v. chameleon needs your advice.
The skin on both of her sides is turning black. Not the black that comes with the blues, greens, and yellows that are normal but a very black that looks wrong. Where the skin turns black you can't see her patterns anymore and the color doesn't change with her moods. I'm already trying a betadine solution to clear up any infection she might have. If anyone has seen this before HELP. I would hate to lose her to some unknown skin disorder.

If it is toward the top of her back it could be a thermal burn, but without seeing it we just can't know. I really hate to tell anyone to just start dabbing over the counter meds on something without a real diagnosis...you should take her to a vet and ask that they consult by phone with one of the herp vets listed on the list linked to this forum. If all else fails you can try putting Polysporin ointment on the discolored areas...it will help with surface infection.

I know nothing about fungal disease but figured I would throw it into the mix. Is everything else OK otherwise? eating drinking, pooping?
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.3 Mad. Hissers (2 died ;(
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha

Otherwise she is perfectly healthy, eating well, pooping, drinking, sunbathing and chillaxing.... The black is on her sides, not towards the top or bottom but really in the very center. I may try polysporin if betadine does not work but you are right, I don't want to be playing with meds. If I don't see an improvement within a couple of weeks I will drive into the city and see a vet.

that's a long time to "wait and see" with chams. If it is fungal it needs to be cultured. It might even be internal/systemic. If he were mine I would get it checked out this week. Chams hide way too much and personally I think it is a bit risky to wait that long. If you have a good herp vet s/he can possibly diagnose quickly so is not too expensive. Just my thoughts...

lele
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.3 Mad. Hissers (2 died ;(
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha

I would love to be within 4 hours of the city.....sigh. I can't get out of the bush for another eight days at least. I have limited supplies here, or I would already be there.. any other suggestions??

posting a (GOOD) photo would be helpful. No one here is a vet and even the few who occassionally post here will tell you a diagnosis is difficult, if not impossible, via this format. So I would consider making the trip, posting a pic and maybe finding a vet that is closer? Go to site below for listings. SUure hope your guy is OK and that is is something easily remedied. Posting your setup and regimine is always helpful (same link has questions you can answer).

lele
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.3 Mad. Hissers (2 died ;(
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha

I will be glad to e-mail pics of Nemo to any who want to see just post or email me fisher1b@canada.com. I don't seem to be able to upload my photos (my camera is too good).
Some useful info....
Nemo is a female veiled chameleon. I adopted her from a rescue society almost a year and a half ago. At some point in time most of her ribs had been broken, but that doesn't seem to bother her. She's been very healthy since I took over her care, and she is still. She's still eating and drinking and is becoming gravid again. I feed mainly gut-loaded crickets (i only dust when she is heavily gravid and I alternate between calcium dust and nutrient dust *all products from Flukers) I offer lettuce and grapes occassionaly as a treat.
She has two cages. Indoor terrarium, temp kept between 75 - 80 degrees (18-24 degrees celcius for us canadians)using a 110w heat lamp on only one side of the tank. I have drilled 8 small holes around the bottom to ensure air circulation. This tank has about 1/4"-1/2" of sand as substrate, a small stone hide-away, a drip tray several vines and perches*no live plants in this cage, and several fake plants to provide her shade and privacy. I take the plants out every second week and wash them along with the perches and vines. I also check the cage daily before I put her there so I know the cage has not run foul.
During the day I take her to her outdoor cage. It is a cloth mesh cage about 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide. There are several different plants here, all non-toxic. A small drip tray to catch water provided by my watering system. The temp here is not controlled but our average daytime temp runs about 90 - 95 (25 - 30 degrees celcius). I check her several times throughout the day, bringing her in if the wind picks up or the temp runs to extremes. I do have a day glow lamp over the indoor terrarium but as it is summer again we aren't really using it.
I'm not sure what other info would be pertinant. I own a rotweiler, Casper, which is the main reason I chose the glass terrarium for indoors(Casper nudges all of my cages). At first there was some fear of casper on nemos part, but now if she is out she will try to climb on the dog so I don't think casper is causing nemo any stress. I'm at a loss, and only 6 more days until I can head for the city. Any other suggestions??

It poured rain on my head today....... it was good news for Nemo because I was able to run her into the city. Did blood work and a culture, but even the herptologist has not seen this before. She indicated that this is a pigment issue (not a thermal burn) directly related to a metabolic disorder. We are running tests now, but I don't know how much I can do for her. The innitial consult ran me $300 and that didn't include the gas to and from town. The herptologist is wonderful though and promises to do everything she can. I'll post as soon as I get test results, but for now we are doing a general de-worm/de-parasite to see if that will clear it up. I was not aware that chams needed to be dewormed, any comments??? Also, we confirmed that she is again working her way towards gravid and the vet points out that that is a good sign, she's still healthy enough to give us a good chance of saving her. I greatly appreciate all advice given. Lele a special thanks to you for your concern and advice.