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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. It was a very long drive, and Nemo is upset with me over it, but if it saves her life it was worth it.

Herps that eat live insects usually have some parasites, even captive ones. They are in everything they eat and can't really be totally eliminated. If the cham is healthy they are not a huge problem. Problems come up when the cham is sick and its immune system is overloaded. Then the parasite population can bloom and cause more trouble. Frankly I don't see that treating the cham for parasites will do anything, but it won't really hurt if the dosage is correct. Remember, antiparasitic drugs are poisons. Its always a good idea to get your captive chams checked for parasites once a year just to keep track of it.

Thank you Carlton. As the herptologist pointed out, the skin necrosis is related to a digestive or metabolic issue. I have high hopes that eliminating some of her parasites will help. The medication was adminstered by the herptologist, i'm assuming that she knows her stuff. It was very difficult for me to find a reptologist or herptologist, i'm lucky there is one in my closest city four hours away. I feel very stupid for not realizing that she needed to be checked for parasites. I knew reptiles were notorious for harboring parasites, learned that in high school. I should have realized that they would need to be checked. :O

When it comes to parasites if it aint broke don't fix it.
It is normal for them to have some parasites and most of the time it does not cause them problems. Only if your cham is sick or weak can a problem arise or if it gets out of control.
Sometimes the cure for parasites can be as rough as the parasite itself. Don't beat yourself up you are doing right by her.

Shotgun treatments can be problematic - for importers that know what they're doing, they can go either way. Some importers simply give each chameleon a dose of wormer and that's it. some do the same thing, but they make sure the animals are well hydrated and fed.

The stress of importation can cause parasite loads to get out of hand. Provided that they are well cared for and not on death's door, such shotgun treatments CAN help. Keep in mind, they do not get rid of all parasites - it's a first dose, a first of many, usually.

The stress of capture and importation is one of the biggest any animal will face. Captive bred animals are exposed to far less parasites, and undergo far less stressful situations (excepting the ones sold at petsmart and bought as presents to 10 year olds...). Odds are parasites are not a problem when one of these animals gets sick.

TOO MANY vets will still routienly shotgun any chameleons they see with fenbendazol, metronidyzol and even ivermectin on occation! Even experienced reptile vets often are unaware that most veileds are CB, and treat them as if they are WC, and full'o worms.

This has lead to too many chameleon deaths being blamed on parasites - whent he thing was probably clean as the day it hatched!

My female deremensis were shotgunned upon arrival, and were doing well. I guess most of the big, mature worms were killed by Nick Mole, when he got them. They certainly looked clean, and their feces wasn't runny or wormy. They weren't losing weight or gaining weight - they stayed healthy, but NOT fat - and they ate like pigs. I gave them a second dose a couple weeks after I got them. One day, one passed a worm - a 2 incher - totally disgusted me. I gave them a third, large dose of paste fenbendazol. Over the next month, their feces became perfectly firm, and they started to plump a bit - but not too much.

With the worms, they werent' getting fat - but they maintained weight. It's amazing how much weight they've gained, despite me cutting their food intake. Those worms take a toll, and they had a light load too.