Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have two vary young veiled chameleons that are having some health issues. One is about 4-5" and the other is probably 3-4" They were donated to me after someone took them from a pet store where they were obviously not being treated well.
At first their only obvious problems were dehydration, and they were skinny, due to the dehydration. I set them up with a 5.0 Zoo Med compact fluorescent Repti Sun. The room they are in is about 77-80 during the day and drops to around 73-75 at night. Originally they were doing fine in this climate, they were eating, pooping, drinking. Suddenly they developed strange spots all over their body, each spot is light in color, and seems to be roughly the size of a strawberry seed. They had had a 25w heat light on them when I first had them, because they were in a different room that was a bit cooler. As soon as I noticed the spots I removed the light because I was concerned they were getting burned. Since they developed these spots they have eaten very little, and are asleep most of the day. Today the larger one is moving around with his eyes open, but one of his eyes pulsates a bit, it will be swollen to the size of a small pea one second, and the next it is completely normal looking. They do move between being under their uv light, where the temp is 80-85 during the day, and the cooler areas of their cage. They are in a set up that I have used for veileds in the past and I have never had problems. If anyone has any ideas of what might be wrong with them I would really appreciate any input. Thanks.
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Ball Pythons:
1.2 Normal
1.2 Pastel
0.1 Black Pastel
2.0 Het Orange Ghost
1.1 Mojave
1.2 Spider
1.0 Albino
0.1 Het Albino
1.0 Piebald
0.1 Double het, Albino Pied
Other:
0.1 Irian Jaya x Jungle Carpet python
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python
1.0 Tiger Retic
1.1 Burmese Pythons
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
3.3 Corn Snakes
0.0.1 American Alligator
2.0 Veiled Chameleons
1.0 Savannah Monitor
1.0 Chinese Water Dragon
0.1 Brown Basilisk
0.1 Sulcata Tortoise
1.1 Sugar Gliders
0.1 Puppy

How long had you had them before this started (days, weeks, months)? Do the spots disappear if the chams change color in response to heat and light? If so, they might be some type of stress coloration rather than a skin problem. Have they shed? Possibly be bits of shed stuck to the new skin? Little bits of skin get stuck if the cage is too dry. I can't really picture what you described, but the key may be whether the spotting is constant or changes. The "pulsing" eye sounds like the cham is trying to clean it. They roll the eyeball around under the lid and flex it to try and lubricate it or dislodge an irritant. Can be a sign of dehydration or response to dry air. What's the air humidity level? Even if they are drinking well, dry air is a constant low level irritant for eyes and with heating in winter the humidity can be a lot lower than you realize. A couple of basic husbandry questions...are they together? Can they see other animals? If baby chams are constantly stressed by a view of other animals or each other they can just start shutting down during the day, sitting with eyes closed.

Interesting. They are together. The one with the pulsating eye did just finish shedding, and I had thought it might have something to do with the shed, as they were quite dry before I got them. The spots do disappear when they change color. And as far as the air does, it is pretty humid all the time in their little cage. They are next to a couple of corn snakes, but those snakes spend very little of their time moving these days. I purposefully put them in the room with the least foot traffic. Perhaps I should take out the few crickets they have in there, in case that is what is causing them stress.
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Ball Pythons:
1.2 Normal
1.2 Pastel
0.1 Black Pastel
2.0 Het Orange Ghost
1.1 Mojave
1.2 Spider
1.0 Albino
0.1 Het Albino
1.0 Piebald
0.1 Double het, Albino Pied
Other:
0.1 Irian Jaya x Jungle Carpet python
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python
1.0 Tiger Retic
1.1 Burmese Pythons
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
3.3 Corn Snakes
0.0.1 American Alligator
2.0 Veiled Chameleons
1.0 Savannah Monitor
1.0 Chinese Water Dragon
0.1 Brown Basilisk
0.1 Sulcata Tortoise
1.1 Sugar Gliders
0.1 Puppy

The uvb light you referred to,is it one of those coil lights? They have recently been found to cause burning! I know this from experience and did research on these lights after buying a new zilla 5.0 uvb coil light which resulted in burning the eyes of my high translucent veiled. It took weeks of antibiotic ointment to his little blind eyes before he was able to see properly again and shoot at his prey. It was touch and go for a while. There have been reports of these lights causing blindness. I also recall putting this light on my birds and the next morning they were unable to open them when sitting under the light. I thought they were just not used to such a bright light but now I know it was too strong and thier reaction was not normal. be careful when using these coil lights.

That sounds about right. When they try to open their eyes they only open them about half way. I can certainly understand how the coil lights could give out a much more concentrated dose of uvb than a tube light. I have removed their uvb light. Hopefully that will help.
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Ball Pythons:
1.2 Normal
1.2 Pastel
0.1 Black Pastel
2.0 Het Orange Ghost
1.1 Mojave
1.2 Spider
1.0 Albino
0.1 Het Albino
1.0 Piebald
0.1 Double het, Albino Pied
Other:
0.1 Irian Jaya x Jungle Carpet python
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python
1.0 Tiger Retic
1.1 Burmese Pythons
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
3.3 Corn Snakes
0.0.1 American Alligator
2.0 Veiled Chameleons
1.0 Savannah Monitor
1.0 Chinese Water Dragon
0.1 Brown Basilisk
0.1 Sulcata Tortoise
1.1 Sugar Gliders
0.1 Puppy

The coil/compact lights have the wrong range of UV in them and cause photo kerato conjunctivitus which should go away after the light is removed.

Here's the website that talks about it...
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/index.htm

Thanks, I did stumble across that website last night, it was very helpful. Odd because the light I bought just came into the pet store, but it did not have the little leaflet telling you at what angle and how far away to have one of the coil lights. Well, now I have a soft 40w positioned sort of far from their cage so it does not over heat, hopefully within a couple of days I will see some improvements.
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Ball Pythons:
1.2 Normal
1.2 Pastel
0.1 Black Pastel
2.0 Het Orange Ghost
1.1 Mojave
1.2 Spider
1.0 Albino
0.1 Het Albino
1.0 Piebald
0.1 Double het, Albino Pied
Other:
0.1 Irian Jaya x Jungle Carpet python
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python
1.0 Tiger Retic
1.1 Burmese Pythons
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
3.3 Corn Snakes
0.0.1 American Alligator
2.0 Veiled Chameleons
1.0 Savannah Monitor
1.0 Chinese Water Dragon
0.1 Brown Basilisk
0.1 Sulcata Tortoise
1.1 Sugar Gliders
0.1 Puppy

The tried and true safe UV light many of us use is the ReptiSun 5.0. It's not a compact fluorescent, just a tube type bulb. Your little chams will need a source of UV once you stop using the coiled compact type. Also, get rid of as much stress as you can. Separate them and block their view of other animals in the room at least until they are acting normally. Sounds like the odd spotting is a stress response.

As I read on uvguide, and saw pictures of, the spots are definitely burns caused by the UV. I removed the UV and plan to give them a few days off. They have already shown improvement, they opened their eyes today. Then I will plug in one of my tube lights for them.
-----
Ball Pythons:
1.2 Normal
1.2 Pastel
0.1 Black Pastel
2.0 Het Orange Ghost
1.1 Mojave
1.2 Spider
1.0 Albino
0.1 Het Albino
1.0 Piebald
0.1 Double het, Albino Pied
Other:
0.1 Irian Jaya x Jungle Carpet python
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python
1.0 Tiger Retic
1.1 Burmese Pythons
1.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boas
3.3 Corn Snakes
0.0.1 American Alligator
2.0 Veiled Chameleons
1.0 Savannah Monitor
1.0 Chinese Water Dragon
0.1 Brown Basilisk
0.1 Sulcata Tortoise
1.1 Sugar Gliders
0.1 Puppy