Black Spot. Any herp vets that can help?

[Revler]

My female Sambava, Yolie, recently developed a drk brownish to blk spot on her left side.....it is perplexing to me and my veterinarian. It appeared this past Wed. as a tiny brown spot that was not part of her regular patterning. I thought it might be a bruise of somtype but, it did not lighten and only continued to get darker and substantially larger. I went ahead and packed up Yolie and took her to the vet on Sat.

The vet was stumped. In fairness to her she only has seven clients with chams and mostly gives supplement advice and helps owners deal with MBD. However she is the ONLY vet within a 150mi radius of my house that treats herps at all. Her best guess is that it is possiably fungal and as it wont hurt the cham to be treated with a topical antifungal we are going ahead with treatment while we are waiting for the culture she took of the spot to come back from the veterinary school. But, as we took the culture on Sat it may be close to a week before we hear anything. Such is the SLOW way of life in the midwest... After we get back the culture if it is not fungal the next step is to get Yolie up the verterinary school.

Anywho I figured in the interum I'd ask you guys if any of you had every seen anything like this.

P.S.-

I keep all my chams in Reptariums this particular one in 100gal with 5.0 reptisun bulb for UV and a Sunglow 100W for basking. Ambiant temp is 82-85 degrees with a basking temp of 91F. Ambiant humidity is around 70% jumping to around 90% everytime the misters come on, which is twice an hour. She eats primarily crickets. Waxworms as treats and silkies twice a week. Reptical with D3 on all food items twice a month Reptical without D3 once a week. Minerall or Herptivite also goes on food twice a month. She is still VERY active and has an attitude about being held. Eating well and drinking off leaves as usual. The only problem has been the odd change of coloring....

Any help or advice is always welcome.

Nika

P.P.S.-

This is a HORRIABLE picture but, I can't seem to get the camera to focus. I will attach better pics if I can get them taken. But, I am refering to the drk. triangular shaped patch that extends all the way from her stomach up to her spine with the triangle point being almost at her spine....and forgive me now that I take this pic I realized DUH this issue is on her right not her left side.

Thanks in advance for ANY advice.

 

[FOREVER ENDEAVOR]

looks like a bruise... she might have fallen..?

 

[Kat77]

My best guess, honestly, is a bruise. My panther's bruise got bigger before it faded, just as a bruise on human skin would. Could you post a clearer photo?

 

[adam1v]

is she a normal color?

 

[Revler]

See that was my initial thought too....bruise.....but, I also though it would have faded by now.... But, who's to know... If there is an overreacting syndrome involving pets and their owner's concern I am the posterchild. As for the picture my camera is now in three pieces as I am attempting to clean the lenses in an attempt to resolve the focusing issue.....

However, only my husband knows how to put the lenses back together...so in the meantime I have killed the camera HAZA!! I will post more pics after he gets off of work at 3pm.

 

[Revler]

To answer your question yes, that is her normal color aside from the fact that she's a little pissed in that pic about being photographed and that the photo is fuzzy. Aside from the drk triange she is usually a pleasent pinkish salmon color with drk brown/blk markings when she gets pissed and bluish spots on her cheeks and down her body. You can't see those spots too well in the photo because of the fuzziness.

 

[kinyonga]

Is the dark mark growing/spreading at all?

Is she gravid?

 

[dodolah]

Revler,
i hope everything will turned out to be ok.
It does look like a bruise to me.
If it's not cleared by next week, I would start to worry.

Just wondering, is this the vet you went to:
Virgina A. Skinner, DVM

 

[Brian]

Has she been bred recently?

 

[Chameleonboy]

how hot are your basking temps is evrything ok


do you have a night bulb for them ?

if your house does not go under 60 there is no need for a night bulb

i had this happen to my chameleon when i first started mine was a burn due to me having a night bulb for my panther at night when there was no need

 

[Revler]

Is she gravid?

Very good question!! I don't know. I have had her with a Sambava male but, I never observed any breeding or courtship between the two...granted I wasn't there ALL the time they were together but, they sure didn't seem interested when I was. Second point, because she was a WC when I got her monthes and months ago she has had a sand box and lg. plant in her enclosure to dig around in since she came home. I don't know if she could have been furtile when she was caught but, I haven't observed any great weight changes on her since she came home.

Long and short I don't know if she's gravid.....

I do use a night bulb for heat and we keep our house at 64F during the night. If it is a bad idea I could remove it. I really had thought I should keep her around the 70's at night and it's only a 15W moon bulb. BUT, if it dangerous I by all means could remove it..

Last question "is it spreading?"....it did originally AND FAST by thurs morn it was the size you can see in the picture. However, it has not changed since then. You know the more I read all these messeges the more I think it could be just a bruise.

Oh, and my vet is Dr. Kara James. Dr. Skinner moved away Dr. James is pretty cool though and she hasn't been afraid a single critter I've brought in her office. From spiders to Burmese....so she's ok in my book. Plus she knows when to say I don't know and refer me up to the veterinary college.

And, I will still post a better pic when I can, the hubby is working overtime and the camera is still dead.

 

[Brian]

I think it might be a bruise. I do noticed after breeding the females tend to get a few bruises. Im shure It will go away soon

Very good question!! I don't know. I have had her with a Sambava male but, I never observed any breeding or courtship between the two...granted I wasn't there ALL the time they were together but, they sure didn't seem interested when I was. Second point, because she was a WC when I got her monthes and months ago she has had a sand box and lg. plant in her enclosure to dig around in since she came home. I don't know if she could have been furtile when she was caught but, I haven't observed any great weight changes on her since she came home.

Long and short I don't know if she's gravid.....

I do use a night bulb for heat and we keep our house at 64F during the night. If it is a bad idea I could remove it. I really had thought I should keep her around the 70's at night and it's only a 15W moon bulb. BUT, if it dangerous I by all means could remove it..

Last question "is it spreading?"....it did originally AND FAST by thurs morn it was the size you can see in the picture. However, it has not changed since then. You know the more I read all these messeges the more I think it could be just a bruise.

Oh, and my vet is Dr. Kara James. Dr. Skinner moved away Dr. James is pretty cool though and she hasn't been afraid a single critter I've brought in her office. From spiders to Burmese....so she's ok in my book. Plus she knows when to say I don't know and refer me up to the veterinary college.

And, I will still post a better pic when I can, the hubby is working overtime and the camera is still dead.

 

[Revler]

Updated pic.

You can see the black triangle of concern in this pic although you can also see a lot of other black as she is very pissed that I had to move her to take the picture.

 

[Revler]

A full week later I can tell everyone that not only was it a bruise but, she is also gravid!!! Yeah we are dancing around at our house! Hopefully whatever caused the bruise did not affect he clutch but, we will have to keep our fingers crossed for now. I was sitting with her the other night reading and I noticed she was down in her sand digging about she didn't lay anything then but, when she came back up onto her climbing branches she was flexing her abdominal muscles and I saw two of those little tell-tale "jellybean" shapes being moved around in her tummy.

We are very excited everyone keep their fingers crossed for me Ok?

 

[Kat77]

Congratulations and good luck!

 

[BocaJan]

Congradulations! My female is gravid also and I am excited. Lets hope we get the eggs laid safely and put into their incubation box in my closet.