Bump on jaw?

[Jo_bo_24]

For about two weeks now, I’ve noticed this little bump growing on my chameleons jaw. I haven’t noticed it change in shape or size, but it hasn’t gone away. Does anyone have any advice? She’s shedding right now, so she’s not as active as normal, but before she started to shed she was acting fine. I can’t afford fancy x rays and things right now can someone please offer some advice? I am a minor so this is really important but I don’t want anything happening to my baby Here’s some more information on her:

• female veiled chameleon about 2-3 years old I think. Been in my care for about two years.
• She doesn’t enjoy handling at all even though I tried to get her used to it, so I only do it when necessary
• She’s feed 2-3 times a week. Usually a mix of crickets with fresh veggies like spinach, lettuce, carrots, and strawberries. Hornworms and super worms as occasional treats.
• I dust my feeders with repti-calcium from zoo med and gut load them with veggies.
• I use a mist sprayer about three times a day (before school, after school, and before bed) and mist her enclosure heavily. I sometimes notice her opening her mouth when I mist her, but I think it’s out of annoyance (?)
• Her stool usually brown/white with yellow occasionally.
• If you check my previous post, she had a wierd thing with protruding eyes that went away, but other than that, no previous health issues..

• She lives in a screen cage ( I posted pictures of the enclosure in another thread)
• Lighting is zoomed bulbs (I don’t remember how strong they are exactly, but I consulted a different thread about it and they are powerful enough) lights go off every night around ten.
• Middle of cage is about 70 degrees, top is about 80 usually.
• I use a humidity gauge in my enclosure. It’s usually around 70-80%
• No live plants, she likes to eat them and I can’t keep them alive .
• I live in the deep South. Very humid, very warm.

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi. Give me a few minutes and I’ll go thru your info and have a reply for you.

 

[MissSkittles]

Will put my feedback in bold.

• female veiled chameleon about 2-3 years old I think. Been in my care for about two years. Very good!
• She doesn’t enjoy handling at all even though I tried to get her used to it, so I only do it when necessary That’s about the usual for our spicy veiled ladies. You do still want to work on building and maintaining trust though. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/building-trust-with-your-chameleon.2396/ It probably won’t change her spiciness, but it does help decrease both of your stress.
• She’s feed 2-3 times a week. Excellent Usually a mix of crickets with fresh veggies like spinach, lettuce, carrots, and strawberries. Not so excellent. While veileds will eat plant/veggies, they have no need for it. You should just be giving her a nice variety of live insect feeders. Also, spinach is probably the worst green right before iceberg lettuce. While all greens have oxalates which bind to (and reduce) calcium, spinach has perhaps the highest amount. Lettuce just has no real nutrition and is mainly good for hydration. Strawberries and other fruits are high in sugars. It’s much better to give the veggies to your insect feeders. Crickets are good, but try adding some more variety, like roaches, silkworms, etc. The treats are perfect. I am attaching a couple of graphics below to help you. Hornworms and super worms as occasional treats.
• I dust my feeders with repti-calcium from zoo med Is that with or without vitamin D3? It’s essential to have the right supplements. You should be lightly dusting at every feeding with a phosphorus free calcium without D3. The easiest method for giving vitamin D3 and multivitamins is to use a combination product for one feeding every other week (or twice a month if you prefer). The only two that are preferred over all others are Repashy calcium plus LoD or Reptivite with D3. and gut load them with veggies.
• I use a mist sprayer about three times a day (before school, after school, and before bed) and mist her enclosure heavily. I sometimes notice her opening her mouth when I mist her, but I think it’s out of annoyance (?) Great! Just try not to mist her directly and instead just the plants.
• Her stool usually brown/white with yellow occasionally. It’s always a good idea to have a fecal parasite check. Just about every vet will insist on a visit before testing…it’s the law that they must see every animal they treat.
• If you check my previous post, she had a wierd thing with protruding eyes that went away, but other than that, no previous health issues..

• She lives in a screen cage ( I posted pictures of the enclosure in another thread) I’m being lazy atm and trust we would have said something is we saw anything ‘off’.
• Lighting is zoomed bulbs (I don’t remember how strong they are exactly, but I consulted a different thread about it and they are powerful enough) lights go off every night around ten. Just as important as supplements is your uvb lighting. The screw in bulbs don’t work for chameleons and the standard is a linear T5 with either ReptiSun 5.0 or Arcadia 6%. If I can later, I’ll look for your other posts.
• Middle of cage is about 70 degrees, top is about 80 usually. Perfect
• I use a humidity gauge in my enclosure. It’s usually around 70-80% Much too high!!! She’s at risk for respiratory infection with humidity levels like this. I’m surprised she hasn’t had one yet. So, that makes me question what type of gauge you are using to measure it. The analog ones (round with a ‘hand’) are notoriously inaccurate. The best kind is a digital one, preferably with a wired probe.
• No live plants, she likes to eat them and I can’t keep them alive . Yes, that is what she is going to do. I recently posted a pic of what my veiled girl did to her pothos. The problem is that she doesn’t know about fake plants and there’s always the risk she might try a bite and it could cause a bowel obstruction. I suggest getting a big plant like a schefflera, money tree or weeping fig and then a couple of big beautiful pothos. As the pothos grows, continuously take clippings and always have some fresh plants starting for when she eats her way thru. Another great plant is tradescantia zebrina. Spider plants are ok and I’ve never seen any bites taken out of them.
• I live in the deep South. Very humid, very warm. Same here - Florida.

I don’t like that bump at all. It could be a growth or tumor of some sort, but I think it’s more likely to be an abscess. The problems are that it is a risk to cause sepsis (all over body infection and it has the potential to eat into her jaw. Unfortunately, chameleon abscesses don’t just go away with antibiotics. Their pus is thick like cottage cheese and abscesses need to be opened and cleaned out by a vet. A vet could do a simple needle biopsy to try and tell what is inside the bump and that would help determine the best treatment, if any, needed. Have you been able to look inside of her mouth? It could be from mouth rot. Has she been eating like normal?
I suggest getting help from a parent or other adult relative in taking your sweet girl to the vet. Maybe you could offer to do some tasks to earn the costs. Maybe a neighbor has some chores you could do for them…supervised by one of your parents though (safety first). I am also attaching the list of vets that are experienced with chameleons. Costs do vary between vets, so you might want to call around a bit if there’s more than one exotics vet in your area. I have found that vets will usually work within your budget if at all possible.

 

[Jo_bo_24]

Will put my feedback in bold.

• female veiled chameleon about 2-3 years old I think. Been in my care for about two years. Very good!
• She doesn’t enjoy handling at all even though I tried to get her used to it, so I only do it when necessary That’s about the usual for our spicy veiled ladies. You do still want to work on building and maintaining trust though. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/building-trust-with-your-chameleon.2396/ It probably won’t change her spiciness, but it does help decrease both of your stress.
• She’s feed 2-3 times a week. Excellent Usually a mix of crickets with fresh veggies like spinach, lettuce, carrots, and strawberries. Not so excellent. While veileds will eat plant/veggies, they have no need for it. You should just be giving her a nice variety of live insect feeders. Also, spinach is probably the worst green right before iceberg lettuce. While all greens have oxalates which bind to (and reduce) calcium, spinach has perhaps the highest amount. Lettuce just has no real nutrition and is mainly good for hydration. Strawberries and other fruits are high in sugars. It’s much better to give the veggies to your insect feeders. Crickets are good, but try adding some more variety, like roaches, silkworms, etc. The treats are perfect. I am attaching a couple of graphics below to help you. Hornworms and super worms as occasional treats.
• I dust my feeders with repti-calcium from zoo med Is that with or without vitamin D3? It’s essential to have the right supplements. You should be lightly dusting at every feeding with a phosphorus free calcium without D3. The easiest method for giving vitamin D3 and multivitamins is to use a combination product for one feeding every other week (or twice a month if you prefer). The only two that are preferred over all others are Repashy calcium plus LoD or Reptivite with D3. and gut load them with veggies.
• I use a mist sprayer about three times a day (before school, after school, and before bed) and mist her enclosure heavily. I sometimes notice her opening her mouth when I mist her, but I think it’s out of annoyance (?) Great! Just try not to mist her directly and instead just the plants.
• Her stool usually brown/white with yellow occasionally. It’s always a good idea to have a fecal parasite check. Just about every vet will insist on a visit before testing…it’s the law that they must see every animal they treat.
• If you check my previous post, she had a wierd thing with protruding eyes that went away, but other than that, no previous health issues..
• She lives in a screen cage ( I posted pictures of the enclosure in another thread) I’m being lazy atm and trust we would have said something is we saw anything ‘off’.
• Lighting is zoomed bulbs (I don’t remember how strong they are exactly, but I consulted a different thread about it and they are powerful enough) lights go off every night around ten. Just as important as supplements is your uvb lighting. The screw in bulbs don’t work for chameleons and the standard is a linear T5 with either ReptiSun 5.0 or Arcadia 6%. If I can later, I’ll look for your other posts.
• Middle of cage is about 70 degrees, top is about 80 usually. Perfect
• I use a humidity gauge in my enclosure. It’s usually around 70-80% Much too high!!! She’s at risk for respiratory infection with humidity levels like this. I’m surprised she hasn’t had one yet. So, that makes me question what type of gauge you are using to measure it. The analog ones (round with a ‘hand’) are notoriously inaccurate. The best kind is a digital one, preferably with a wired probe.
• No live plants, she likes to eat them and I can’t keep them alive . Yes, that is what she is going to do. I recently posted a pic of what my veiled girl did to her pothos. The problem is that she doesn’t know about fake plants and there’s always the risk she might try a bite and it could cause a bowel obstruction. I suggest getting a big plant like a schefflera, money tree or weeping fig and then a couple of big beautiful pothos. As the pothos grows, continuously take clippings and always have some fresh plants starting for when she eats her way thru. Another great plant is tradescantia zebrina. Spider plants are ok and I’ve never seen any bites taken out of them.
• I live in the deep South. Very humid, very warm. Same here - Florida.

I don’t like that bump at all. It could be a growth or tumor of some sort, but I think it’s more likely to be an abscess. The problems are that it is a risk to cause sepsis (all over body infection and it has the potential to eat into her jaw. Unfortunately, chameleon abscesses don’t just go away with antibiotics. Their pus is thick like cottage cheese and abscesses need to be opened and cleaned out by a vet. A vet could do a simple needle biopsy to try and tell what is inside the bump and that would help determine the best treatment, if any, needed. Have you been able to look inside of her mouth? It could be from mouth rot. Has she been eating like normal?
I suggest getting help from a parent or other adult relative in taking your sweet girl to the vet. Maybe you could offer to do some tasks to earn the costs. Maybe a neighbor has some chores you could do for them…supervised by one of your parents though (safety first). I am also attaching the list of vets that are experienced with chameleons. Costs do vary between vets, so you might want to call around a bit if there’s more than one exotics vet in your area. I have found that vets will usually work within your budget if at all possible.
View attachment 361659View attachment 361660

Thank you so much!! I have some money saved up, so I think that this is urgent enough to take her to the vet for. I will also be changing her diet, as I never knew her veggies were so bad. I will also try to get a new lighting setup if I can afford it after the vet trip. It might have to wait a bit though

 

[MissSkittles]

Thank you so much!! I have some money saved up, so I think that this is urgent enough to take her to the vet for. I will also be changing her diet, as I never knew her veggies were so bad. I will also try to get a new lighting setup if I can afford it after the vet trip. It might have to wait a bit though

It’s not that all veggies are bad…some are just better than others and veileds don’t need any. I won’t give my beardies any spinach or kale, but I do give a variety of other greens, like dandelion, turnip, mustard, arugula. I use the same to give to my insect feeders.
I do have to give a word of caution about some of the less expensive uvb lights out there. I tried one of the better known alternative brands (ReptiZoo) and while the fixture itself works fine, the uvb bulb had very poor output. I only trust and recommend using Arcadia or ReptiSun by ZooMed.
Do keep us posted about what the vet finds that bump is and any treatment. Also, feel free to hang around and share pics and stuff if your pretty girl.

 

[Ghostbirb]

Just rolling in here to wish you luck with your girl and just share a little bit of my experiences with an abscess like that. I would agree, vet is 100% needed. My girl had one in a very similar spot and they had to open it up and drain it along with put her on some antibiotics for a few weeks. Here’s an example of how it looked

I hope it something simple and clears up quickly with a vet visit! I hope to see you around the forum! If you have any questions just ask, we are here to help!