Cham has white stuff on his nose

tayray94

New Member
Since I was getting no answers in the original thread...I thought I would repost this question. Here are pics of his white nostrils.

Anyhow meet Sharky. Sharky was purchased at a reptile show, about 2 and a half weeks ago. The reptile show comes through our county on a monthly basis. My son had done the original post here and I wanted to elaborate more about our beloved veiled.

The enclosure is custom built by my son and I. It is 48"Wide by 48"High by 20"Deep. It has screened sides, and top, a solid back, loose plexiglass bottom and 2 door frames with plexiglass rabeted into them. It was built of 1x4 Pine, stained and clear coated. The cage had a full month and a half to air out.....

We have an automated misting system hooked up in the cage that mists the cage for a minute every 2-3 hours, this allows the cage to dry between mists. We do not mist during the times the lights are off at night.

We have a basking light in one corner of the cage that has vines he can climb to reach a suitable spot to warm himself. Double Fluorescent light fixture runs the length of the cage one bulb is a reptisun 5.0 and the other is a grow light for the plants.
We have an assortment of live plants, 2 schefflera, pothos, dracenea, and some fake vines we washed thoroughly. We also have a baby ficus we are growing and hopefully will be adding soonish. I know. We need more plants.

We have a "Cricket Cage" that we have been feeding them a staple diet of apples, brocolli, and cat food. Which after reading some things on the forum I see we might need to switch, thoughts are appreciated. We also have this calcium supplement called "Herpcare" cricket dust.

We feed Sharky crickets everyday, sometimes twice a day. You can see the sila rope in the cage I used to suspend our "feeder bowl", we call it to keep the crickets where we want them. I used the bottom of an empty vinegar bottle.

We have dusted the crickets a total of once in the time period we have had him(2 weeks). I really dont think we can blame supplementation on his white nostrils.....

Sorry for the long post, but I thought it should be as thorough as possible. Thanks for your input.
 

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Tayray - click on the search button and search for white stuff. I got 5 pages worth of information. This is a common question and is a fairly normal occurrance.
 
yes, its from getting too much supplement. It doesn't have to be from what you dust the crickets with, it can be from what you feed your crickets. It will wipe off. I feed my crickets a rotation of veges, etc it seems to help.
 
You said you have only had the chameleon for two weeks...it could be to do with its previous care?

You said..."We have dusted the crickets a total of once in the time period we have had him(2 weeks)"...dusted with what? Most people dust the insects at most feedings with a phosphorous-free calcium powder.

There is information on supplementing on this site...
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/supplements.html

If there is any wheezing or gaping going on then it could be a respiratory infection and you will need to see a vet.

Hydration could be playing a part in this.

http://webhome.idirect.com/~chameleon/faq/index.html
"Q My chameleon has a white powdery substance around its nostrils, that he sometimes snorts out...what is this?
A This is the result over-supplementing your chameleon. Try reducing the amount of calcium powder you dust your feeder items in. The insects should be lightly dusted, not coated in powder. The white powder that forms around their nostrils is their bodies way of trying to eliminate the excess minerals. Remember, over supplementing is just as harmful as under supplementing."

This site was already posted but I'll include it again...
http://www.reptilechannel.com/lizar...lizards/lizard-care/chameleon-white-substance
"I wonder if you live in a hard water area of the country (a condition where there are lots of dissolved minerals in the water) and this is collecting as a white substance on her face as the hard water evaporates."

https://www.chameleonforums.com/white-nose-4017/
 
Guess what? Sharky got caught in the misting system one morning while sleeping , the first misting of the morning and got totally soaked...the white stuff is gone....Im changing his crickets food to collared greens, oranges, and something else not sure yet, we did pick up some Flukers cricket feed from the pet store.

He is now shedding so that might have played a big role in the whole situation.

And my water here in the chicagoland area is hard. I might need to go to bottle d or purified water...thanks for you input it's greatly appreciated.

-> Tay
 
Usually it is a way for chams to get rid of excess minerals. You may want to check your water source for the hardness of the water.
 
Cat food in your gut loading is not good but perhaps that was something you were going to change. Check out Sandra's blogs and you will get some great ideas for both wet and dry. Welcome to the forum.
 
It's actually excess salt. Reptiles don't sweat so excess salts accumulate via the nostrils. My boy had white crusties on his nostrils for a few weeks then they washed off lol. It's not related to calcium supplementation :)
 
oh sweet you are from chicago too! Which reptile show did you go to? Was it the one in the DuPage County Fairgrounds?
 
Think a new guy was searching for an answer and decided to comment. It's good! People are using the search tool :)
 
About the white stuff on the nose, will it affect the breathing? My chameleon currently has white stuff on both his nostrils. Will they be breathing with their mouth opened because of the white stuff that's covering the nostrils?
 
If your cham is breathing with its mouth open, it probably has respiratory infection and needs to see a vet right away. If its only gaping when under the heat it may be too hot. Check the temp to be sure.
 
I've done some research on respiratory infections and I'm not coming across any of those symptoms with my Veiled cham Kiddo. The last thing I was looking out for is when he's sleeping with his nose pointing up and he hasn't done that. Also, the temperatures are fine.
 
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