Chameleon Scratching extensively

[tarrynh011]

Hi there, ive noticed this morning my veild chameleon (male) scratching quite a bit, hes also doing these strange movements around the enclosure rubbing himself on anything and everything and moving around quite quickly. He did start shedding on Thursday evening and then finished Friday, so hes all clean and shinny (today is Saturday for me)
Hes eaten 1 superworm and I've just seen him eat a dubia roach aswell as hes just had some water. Its only 8am here so hes got the whole day to eat more. Is this normal ? Why is he doing this? Must I be concerned?? I've taken a few videos but can't upload them on this thread??

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi there, ive noticed this morning my veild chameleon (male) scratching quite a bit, hes also doing these strange movements around the enclosure rubbing himself on anything and everything and moving around quite quickly. He did start shedding on Thursday evening and then finished Friday, so hes all clean and shinny (today is Saturday for me)
Hes eaten 1 superworm and I've just seen him eat a dubia roach aswell as hes just had some water. Its only 8am here so hes got the whole day to eat more. Is this normal ? Why is he doing this? Must I be concerned?? I've taken a few videos but can't upload them on this thread??

You have to post the video on a platform like YouTube and then add the link here.

 

[tarrynh011]

You have to post the video on a platform like YouTube and then add the link here.

Ok dont have a YouTube account but will try sort something out quick

 

[tarrynh011]

Ok dont have a YouTube account but will try sort something out quick

 

[MissSkittles]

Hmm... There’s no bits of stuck shed where he’s scratching? Any discolored patches? Any tiny dark dots? Have you handled other reptiles lately? This one is a bit beyond my knowledge. Aside from shed, the only other things I can think of are mites or a fungal infection. Perhaps @kinyonga may have better insight.

 

[tarrynh011]

Hmm... There’s no bits of stuck shed where he’s scratching? Any discolored patches? Any tiny dark dots? Have you handled other reptiles lately? This one is a bit beyond my knowledge. Aside from shed, the only other things I can think of are mites or a fungal infection. Perhaps @kinyonga may have better insight.

I dont see any dark spots or left over skin on him, his movements are just weird as hes all over the place and he moves really quickly up down up down. (Top to bottom) I have a female cham aswell but have not handled her in the last few days. I handled him yesterday took him out to get some natural sun but only for about 20 min at about 4pm so it wasn't the heat of the day. Saturdays are normally the days I clean out his enclosure, and I normally use vinegar with hot water, must I use something else?

 

[tarrynh011]

I dont see any dark spots or left over skin on him, his movements are just weird as hes all over the place and he moves really quickly up down up down. (Top to bottom) I have a female cham aswell but have not handled her in the last few days. I handled him yesterday took him out to get some natural sun but only for about 20 min at about 4pm so it wasn't the heat of the day. Saturdays are normally the days I clean out his enclosure, and I normally use vinegar with hot water, must I use something else?

Just took him out to have a good look at him dont see anything out of the norm. Giving him some natural sun for bit too

 

[MissSkittles]

I honestly have no idea then. His supplements are correct?

 

[tarrynh011]

I honestly have no idea then. His supplements are correct?

Yes, i give him calcium without D3 Sunday to Friday (today being Saturday) he has had multivitamin sprinkled on his feeders. And next Saturday will be calcium with D3.
I've only just started (thursday) feeding super worms could that be what is causing this? He took the superworm well and chomped on it quite quickly. It was a bit on the large side compared to the chrickets I feed him and it was the first time I've seen him eat a superworm. About 5 min after that he ate a dubia and now about 2 hours later he's just eaten about 4 chrickets.

 

[MissSkittles]

Maybe he’s allergic to superworms? ?‍

 

[tarrynh011]

Is that even a possibility?

 

[Gingero]

I've seen my chameleons scratch themselves with their back feet before. Never seen them do the stomping thing though.

 

[tarrynh011]

Its weird right? When I was holding him he was doing the same thing (not as much) and it was almost like he was trying to sharpen his nails ?‍ you know like a bird would sharpen its beak?!?
The two videos I posted we much calmer to how he first started doing when I first noticed..

 

[kinyonga]

Is he doing it with only the back right leg or all the feet?

 

[jamest0o0]

A friend of mine had a chameleon, that later turned out to have a calcium deficiency due to a parasite load(was no fault of his own, breeder gave him it like that and he was new to the hobby). One of the symptoms was scratching at his sides for seemingly no reason.

 

[tarrynh011]

Is he doing it with only the back right leg or all the feet?

Both back legs havent seen him doing it with the front at all.. hes also quite skittish today for some reason aswell I turned their fogger on while I was cleaning out their enclosures (took the doors off) so the humidity dropped drastically and when the fogger came on he was all over the place again up and down and rubbing his body up against everything and again doing the foot thing... I took him out of the enclosure and placed all his plants and him in a bin next to me while I cleaned and we went pitch black (he was annoyed I put him there) but once he settled he turned bright green again. I cleaned every inch of that enclosure wiped everything down and I even took his plants outside and gave them a good soak with the hose pipe.

 

[tarrynh011]

A friend of mine had a chameleon, that later turned out to have a calcium deficiency due to a parasite load(was no fault of his own, breeder gave him it like that and he was new to the hobby). One of the symptoms was scratching at his sides for seemingly no reason.

I've had mine for about 2 months now and he has shed 3 times in my care this is the first time I've seen him scratching like this and other than me cleaning his enclosure today (like every Saturday) nothing in his environment has changed

 

[kinyonga]

What multivitamin do you use? Does it have prEformed vitamin A in it of PrOformed?

 

[tarrynh011]

What multivitamin do you use? Does it have prEformed vitamin A in it of PrOformed?

Hi kinyonga, its the exoterra multivitamin I honestly can't tell you as I threw the packaging and leaflet away. The back only has instructions on how to use.

 

[Beman]

What live plants are you using?