Chameleon skin patches?

[MrBolt]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - ambanja we believe, male, 5-6 Months old. owned him 3 months

Handling - daily, hes very tame and wont let you open the vivarium without running to your hand or down to greet you.

Feeding - crickets and locust, 3-4 crickets daily with 1-3 locust as treats. Gut loading with potatos

Supplements - Monday to thursday i use prorep calcium without d3, friday i use Nutrobal calcium with D3 and Exo terra Multi vit

Watering - Misting bottle, 2-3 times daily for about 30-1min a time. We see him drink every day and doesnt have a problem drinking straight from when we spray the viv

Fecal Description - quite large fecal with a white or almost white substance, sometimes its watery and other times it has what i think is semen. never been tested for parasites.

History - brought him from a very recomended breeder not wild caught.

Cage Info:
Cage Type -Exoterra glass vivarium Large

Lighting - UVB5.0 bulb and 100w thermostat controlled basking bulb, lights on at 7am and lights off at 7.45pm

Temperature - Basking spot average 30c-32c rest of the viv averages out at 26c. Lowest overnight temp is 22c, analogue thermometer is used to measure

Humidity - morning and afternoon mists it reaches 80-90% drops down to 50-60% during the day, sometimes but not often it might be close to 40%, this is measured by a analogue hygrometer

Plants - no live plants in the viv but has a live madagascar fig plant that he uses to bask and relax on when out of his vivarium.

Placement - Where is your cage located? living room, Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? we are usually around him quite alot at weekends but during the week because we both work he has the whole place to himself. top of the cage from the floor is around 5ft 10 inch

Location - 40miles north of london, UK

Current Problem -

Recently we have noticed he has this patchy skin around his legs and tail, its on one side of his stomach too. he has been shedding at the begining of every month but hasnt shed in around 6weeks now, im guessing its because his rate of growth is slowing down as he has shot up in size scince we had him. hes very active and alert im not sure its bothering him too much but id like peoples opinions if they have seen it before and know what it is.

thanks alot

 

[pssh]

I'm looking at this on my phone, but it doesnt look like a burn. He could be starting a shed. As they get older and start shedding less often, they take longer to actually complete the process and often, as adults particularly, only shed certain parts at a time. When they get to about that size, sometimes they turn white on areas of their body where the skin is lifting up but hasnt broken/started coming off yet. I would watch it and just make sure it is indeed a shed. He might also start wiggling around more to try and break the skin, be more grumpy, and slow down or stop eating if he is shedding.

 

[Kate]

Hi welcome to the forum. Locusts are a good staple and doesn't need to be used as a treat. If you put live plants in the viv it will increase the humidity. I wouldn't let your temps go any higher in a glass viv. The white substance you talk about is urate.( urine) and if it is white well done he is well hydrated. Chams deposit what are called sperm plugs which you will hear and see lots of here.

 

[MrBolt]

thanks for your responses, il keep you posted on his progress. im hoping it is just the early stages of him shedding so il keep a eye on him. is it just more often and prolonged misting to help him shed?

 

[Kate]

There shedding pattern changes as they get older. Thet tend to shed random patches and not so often. They are a worry.

 

[MrBolt]

bumping this back up as he still has not shed and his skin is still a patchy ash colour, hes still eating,drinking and pooing but its been over 2 months scince his last shed. with the rate he is eating he must of grown a bit.

 

[mcbdz]

If you have a good chameleon vet it may be time for a visit. Another suggestion would be to PM one of the vets on here and gets some good shots of the patches. I did see some other patches on a cham that a fungus was being questioned. Has it gotten larger/smaller/darker? any changes you noticed?

 

[MrBolt]

Quick update. I came in from work yesterday to find bolt starting to shed! Took his time with this one haha. Thanks for people's input.