Discoloration and update. Need feedback please

[Dbash44]

UPDATE AND ISSUE:
Back in January, my male panther, Mango, had some purple spots on the tops of his front arms that were weirdly symmetrical. I took him to the vet on February 1, and applied the disinfectant and antifungal they gave me for the next two months twice a day (vet said it was most likely fungal infection). In the last few months I do notice the spread of the discoloration to have diminished a bit. What's weird is the way the skin looks around the discoloration now. There seems to be a row of white pigment followed by orange. The skin also looks bubbly or blistery, but there's no inflammation from what I see. When I touch the marks he seems to be in zero pain. He's shed probably three times or so since the vet. He eats eagerly and loves to climb around and be held whenever I say hi to him when I get home.

DIET AND SETUP:
I try to take him out in direct sunlight once or more a week if I get home before dark. On top of that I feed him Calcium D3 twice a month and Multivitamin twice a month and Calcium with NO D3 every day the others aren't used. I just bought new D3 a week and a half ago seeing as the one I've used since I got him over a year ago was expired. He loves hornworms which I have recently started feeding him every other week and will eat one dubia but not very often; crickets are the staple diet. I gutload the crickets with Mustard Greens, Carrots, Squash, Melon, and bugburger as a dry food source.
As far as water, I have an automatic mister set up that goes off every two hours for around two minutes with distilled water. I was told that the distilled water sucks nutrition from them, so I have started using Reverse Osmosis water in the dripper as opposed to the distilled. I also change water and clean dripper everyday seeing as it is inside the cage. Excess water is removed from cage through drainage system.
His feces and urate seem to be healthy from what I've researched. Nice and white and all.
I just replaced his Reptiglo CFL UVB with the Reptisun low profile T5 5.0 HIGH OUTPUT linear. And his heat bulb was a 75w heat lamp, but i just switched it up to a 70w house bulb cause I saw him gaping while he was basking.
As far as furnishings go, I have had ficus trees in the past that seem to not do well after a few months, and have currently switched to a dracena. On top of that I use artificial plants and have a tiliansia, pothos, and scheffelera. Not seen him chomp on the leaves or the organic soil.


Other than that, he sleeps normally and seems hydrated so I don't think the spots bug him.

TO WRAP IT UP:
What should I do about these spots? I read bruises or burns can be permanent, which I don't mind 'cause they add character IMO; I just want to make sure he'll be ok in the long run. Maybe some sort of Vitamin A for skin health, but I fear he'll OD if I try that.

 

[Dbash44]

pictures from feb.:

 

[Dbash44]

current pictures

 

[Eric Adrignola]

to me, it looks like a burn that's healing. Weird spot for a burn. I've only experienced burns, not fungal infections, so I'm wound-biased.

Regardless of what caused it, it seems to be healing. The orange and white is the healing skin regaining pigmentation. My old veiled burned his knees and side severely. When it healed, the pigment returned slowly, from the edges inward, just like your pics.

 

[Andee]

I agree with Eric, that looks exactly like how Ryker did when he got burned. Except, I also agree it's in a weird place. Burns aren't really permanent, the scars will heal, but very slowly and the skin is always discolored... in other words it may change and such like everything else but it will always look different, where the scar was. But he's healing, question is, if it is a burn... why did he get burned? Is your lamp touching the screen? If he climbs the screen at all and it is in fact a burn it could happen again, all I do with mine is put mine up on some small bricks and it elevates it enough to where Ryker won't get burned but he still gets the right temps. It may or may not be a burn, I would just cover all your bases.

Did the vet take a swab or scraping... can't remember which they do for testing for fungal issues?

 

[Dbash44]

to me, it looks like a burn that's healing. Weird spot for a burn. I've only experienced burns, not fungal infections, so I'm wound-biased.

Regardless of what caused it, it seems to be healing. The orange and white is the healing skin regaining pigmentation. My old veiled burned his knees and side severely. When it healed, the pigment returned slowly, from the edges inward, just like your pics.

I agree with Eric, that looks exactly like how Ryker did when he got burned. Except, I also agree it's in a weird place. Burns aren't really permanent, the scars will heal, but very slowly and the skin is always discolored... in other words it may change and such like everything else but it will always look different, where the scar was. But he's healing, question is, if it is a burn... why did he get burned? Is your lamp touching the screen? If he climbs the screen at all and it is in fact a burn it could happen again, all I do with mine is put mine up on some small bricks and it elevates it enough to where Ryker won't get burned but he still gets the right temps. It may or may not be a burn, I would just cover all your bases.

Did the vet take a swab or scraping... can't remember which they do for testing for fungal issues?

Thank you both for responses.

Eric Adrignola, how long did they take to heal? I feel like it shouldn't take 6+ months? But if you've got experience with it who am I to talk.

Andee, I'm honestly not sure what the burns could have been from. Maybe the lamp was too hot like you were saying. I have the large reflector dome by zoomed that allows the bulb to be about 5"-6" off the screen when the dome is resting on it. This did occur to me back then, but the strange thing was how they burns were so alike and that none were anywhere along his spine. I've never seen him climb on the ceiling but that doesnt mean he can get burns otherwise. When I went to the vet I dont think they took any swiping or scraping. The vet never mentioned that it was an option unless there was something else wrong with him aside from what they thought.

 

[Andee]

Burns can take A LONG time to heal, Ryker's was pretty severe before I was able to get him into my vet and we realized what it was. He ended up needing silvadine to help it heal. But his scars are still healing, right now they are still in the "scar stage" though a lot of the coloring has returned compared to what had gotten burned and scarred.... but it's been around... I think 8-9 months for him. Chameleons do everything slow. Except shoot their tongue XD

 

[Eric Adrignola]

My chameleon had severe burns - down to the bone. He lived to be 8 - 6 years after being burned. The skin did not every fully heal. He burned a large area though.

 

[Dbash44]

Burns can take A LONG time to heal, Ryker's was pretty severe before I was able to get him into my vet and we realized what it was. He ended up needing silvadine to help it heal. But his scars are still healing, right now they are still in the "scar stage" though a lot of the coloring has returned compared to what had gotten burned and scarred.... but it's been around... I think 8-9 months for him. Chameleons do everything slow. Except shoot their tongue XD

My chameleon had severe burns - down to the bone. He lived to be 8 - 6 years after being burned. The skin did not every fully heal. He burned a large area though.

Andee, would you suggest investing in sylvadine?
8-9 months seems like eternity! I'm sorry to hear that tho. How did Ryker get his burns? I think all the speed they had at one time all went to their tongue. I mean just about every other lizard is fast but don't have the tongue that chams do. Kinda makes you think a bit.

Eric Adrignola, that sounds like some horror movie plot, but thats great he lived for so long. What kind of cham was it?

 

[Eric Adrignola]

a veiled. The clamp lamp failed. Failed miserably. The lamp was clamped to a vertical 1x2 that I screwed to the top of his cage for this specific purpose. He liked it very warm, so I used a 100W bulb. The clamp was sideways, clamped to the vertical piece of wood, so that the reflector was a safe distance from the hardware cloth of the top of his cage. He'd previously burned the "hump" dorsal crest scales behind his head - I was being careful.

The clamp failed after a few hours, and I found it laying flat on the hardware cloth, the idiot basking intently just a couple inches away from the bulb...

He had black skin on his knee and side that night. It eventually peeled and scabbed, but he did not seem affected at all. I took him to the exotic vet just in case. Silvadine cream and baytril. The baytril almost killed him - he **** down and writhed on the floor of his cage within hours after the first dose. he didn't stop until I discontinued it after the third dose. After that, back to normal, with approximately 20% of his entire side a thick, charred, scabbed mass.

His rear legs stopped working well shortly after that - don't know if it's from burn damage or nerve damage from the baytril.

The scabs fell off, then re scabbed up again. Then fell off a final time. The bone of one of his knees was exposed. The ribs were clearly visible as well under a thin membrane, as the skin was gone. He never ever behaved as if it caused him any discomfort or pain - except when I applied the cream or removed scabs.

One of the ones I collected in Florida a few weeks ago is missing pieces of his foot, tail and face - these things deal well with physical injuries, less so with medications, imbalances, nutritional stuff, etc.

 

[jajeanpierre]

.

The baytril almost killed him - he **** down and writhed on the floor of his cage within hours after the first dose. he didn't stop until I discontinued it after the third dose. After that, back to normal, with approximately 20% of his entire side a thick, charred, scabbed mass.

His rear legs stopped working well shortly after that - don't know if it's from burn damage or nerve damage from the baytril.

Was this Baytril injections? Baytril will destroy tissues at the injection site. They are VERY painful injections.

 

[Andee]

Ryker got his burns from me being a first time chameleon owner and being rather stupid at the time >.< . I was using a 75 watt halogen bulb on him without anything propping it up, he would bask in it, but of course I had never used halogens on any other of my reptiles before and knew pretty much nothing about them. >3> The pet store where I bought didn't tell me how hot they burned compared to a normal bulb, just that they tended to last longer. He never gaped, but was soon showing signs of being burned, at first I thought it was some sort of fungus too. This was before I had invested in a infared thermometer (which I now have) the vet scrapped off a scab and said it was definitely a burn. Gave me some silvadine to put on it for a couple weeks and said to change the light bulb.

Immediately changed back to a regular 75 watt which what I had been using before, placed it on some bricks just to be careful. He hasn't gotten burned since.

Usually you don't use silvadine when they start the healing stage your's has. You just gotta be patient and keep their diet good, make sure they have everything they need and they will take care of it themselves <3

 

[Dbash44]

a veiled. The clamp lamp failed. Failed miserably. The lamp was clamped to a vertical 1x2 that I screwed to the top of his cage for this specific purpose. He liked it very warm, so I used a 100W bulb. The clamp was sideways, clamped to the vertical piece of wood, so that the reflector was a safe distance from the hardware cloth of the top of his cage. He'd previously burned the "hump" dorsal crest scales behind his head - I was being careful.

The clamp failed after a few hours, and I found it laying flat on the hardware cloth, the idiot basking intently just a couple inches away from the bulb...

He had black skin on his knee and side that night. It eventually peeled and scabbed, but he did not seem affected at all. I took him to the exotic vet just in case. Silvadine cream and baytril. The baytril almost killed him - he **** down and writhed on the floor of his cage within hours after the first dose. he didn't stop until I discontinued it after the third dose. After that, back to normal, with approximately 20% of his entire side a thick, charred, scabbed mass.

His rear legs stopped working well shortly after that - don't know if it's from burn damage or nerve damage from the baytril.

The scabs fell off, then re scabbed up again. Then fell off a final time. The bone of one of his knees was exposed. The ribs were clearly visible as well under a thin membrane, as the skin was gone. He never ever behaved as if it caused him any discomfort or pain - except when I applied the cream or removed scabs.

One of the ones I collected in Florida a few weeks ago is missing pieces of his foot, tail and face - these things deal well with physical injuries, less so with medications, imbalances, nutritional stuff, etc.

Eric, you gave me so much anxiety reading this. That is a true horror story like a zombie chameleon or something. Now you got me all paranoid, too. haha
Wait, you find chams running around wild in Florida? Or was it just in that bad of shape from irresponsible owners? Start a cham shelter! That would be AWESOME!

Ryker got his burns from me being a first time chameleon owner and being rather stupid at the time >.< . I was using a 75 watt halogen bulb on him without anything propping it up, he would bask in it, but of course I had never used halogens on any other of my reptiles before and knew pretty much nothing about them. >3> The pet store where I bought didn't tell me how hot they burned compared to a normal bulb, just that they tended to last longer. He never gaped, but was soon showing signs of being burned, at first I thought it was some sort of fungus too. This was before I had invested in a infared thermometer (which I now have) the vet scrapped off a scab and said it was definitely a burn. Gave me some silvadine to put on it for a couple weeks and said to change the light bulb.

Immediately changed back to a regular 75 watt which what I had been using before, placed it on some bricks just to be careful. He hasn't gotten burned since.

Usually you don't use silvadine when they start the healing stage your's has. You just gotta be patient and keep their diet good, make sure they have everything they need and they will take care of it themselves <3

Andee, this also sounds terrifying. The fact that the vets give you something harsh such as that of the baytril. It also bugs me that pet stores will pull stuff like that to up sell you, but theres nothing we can do about it. Just sucks 'cause I don't think others understand how much we care about these reptiles and how we get so attached to them, yah know?
I was thinking about getting the sylvadine, but if it's already too late then I just have to be patient.
It's truly crazy how chams just put up with conditions you and Eric spoke of. I sometimes wonder what they would say if they could speak. I guess it's the mystery that keeps us all fascinated.

 

[Eric Adrignola]

Oral baytril.

If there is not obvious infection, there's not much to worry about. They deal with injuries very well if you prevent infection. I find they do not do well with systemic antibiotics.

bitten off tail, foot...part of their face, burn them to a crisp...no problem. Give them antibiotics, they might die from kidney failure! Not always the case, of course.

Veileds are invasive in Florida. Ft. Myers area especially, but also in south Florida and some up in Tampa as well. They are essentially established around Ft. Myers. Spreading all over the place. Doing very very well.

biggest ones I've ever seen. I know of a guy that's pulled many 22"+ animals out of the trees down there. I have a picture of a massive 24" animal. The biggest he's caught was a 26" veiled. One of the males I picked up down there is the biggest I've seen in person - and he's had his face ripped up and his tail bitten off by something.