Flaky scales on head and nose? Not shedding

[rose.fountain]

Hi all!! This is my boy Grover, I’m reaching out to get some advice about his flaky head scales and some stuck shed across his body. He's a super friendly Cham and I feel really lucky that he likes being handled, even with this issue he still wants attention so it’s confusing whether this is bothering him or if he’s fine. He has these shiny white areas where it looks like he’s about to shed but it’s been about a week-week and a half like that, same with his head, it’s super flaky and I’m not sure if the head is a thermal burn or if he’s preparing to shed ?? Shedding never takes that long though which is what’s concerning me. This is a recent issue and it looks very dry.

• Your Chameleon - Panther, Male, 1 year old. He’s been in my care 6-7 months, purchased from a breeder.
• Handling - He loves coming out most days, I’d say once or twice every other day. He likes climbing around on me and plants I have outside of the cage (supervised).
• Feeding - Crickets, super worms, horn worms, and dubias. (Gut loaded). I offer food every other day, crickets and supers as the main.
• Supplements - Zoomed calcium without d3 at every feeding, reptivite twice a month.
• Watering - I run a fogger at night and hand mist. I spray his cage down before his lights come on in the mornings, offer water by dripping it through the top of the cage around 1:00 PM, and spray him down for 2-3 minutes when lights shut off.
• Fecal Description - He pooped two days ago, it was wet and solid. His poops are always pretty good. He poops about twice a week and only outside of the cage on his door (I potty trained him on accident I think, he’ll only poop on that door lol). Whitish yellow and dark brown poop, I think he needs a little more hydration which I’ve been trying to give him via more drip sessions during the day but it’s always wet. He has not been tested for parasites.
• History - No medical history. Only thing is that black area on his nose since I got him, he fell out of a plant and bruised that area from what I was told, then I believe the scales died as a result. Any other opinions would be great, but he’s had that long before this current issue so they aren’t related.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Zen habitat glass enclosure 2 x 2 x4
• Lighting - Arcadia T5HO 6% 24w Forest. I have a heating lamp with a 100w bulb but I am thinking that might be my issue. Have some plant lights in the bottom of the cage. Basking light is on at 7AM - 3PM. Other lights are 7AM-7PM.
• Temperature - Ambient is around 75, 71 towards the lower middle of the cage. At night drops to 64-67. Basking is 85.
• Humidity - 40-50 during the day. Nighttime is 90+
• Plants - Pothos, golden pothos, money tree, palm, monstera red Anne, a few other tropical plants that are safe but I can’t remember the name of. He has never eaten the plants.
• Placement - He is located against the far wall in my bedroom, I work during the days so I am not really in there much until 4PM onwards so it is low traffic. In terms of ventilation, I have a chimney effect created with fans for airflow, two on top and one pushing air across the front of the cage, as well as an air purifier and other fans throughout my apartment for airflow.
• Location - Western Massachusetts

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated, he’s been super flaky on his head and it’s concerning me. He’s otherwise a healthy boy, I was hoping it was just a stuck shed but it’s been a week+ now so I’m looking for some answers.

Thank you so much whoever sees this! I’ve attached some pictures of my issue and some other pics. (he was mad when I took the first one lol), I can take more pictures tomorrow morning if needed, these are just what I had on me currently.

 

[Beman]

Hi all!! This is my boy Grover, I’m reaching out to get some advice about his flaky head scales and some stuck shed across his body. He's a super friendly Cham and I feel really lucky that he likes being handled, even with this issue he still wants attention so it’s confusing whether this is bothering him or if he’s fine. He has these shiny white areas where it looks like he’s about to shed but it’s been about a week-week and a half like that, same with his head, it’s super flaky and I’m not sure if the head is a thermal burn or if he’s preparing to shed ?? Shedding never takes that long though which is what’s concerning me. This is a recent issue and it looks very dry.

• Your Chameleon - Panther, Male, 1 year old. He’s been in my care 6-7 months, purchased from a breeder.
• Handling - He loves coming out most days, I’d say once or twice every other day. He likes climbing around on me and plants I have outside of the cage (supervised).
• Feeding - Crickets, super worms, horn worms, and dubias. (Gut loaded). I offer food every other day, crickets and supers as the main.
• Supplements - Zoomed calcium without d3 at every feeding, reptivite twice a month.
• Watering - I run a fogger at night and hand mist. I spray his cage down before his lights come on in the mornings, offer water by dripping it through the top of the cage around 1:00 PM, and spray him down for 2-3 minutes when lights shut off.
• Fecal Description - He pooped two days ago, it was wet and solid. His poops are always pretty good. He poops about twice a week and only outside of the cage on his door (I potty trained him on accident I think, he’ll only poop on that door lol). Whitish yellow and dark brown poop, I think he needs a little more hydration which I’ve been trying to give him via more drip sessions during the day but it’s always wet. He has not been tested for parasites.
• History - No medical history. Only thing is that black area on his nose since I got him, he fell out of a plant and bruised that area from what I was told, then I believe the scales died as a result. Any other opinions would be great, but he’s had that long before this current issue so they aren’t related.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Zen habitat glass enclosure 2 x 2 x4
• Lighting - Arcadia T5HO 6% 24w Forest. I have a heating lamp with a 100w bulb but I am thinking that might be my issue. Have some plant lights in the bottom of the cage. Basking light is on at 7AM - 3PM. Other lights are 7AM-7PM.
• Temperature - Ambient is around 75, 71 towards the lower middle of the cage. At night drops to 64-67. Basking is 85.
• Humidity - 40-50 during the day. Nighttime is 90+
• Plants - Pothos, golden pothos, money tree, palm, monstera red Anne, a few other tropical plants that are safe but I can’t remember the name of. He has never eaten the plants.
• Placement - He is located against the far wall in my bedroom, I work during the days so I am not really in there much until 4PM onwards so it is low traffic. In terms of ventilation, I have a chimney effect created with fans for airflow, two on top and one pushing air across the front of the cage, as well as an air purifier and other fans throughout my apartment for airflow.
• Location - Western Massachusetts

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated, he’s been super flaky on his head and it’s concerning me. He’s otherwise a healthy boy, I was hoping it was just a stuck shed but it’s been a week+ now so I’m looking for some answers.

Thank you so much whoever sees this! I’ve attached some pictures of my issue and some other pics. (he was mad when I took the first one lol), I can take more pictures tomorrow morning if needed, these are just what I had on me currently.

Hey there welcome to the forum. Your husbandry is pretty much spot on... Only thing I see is that 100watt heat bulb. Make sure you are checking the area under that fixture with a gauge that has a probe to get a real temp reading. 100 watt produces pretty hot temps and if this fixture sits too close you have a high thermal burn risk.

Per the flaky scales any chance you use tap water? Tip of nose discoloration is pretty interesting. Normally with a bruise the black color goes away within a few weeks. Just keep an eye on this area moving forward.

 

[rose.fountain]

I’m going to grab a thermal gun today and check it out, it’s never given me any problems because I have it elevated but I’ve been looking into lower wattage - any recommendations? If he was under it do you think the flaky scales could be a result of a burn?

I use both purified water and spring water, I switch between the two for both spraying him down and the fogger. So I doubt it’s from tap water but maybe built up minerals? Very perplexed.

I attached an updated picture.

 

[ERKleRose]

Welcome on here! Make sure you get a digital thermometer with a probe instead of a temp gun, as temp guns only measure surface temps. You want to be measuring the air temp where the top of his back is when he’s on his basking branch

 

[ERKleRose]

These are just a few husbandry questions I have, if that’s alright (your husbandry is awesome, you’ve done a great job!):
-what do you gutload with?
-superworms are high in chitin and fat, so they’re best as treats (I’ve attached a feeder variety guide below!)
-is your reptivite with or without D3?
-how long do you mist for during his morning misting?
-how far away is the uvb bulb from the basking branch?
-how do you measure his temps and humidity?

As for what’s on his head, it could be mineral deposits from the spring water, but I’m not the best person to answer that question

 

[Beman]

I’m going to grab a thermal gun today and check it out, it’s never given me any problems because I have it elevated but I’ve been looking into lower wattage - any recommendations? If he was under it do you think the flaky scales could be a result of a burn?

I use both purified water and spring water, I switch between the two for both spraying him down and the fogger. So I doubt it’s from tap water but maybe built up minerals? Very perplexed.

I attached an updated picture.

Yeah honestly I was leaning towards build up of minerals. Looks like his casque dips in there so it may just be holding water a bit longer.

I personally do not like thermal guns. If you are using a probe then you just want to note that if it is saying 85 at the branch then where he rises up under a 100 watt bulb is going to be closer to low 90's. So a bit too hot.
I use these bulbs and have the last 6 years. I really like them. https://www.chewy.com/exo-terra-day...MIwPWDhcCgiQMVyACtBh1F-ApaEAQYAiABEgL65vD_BwE