Fungus!
- Thread starter prettykttkat
- Start date
prettykttkat
Established Member
Thanks Jannb, I love him so much
That's awesome, do they grab it in their mouths too? I have some that will drink from the sprayer if I just let one water droplet out at a time but Rex is the only one I have seen that grabs the end in his mouth. I think it's comical
That's awesome, do they grab it in their mouths too? I have some that will drink from the sprayer if I just let one water droplet out at a time but Rex is the only one I have seen that grabs the end in his mouth. I think it's comical
jannb
Chameleon Enthusiast
Thanks Jannb, I love him so much
Yes, sometimes they grab it with their mouth and my male and my daughter's males will turn their heads up and stick out their tongues and lap it down. I need to try to get a video of them. I have a couple pictures; they're not that good but I'll attach where you can see them. Jann
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prettykttkat
Established Member
Aww they are so cute
Something funny just happened. I put a hat on and I went to check on Rex and he saw me, puffed up and huffed at me, lol! He is scared of my hat! None of my other reptiles noticed but he sure did, ha ha!
Something funny just happened. I put a hat on and I went to check on Rex and he saw me, puffed up and huffed at me, lol! He is scared of my hat! None of my other reptiles noticed but he sure did, ha ha!
jannb
Chameleon Enthusiast
Aww they are so cute
Something funny just happened. I put a hat on and I went to check on Rex and he saw me, puffed up and huffed at me, lol! He is scared of my hat! None of my other reptiles noticed but he sure did, ha ha!
I've heard of the Melleri doing that.
prettykttkat
Established Member
I wonder what scares them? I mean they can see our face and hear our voice. Maybe they think the hat is an animal on my head? Who knows
prettykttkat
Established Member
Not yet, but it better be tomorrow because I am going nuts waiting! I keep thinking the longer he has to wait for this medicine the less chance he will have at a full recovery if it is possible. I understand I have to be patient so I am, but I am a worry wort and can't stop thinking about it. She told me it would be ready in two days and so I'm thinking maybe she is trying to test the sensitivity of the fungus to the medicine and that's why it's taking longer to get the medicine or maybe she is waiting for the results on what type of fungus it is before giving it to me? I don't know because she has been busy so I haven't talked to her. I will get on here as soon as I talk with her and know something and let you know.
prettykttkat
Established Member
So I called the vet office today and they said the bloodwork came back pretty good and I can pick up the medicine and start it today. Results on the culture are not back yet but my vet will call me monday probably with results and we will know what type of fungus this is for sure, I hope.
prettykttkat
Established Member
So yesterday the antifungal medicine was NOT ready. They said it will be ready on Monday because they did not have the right flavor for the medicine. What???! They said they only had it in fish flavor and thought Rex would not like it. Well I told them they were correct. They asked me what flavor should they get for him and I said something sweet and fruity maybe? Really the whole thing is silly. I just want the medicine already!!! So they will be calling me monday to come in and pick it up probably around noon.
Did you find out the name of the fungus involved?
The antifungal medication is the only one I've ever given to a chameleon where the reaction has been to try to spit it out/rub it off the tongue on the branch...and it was supposed to be cherry flavored....must be like humans taking Buckley's!
The antifungal medication is the only one I've ever given to a chameleon where the reaction has been to try to spit it out/rub it off the tongue on the branch...and it was supposed to be cherry flavored....must be like humans taking Buckley's!
prettykttkat
Established Member
Still have not gotten results back on what type of fungus it is. I did get the medicine yesterday and gave it to him without any problems. He is very good about taking medicine though and if it tasted bad I doubt he would act differently. That's funny about your cham trying to spit it out and rub his tongue on a branch!
prettykttkat
Established Member
So I talked to my vet and she said so far 2 different types of fungi are growing in the culture and neither one are CANV but we are still waiting to be sure. She said it takes awhile to grow the cultures out all the way. Of the 2 fungi grown neither one is particularly pathogenic so we are both hopeful Rex will be fine after treatment with the itraconazole since his bloodwork was good. I take him in after a month so she can see if the fungal infection is starting to clear up or not. I am happy but I will feel better after that culture is done growing and they tell me he does not have CANV for sure. At least this is what I hope for I'll keep you guys posted.
I'll keep you guys posted.
Carlton
Chameleon Enthusiast
I wonder what scares them? I mean they can see our face and hear our voice. Maybe they think the hat is an animal on my head? Who knows
Chams are almost completely visually oriented as they don't hear or smell well at all. They notice details and probably more shades of colors than we do. They don't expect large rather threatening creatures to suddenly change their appearance by adding a big odd looking casque (ie: a hat). Some chams hate particular colors their owners wear. Can't blame them really, if I showed up wearing a color my chams use when they are pissed off why should I be surprised when they get upset too? My melleri hated seeing electrical cords or plant watering hose lying on the floor of their free range room. Most likely they thought they were seeing dangerous snakes.
prettykttkat
Established Member
Update on Rex. The day before yesterday I noticed some things. he has a new patch of gray affected area and he has clear fluid filled blisters on his body. He also had what appeared to be a squishy tumor on top of his ribs but under all layers of skin. I took him to the vet the next day and the tumor/lump looking thing went down and was not there anymore. My vet took a needle and drew out the liquid in the blisters and afterwards pulled the skin off and scrubbed it with betadine. the skin under the blisters looked good and normal. She also took the scab off of his arm where the skin was removed for biopsy. I am now only applying silver sulfa ointment to that area on the arm and only scrubbing the other areas with betadine everyday. He was also started on antibiotics again for longer because some parts of the healing arm were yellow and his casque does not look good. I am thinking maybe those blisters are the fungal spores inside? I am waiting to hear what my vet says she sees under the microscope to see if I am right or not. It has started to get cold so I had to move him back in the house and into my bedroom where there are no reptiles. I tried a space heater out there but it wasnt getting warm enough. I know I am taking a risk with having him in the house but hopefully if I keep the door closed the spores will not get on my other reptiles.
Kinyonga did your affected chameleons ever get these blisters? Should I be really worried about this? He is still on the itraconazole for the fungal infection, should he be on anything else too(besides the antibiotics)?
Kinyonga did your affected chameleons ever get these blisters? Should I be really worried about this? He is still on the itraconazole for the fungal infection, should he be on anything else too(besides the antibiotics)?
Re: the CANV in the Parson's chameleon: when I first got the chameleon he had what looked like a rub on his knee...an area that had likely been scraped, I thought, and had healed over. It was greyish looking. He was in the middle of a shed too. I took him for tests and I believe he was started on antibiotics. Shortly after that he started getting small blisters all over the place. He had a biopsy of one of the areas affected and it came back fungal. I believe it needed a special/different stain to identify it. It was mis-identified a few times before it was named CANV.
It sounds odd to me that this isn't getting better if its CANV when he's taking itraconazole.
There is another blistery pustule that occurs in chameleons and other lizards that had been tested and sometimes shows to be bacterial, sometimes viral and sometimes fungal in spite of always looking the same. It was supposed to be investigated but the samples of it taken from my lizard didn't get sent by the vet I was dealing with to the people in the States who were studying this type of thing.
Can you post pictures please?
If you take hygenic precautions then hopefully nothing will spread.
It sounds odd to me that this isn't getting better if its CANV when he's taking itraconazole.
There is another blistery pustule that occurs in chameleons and other lizards that had been tested and sometimes shows to be bacterial, sometimes viral and sometimes fungal in spite of always looking the same. It was supposed to be investigated but the samples of it taken from my lizard didn't get sent by the vet I was dealing with to the people in the States who were studying this type of thing.
Can you post pictures please?
If you take hygenic precautions then hopefully nothing will spread.
prettykttkat
Established Member
Yes I will take some pictures later today and post them. I think that the fungus is not going away yet because he has not been on the medicine for very long. I think a week maybe? After my vet took care of the blisters none have come back and no new ones are present. If the blisters are caused by bacteria instead of the fungus wouldn't the antibiotics he is on take care of that? If it is viral then I guess it will have to run it's course? I really think it is from the fungus though. He has more than one fungi, culture results say:
one colony of scopulariopsis
few colonies aspergillus species
few colonies yeast identified (not malassezia)
yeast identification in progress
What this means is that he has a few fungi, CANV hasn't showed up but the culture is still growing so it cannot be ruled out yet.
He still has a bacteria infection from the fungus infecting the skin. This is why he was put back on antibiotics again in addition to the fungal medicine. I feel so bad for this poor chameleon. I still haven't heard from my vet on what she found in the fluid from the blisters so I will call her today. I am trying so hard with this chameleon, sometimes I cry about it because I want him to get better and I feel bad for him At least he still eating and drinking normal which is really a surprise. He is definitely a survivor!
one colony of scopulariopsis
few colonies aspergillus species
few colonies yeast identified (not malassezia)
yeast identification in progress
What this means is that he has a few fungi, CANV hasn't showed up but the culture is still growing so it cannot be ruled out yet.
He still has a bacteria infection from the fungus infecting the skin. This is why he was put back on antibiotics again in addition to the fungal medicine. I feel so bad for this poor chameleon. I still haven't heard from my vet on what she found in the fluid from the blisters so I will call her today. I am trying so hard with this chameleon, sometimes I cry about it because I want him to get better and I feel bad for him
At least he still eating and drinking normal which is really a surprise. He is definitely a survivor!You said..."I think that the fungus is not going away yet because he has not been on the medicine for very long"...its been a long time since my Parson's had CANV, but I think the blisters went away quite quickly once he was on itraconazole.
You said..."After my vet took care of the blisters none have come back and no new ones are present"...if the blisters are gone why is it you are saying the fungus is still there? How can you tell?
You said..."If the blisters are caused by bacteria instead of the fungus wouldn't the antibiotics he is on take care of that?"..if the antibiotic you are using can kill that type of bacteria it should help.
You said he has..."one colony of scopulariopsis few colonies aspergillus species few colonies yeast identified (not malassezia) yeast identification in progress What this means is that he has a few fungi, CANV hasn't showed up but the culture is still growing so it cannot be ruled out yet."...I have to look up the first one...don't know it. I think CANV is not an easy one to ID.
You said..."I am trying so hard with this chameleon, sometimes I cry about it because I want him to get better and I feel bad for him At least he still eating and drinking normal which is really a surprise. He is definitely a survivor!"...I know how you feel. Let's hope he can kick it and recover!
You said..."After my vet took care of the blisters none have come back and no new ones are present"...if the blisters are gone why is it you are saying the fungus is still there? How can you tell?
You said..."If the blisters are caused by bacteria instead of the fungus wouldn't the antibiotics he is on take care of that?"..if the antibiotic you are using can kill that type of bacteria it should help.
You said he has..."one colony of scopulariopsis few colonies aspergillus species few colonies yeast identified (not malassezia) yeast identification in progress What this means is that he has a few fungi, CANV hasn't showed up but the culture is still growing so it cannot be ruled out yet."...I have to look up the first one...don't know it. I think CANV is not an easy one to ID.
You said..."I am trying so hard with this chameleon, sometimes I cry about it because I want him to get better and I feel bad for him At least he still eating and drinking normal which is really a surprise. He is definitely a survivor!"...I know how you feel. Let's hope he can kick it and recover!
prettykttkat
Established Member
Did your parsons show a difference in the first week?
I think the fungus might still be there because the skin still looks funny. I don't know how long it takes for the medicine to kill the fungus and heal up. You think it will kill it right away? He has to be on medicine for awhile so I thought that meant it takes awhile to kill it?
The bacteria (that was cultured) is sensitive to the antibiotics he is on so I'm hoping it will work.
Yes I read it is really hard to ID CANV also.
My vet is going to a lunch meeting with some other exotic vets here in Colorado this weekend and she is going to tell them about Rex and see if they have any experience with this kind of thing.
Here are the pics I took the other day but did not get a chance to put up sooner, sorry
My camera is not good with detail so I'm not sure if you can see the lesions good or not. He darkened up when I was taking the pictures too which does not help. He does not like the camera.
I think the fungus might still be there because the skin still looks funny. I don't know how long it takes for the medicine to kill the fungus and heal up. You think it will kill it right away? He has to be on medicine for awhile so I thought that meant it takes awhile to kill it?
The bacteria (that was cultured) is sensitive to the antibiotics he is on so I'm hoping it will work.
Yes I read it is really hard to ID CANV also.
My vet is going to a lunch meeting with some other exotic vets here in Colorado this weekend and she is going to tell them about Rex and see if they have any experience with this kind of thing.
Here are the pics I took the other day but did not get a chance to put up sooner, sorry
My camera is not good with detail so I'm not sure if you can see the lesions good or not. He darkened up when I was taking the pictures too which does not help. He does not like the camera.
