Help me improve! Female Piebald Veiled Chameleon

[ERKleRose]

Alicat93, sounds like you're doing great for a first-time cham-mom! Congratulations! Her long white lady gloves are lovelyalthough I'm not sure you mentioned her name. My pied is Gary 3 yrs and also have a classic veiled Benjamin, 4yrs. Bernie was my first, he's the icon. Just to let you know ahead, Gary's white lady-gloves all turned silky black color now-freaky, but Vet said OK. While I don't totally agree w her, as an RN I'm doing a watchful-waiting kind of thing on those gloves. Also his casque has turned around 1/3! My big concern is always about hydration/spraying. Drippers aren't always convenient, so I keep a bowl of freshwater in his screened enclosure (Reptibreeze--#1) and have fixed a clear air tube to the bottom of the 3" x 3" water bowl. The tube runs outside the cage to where excess tubing is curled up, than to a very LOW-power fish tank air pump which allows a consistent bubbling or disturbance of the water surface--both boys take water from this bubbling fountain. NOTE: Water needs changed every other day or so or immediately if ANY cricket/feeder/debris has fallen in. Also get 20' of tubing (Walmart) and every few water changes, cut the tube and pull up fresh tube from outside the cage feeding into the water bowl. Bacteria can be their mortal enemy.
I mist both manually twice a day, room temp to warm well water. If during your healthy husbandry you must miss some part of her care that day, let it be a feeding--she'll be OK for day. Never not MIST--and in my opinion, a little extra during shedding periods. Those fancy suction-cup jungle-looking waterfall contraptions will eventually harbor microorganisms you can't get to for proper cleaning, but it's always a breeze to scrub that glossy cereal bowl. Chams have thick saliva that sticks to the sides, so be sure to get that rinsed off (NO soap) or that will grow bacteria, too! Plus, any accessory with suction cups won't easily work with a screened enclosure--and this type of enclosure offers your pied girl the best of fresh air. Let me know if you want pics of Gary b/c I want to see more pics of your Pied Girl!

Also, what do you mean by his casque turning around 1/3?

 

[chamshell]

Also, what do you mean by his casque turning around 1/3?

If it turned any further, it would be perpendicular to the way a casque is supposed to grow. I noticed it when he was a pup, but it's kept on ever so slowly moving. I'll get some 35mm photos up--I see all these Piebald's and their long white lady gloves haven't turned black. I've long researched this oddity online but no one seems to mention their cham's casques rotating at all! Despite this, he's a cham chick-magnet if we had even a single Repto-Fern Bar out here in the DC western suburbs. Soon to post photos! Thanks for caring!!

 

[ERKleRose]

Pics would be great!

 

[dinomom]

If it turned any further, it would be perpendicular to the way a casque is supposed to grow. I noticed it when he was a pup, but it's kept on ever so slowly moving. I'll get some 35mm photos up--I see all these Piebald's and their long white lady gloves haven't turned black. I've long researched this oddity online but no one seems to mention their cham's casques rotating at all! Despite this, he's a cham chick-magnet if we had even a single Repto-Fern Bar out here in the DC western suburbs. Soon to post photos! Thanks for caring!!

Send this for sure; mine has also turned a bit..odd..

 

[dinomom]

Alicat93, sounds like you're doing great for a first-time cham-mom! Congratulations! Her long white lady gloves are lovelyalthough I'm not sure you mentioned her name. My pied is Gary 3 yrs and also have a classic veiled Benjamin, 4yrs. Bernie was my first, he's the icon. Just to let you know ahead, Gary's white lady-gloves all turned silky black color now-freaky, but Vet said OK. While I don't totally agree w her, as an RN I'm doing a watchful-waiting kind of thing on those gloves. Also his casque has turned around 1/3! My big concern is always about hydration/spraying. Drippers aren't always convenient, so I keep a bowl of freshwater in his screened enclosure (Reptibreeze--#1) and have fixed a clear air tube to the bottom of the 3" x 3" water bowl. The tube runs outside the cage to where excess tubing is curled up, than to a very LOW-power fish tank air pump which allows a consistent bubbling or disturbance of the water surface--both boys take water from this bubbling fountain. NOTE: Water needs changed every other day or so or immediately if ANY cricket/feeder/debris has fallen in. Also get 20' of tubing (Walmart) and every few water changes, cut the tube and pull up fresh tube from outside the cage feeding into the water bowl. Bacteria can be their mortal enemy.
I mist both manually twice a day, room temp to warm well water. If during your healthy husbandry you must miss some part of her care that day, let it be a feeding--she'll be OK for day. Never not MIST--and in my opinion, a little extra during shedding periods. Those fancy suction-cup jungle-looking waterfall contraptions will eventually harbor microorganisms you can't get to for proper cleaning, but it's always a breeze to scrub that glossy cereal bowl. Chams have thick saliva that sticks to the sides, so be sure to get that rinsed off (NO soap) or that will grow bacteria, too! Plus, any accessory with suction cups won't easily work with a screened enclosure--and this type of enclosure offers your pied girl the best of fresh air. Let me know if you want pics of Gary b/c I want to see more pics of your Pied Girl!

Interesting about the gloves-my (boy's) legs keep getting more color. Not sure if you can tell below but there is quite a bit of color on the left front. The lower right rear has a "spot" consisting of black and white on pink that worried me at first thinking it was a lesion of some sort! And top of right front has some blue.

 

[chamshell]

Interesting about the gloves-my (boy's) legs keep getting more color. Not sure if you can tell below but there is quite a bit of color on the left front. The lower right rear has a "spot" consisting of black and white on pink that worried me at first thinking it was a lesion of some sort! And top of right front has some blue.

While I've not read a lot about it, I'm thinking Pieds may go through color changes as they mature. Your boy looks handsome in his spotted Lady Gloves!

 

[dinomom]

While I've not read a lot about it, I'm thinking Pieds may go through color changes as they mature. Your boy looks handsome in his spotted Lady Gloves!

Thank you! It is for sure true, he has changed a lot in the past 6 months and I think Beman said Bentley did as well.

Now I am wondering if they sort of "stabilize" at a certain age or if they keep changing throughout their life. Time will tell.

 

[chamshell]

Interesting about the gloves-my (boy's) legs keep getting more color. Not sure if you can tell below but there is quite a bit of color on the left front. The lower right rear has a "spot" consisting of black and white on pink that worried me at first thinking it was a lesion of some sort! And top of right front has some blue.

Ha Ha, your pied boy has lovely WHITE lady elbow gloves and elegant arms, but depending on his age, he may run into some pigment. Gary's white gloves turned into ladies black elbow gloves and, as you mentioned, have lesions or spots of some sort. Took him to SEAVS in Fairfax VA, second senior vet said it all looked OK to her. But in all honestly I'm not so sure most general exotic vets were adequately prepared for the onset of these hybrids and their very real pigment changes NOT discussed when purchased. Nor do I truly think breeders can give lotsa info, maybe now yet anyway. Might it be too few generations have been around to develop such inclinations... but sure enough my Pied, like yours, is cut from a different cloth. I wish I could upload pics of his once-white, now morphed black lady gloves in the front. He also has a casque that's turning perpendicular to the way it should be-- just would love to upload photos. I'm still working on it!
Also, if you have two same-sex chamiles, do you ever feel blown away by their startling personality difference?!? That needs to be a subject of its own!

 

[dinomom]

Hmm Dino has a slightly crooked casque as well, since he was young, wonder if that is in any way related or linked? I am sure these came from a small gene pool.

One other odd thing is when he fires up, the main thing I notice is the contrast on the legs. Somehow the black that is there gets even blacker.