Help Please!!!

[Andy_Brannon]

Lately my young male veiled chameleon has been turning almost white after I come back from the store (like 1-2 hours). Is it because I leave the basking light and UVB light on? I live in Cali and it's been particularly cold and I mist him and give him a couple of crickets before I go. I also have another problem when I got my chameleon the side of his face was speckled with black and it's been getting worse. Is that bad?

This is what the side of his looks like.

 

[reptileguy112]

It looks like a burn to me. Can you post of pic of the enclosure? Also when is you humidity and temp levels usually.

 

[Andy_Brannon]

The temp during the day is usually 80-90 F. and the humidity stays at 50%. But the black on has face was barely noticeable and it's very noticeable now. Could you also explain why he keeps turning near white?

This is his cage.

 

[JGspecial]

chameleons tend to pale out either to dissipate heat or when they are sleeping. seeing he isnt sleeping maybe your temps are too high for him and hes overheating. does he ever gape? also, ill agree that the black looks like a thermal burn. try lowering his foliage or going down in wattage on his basking bulb, what wattage is it? you could always raise his bulb up too. does he ever climb the screen and hang from the ceiling? that could be a factor as well. maybe getting more humidity to stay in and lowering his temps will help him out. some people put plastic bagging on a couple of sides of the cage to let moisture stay in longer between mistings. im just pointing out ideas and none of these may be it, just saying.

 

[Camo12345]

It looks like a burn to me. Can you post of pic of the enclosure? Also when is you humidity and temp levels usually.

Hi reptile guy, can you possibly help me with my cam? I've posted in the health section with the details and a picture

 

[reptileguy112]

Him turning white doesn't sound like a problem. It might just be shedding. Usually it's the dark colors you have to worry about. On his most recent "poo" there should be a dark part and a lighter part. What color is the lighter part on yours? He also might be turning white to release heat which is sometimes accompanied by an open mouth as JGspecial said. I would suspend the lights with something a few inches and add more foliage like an umbrella tree or something like that

 

[reptileguy112]

I would put some antibiotics like neosporin on the burn and mist him a little more often during healing

 

[Andy_Brannon]

chameleons tend to pale out either to dissipate heat or when they are sleeping. seeing he isnt sleeping maybe your temps are too high for him and hes overheating. does he ever gape? also, ill agree that the black looks like a thermal burn. try lowering his foliage or going down in wattage on his basking bulb, what wattage is it? you could always raise his bulb up too. does he ever climb the screen and hang from the ceiling? that could be a factor as well. maybe getting more humidity to stay in and lowering his temps will help him out. some people put plastic bagging on a couple of sides of the cage to let moisture stay in longer between mistings. im just pointing out ideas and none of these may be it, just saying.

No he doesn't gape. The wattage on the is 5 and the black is something that's been getting worse. He has never climbed to the ceiling but I think I'lltry lowering the temp and upping the humidity.

 

[Andy_Brannon]

Him turning white doesn't sound like a problem. It might just be shedding. Usually it's the dark colors you have to worry about. On his most recent "poo" there should be a dark part and a lighter part. What color is the lighter part on yours? He also might be turning white to release heat which is sometimes accompanied by an open mouth as JGspecial said. I would suspend the lights with something a few inches and add more foliage like an umbrella tree or something like that

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Its usually an off white color.

 

[Andy_Brannon]

I would put some antibiotics like neosporin on the burn and mist him a little more often during healing

Ok I will do that to see if it is a burn

 

[jajeanpierre]

Him turning white doesn't sound like a problem. It might just be shedding. Usually it's the dark colors you have to worry about. On his most recent "poo" there should be a dark part and a lighter part. What color is the lighter part on yours? He also might be turning white to release heat which is sometimes accompanied by an open mouth as JGspecial said. I would suspend the lights with something a few inches and add more foliage like an umbrella tree or something like that

Not true. Turning very light colored or blanching is a sign of an animal under stress, often heat stress. A blanched chameleon suffering heat stress is a chameleon in very dire straits.

 

[reptileguy112]

Good, I white color indicates it is hydrated, a yellowish color means its not getting enough water and if it orange its very dehydrated

 

[reptileguy112]

Not true. Turning very light colored or blanching is a sign of an animal under stress, often heat stress. A blanched chameleon suffering heat stress is a chameleon in very dire straits.

I actually said at the bottom on the post you quoted that it is a sign of heat stress, you gotta read it a little more carefully lol

 

[Andy_Brannon]

Urmm I seem to have a few more problems that happened last night. Is it bad that my cham likes to curl up in a shirt that's not being worn and sleep? He also won't sleep at all in his cage but he will sleep on my hand or shoulder is this bad? Should I let him do any of this??

 

[jajeanpierre]

I actually said at the bottom on the post you quoted that it is a sign of heat stress, you gotta read it a little more carefully lol

I read what you wrote perfectly the first time. I don't want to get into a he said/she said exchange but what you presented was incorrect, and you brushed off something that might be extremely serious and life threatening. Perhaps you should re-read what you wrote. They don't turn light colored to "release heat." They blanch when they are stressed. They also blanch when they are dying. It is true they might become lighter when sleeping and if the skin is just about to shed they might appear lighter. Be careful of what you dismiss as insignificant when you have very little information from the OP. There is so much going on with this chameleon, I think it behooves everyone to be extremely careful on what they say in response to this poster.

 

[Andy_Brannon]

Update: My chameleon refused to crawl off my hand when I tried to put him back in his cage I'm very confused is all of this bad?

 

[jajeanpierre]

Update: My chameleon refused to crawl off my hand when I tried to put him back in his cage I'm very confused is all of this bad?

I think you need to read every single article in the Resources section of this web site.

You seem to have very little understanding of what a normal chameleon looks or behaves like. You are asking for help for problems that you are not describing either clearly or fully and when asked to elaborate, you give no additional information that is of any use to an experienced keeper to try to figure out what is going on. I've read through your whole thread more than once and I haven't a clue what is really going on other than you don't have any understanding of what is normal and what is not normal.

 

[kinyonga]

I'm more concerned about the black mark on your chameleon's face since it's growing. I would get it to a vet. It could be a fungus.
In the meantime I would advise you to PM ferritinmyshoes and ask her to help. She's a vet.

 

[Andy_Brannon]

Ok thank you I already have pm her

 

[jajeanpierre]

I'm more concerned about the black mark on your chameleon's face since it's growing. I would get it to a vet. It could be a fungus.
In the meantime I would advise you to PM ferritinmyshoes and ask her to help. She's a vet.

I really appreciate Ferritinmyshoes often chiming in this list, but I am uncomfortable with the number of times people suggest a pm to her before they take their animal in to their own vet. If this chameleon needs the opinion of a reptile vet, don't you think that you should recommend he take it to a vet first before we ask for Dana's input?