Help!

[Congo221]

I have a male Veiled chameleon
-Name: Congo
-Age: 1 year and 1 month
-Sex: Male
-Diet: Crickets, Hornworms, Dubia Roach
-Environment: Bioactive set up with springtails and dwarf white isopods, Swiss cheese and normal monstera, umbrella tree, 2 pothos.
-Living area: My bedroom (I try to take him out of his cage every day where I put him on a tree or climbing ropes in my room)
-Usual colors: Blue, Orange, Green
-Breeder: www.FlChams.com, he was part of the “Naval” Bloodline

Congo is full grown, and normally is a sassy guy. He usually can be in a hissy mood or just overall snarky, but that’s just his temperament and attitude. Within the last week, Congo has been not eating as much, presenting very dark stressed colors, is even more rude than normal, going as far to lunge at me if he even sees me pass by, and will sleep with his stressed colors which is not normal for him. Congo has also been closing his eyes here and there during the day time, and he dug a giant hole in the dirt of his enclosure the other day. I am positive he is male and he is the only chameleon I have so laying eggs would not add up for the hole digging. Overall his attitude has changed, colors are always sad, and he’s been on somewhat of a food strike. All his temperature, UVB, and humidity levels are perfect, and I make sure to dust and gut load his feeders appropriately. I’m the only one he really ever sees since he’s in my room. I don’t know if he’s sick or what’s bothering him but I’m very worried. I also noticed a sort of clear bump on his casque and have no idea what it could be.
The first two photos are of his casque bump and the third is how he’s been looking every day non stop since around 4 days ago.
The next 3 (photos 4,5,6) are how he typically looks when being handled, asleep, or just in his enclosure.

Edit: Just after posting this I noticed his stool was a little hard and orange, but clearly was fresh. I have recently been buttoning his crickets with carrots, but I’ve been doing that for almost a month and a half now.

 

[Steve A]

I have a male Veiled chameleon
-Name: Congo
-Age: 1 year and 1 month
-Sex: Male
-Diet: Crickets, Hornworms, Dubia Roach
-Environment: Bioactive set up with springtails and dwarf white isopods, Swiss cheese and normal monstera, umbrella tree, 2 pothos.
-Living area: My bedroom (I try to take him out of his cage every day where I put him on a tree or climbing ropes in my room)
-Usual colors: Blue, Orange, Green
-Breeder: www.FlChams.com, he was part of the “Naval” Bloodline

Congo is full grown, and normally is a sassy guy. He usually can be in a hissy mood or just overall snarky, but that’s just his temperament and attitude. Within the last week, Congo has been not eating as much, presenting very dark stressed colors, is even more rude than normal, going as far to lunge at me if he even sees me pass by, and will sleep with his stressed colors which is not normal for him. Congo has also been closing his eyes here and there during the day time, and he dug a giant hole in the dirt of his enclosure the other day. I am positive he is male and he is the only chameleon I have so laying eggs would not add up for the hole digging. Overall his attitude has changed, colors are always sad, and he’s been on somewhat of a food strike. All his temperature, UVB, and humidity levels are perfect, and I make sure to dust and gut load his feeders appropriately. I’m the only one he really ever sees since he’s in my room. I don’t know if he’s sick or what’s bothering him but I’m very worried. I also noticed a sort of clear bump on his casque and have no idea what it could be.
The first two photos are of his casque bump and the third is how he’s been looking every day non stop since around 4 days ago.
The next 3 (photos 4,5,6) are how he typically looks when being handled, asleep, or just in his enclosure.

Edit: Just after posting this I noticed his stool was a little hard and orange, but clearly was fresh. I have recently been buttoning his crickets with carrots, but I’ve been doing that for almost a month and a half now.

How long has it been since you've replaced your UVB light? I wonder if his behavior (digging) ties into him wanting to get out of his environment. And if so, something may be off that you're not catching. Are you measuring UVB with the correct meter?

I would double check that your UVB bulb is up to date (most replace yearly if not sooner) and definitely outputting the proper UVB levels, and maybe the basking temps. I know you said his levels all seem fine, but you didn't provide the actual data on that. So aside from something else going on, I would just double check on those things.

Unfortunately, I have no positive experience with a sick chameleon so I wouldn't begin to attempt to diagnose a chameleon that is sick, that isn't correctable by fixing his environment. Hopefully someone more experienced with that can help soon!

 

[JacksJill]

A bump like that could be from a burn or an infection. If it isn't possibly a burn then it needs to be treated by your veterinarian. An infection could explain the behavior changes and be life threatening if not treated.

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi. Odd for a male to be digging. I believe the few times I’ve heard of it, is when it’s suspected that he is trying to escape his enclosure. Showing his stress colors and being more hissy, I have to ask if anything recently has changed in his environment. Have you hung or moved anything on the wall, like a mirror or art print with either reds or animals? Any new pets in the house or that he can see? Any changes to anything in his enclosure? Have you double/triple checked his temps and all? Think hard about any changes recently in the room/house, no matter how insignificant you think they may be. Have you checked within his substrate for unwanted pests that could be troubling him…something like ants that could bite him? As you know, closing the eyes is not a good sign. Usually it means they are sick in some way. However, they will also close their eyes and shut down when their stress becomes too high.
That bump looks like a blister. Have you touched it gently? Is it hard, soft, etc? It could be a burn…maybe a sting. A vet visit with a fecal parasite check and some labs sounds like the best course of action. Attaching the vet list in case you need it.

 

[Congo221]

Absolutely no changes have been made, and we do have a dog but it is not allowed up stairs which is where my room is, I usually keep my door shut for him just in case. I have checked all his bulbs and they are reading fine, the blister is like, soft? It’s clearly a part of him, not like weird shed or anything, you can kind of squish it.

 

[Congo221]

A bump like that could be from a burn or an infection. If it isn't possibly a burn then it needs to be treated by your veterinarian. An infection could explain the behavior changes and be life threatening if not treated.

I don’t know which it could be, the bump is kinda soft. Like it has some give and is a little squishy, but also clearly a part of him.

 

[Congo221]

How long has it been since you've replaced your UVB light? I wonder if his behavior (digging) ties into him wanting to get out of his environment. And if so, something may be off that you're not catching. Are you measuring UVB with the correct meter?

I would double check that your UVB bulb is up to date (most replace yearly if not sooner) and definitely outputting the proper UVB levels, and maybe the basking temps. I know you said his levels all seem fine, but you didn't provide the actual data on that. So aside from something else going on, I would just double check on those things.

Unfortunately, I have no positive experience with a sick chameleon so I wouldn't begin to attempt to diagnose a chameleon that is sick, that isn't correctable by fixing his environment. Hopefully someone more experienced with that can help soon!

I replaced the UVB about a month or two ago, and I did check it with my card and it’s still working fine.

He is misted morning before the lights come on and night after they turn off for 3 minutes. His humidity levels are usually at a 40 during the day but higher during night when he’s been misted.
His basking temp is usually around 85-90F, and the non basking area is around 70. During night time it’s in the 50s, obviously I cant check each time during night but when I do it seems cold enough for him being around 50-55.

I thought maybe the digging meant he he wanted to come out but when I went to go see if he would, he lunged at me which is very odd for him. Yesterday he very kindly and willingly came onto my hand so I placed him on his tree, idk why he would be so stressed or sick. Maybe the crickets I fed him came with illness on them?

 

[MissSkittles]

Absolutely no changes have been made, and we do have a dog but it is not allowed up stairs which is where my room is, I usually keep my door shut for him just in case. I have checked all his bulbs and they are reading fine, the blister is like, soft? It’s clearly a part of him, not like weird shed or anything, you can kind of squish it.

Have you checked carefully in his enclosure and substrate for unwanted pests? Any new plants or branches recently? Do you wash your plants and toss the old soil before using? I see a lot of artificial plants - have those been washed before use? Are they specifically made for reptiles or did you get them at a hobby section/store? I know it’s hard with bioactive, but have you seen any poos recently? Having any artificial plants increases the risks for veileds to get a bowel obstruction if they take a nibble. I advise removing them and replacing with safe live plants. Train some pothos to grow upwards and you’ll be rewarded with huge leaves and thick vines. Do you wash your branches before using? Where do you usually get your feeders/crickets from? The highest risk for infected feeders would be from pet stores that sell or have animals on site.

 

[Congo221]

Have you checked carefully in his enclosure and substrate for unwanted pests? Any new plants or branches recently? Do you wash your plants and toss the old soil before using? I see a lot of artificial plants - have those been washed before use? Are they specifically made for reptiles or did you get them at a hobby section/store? I know it’s hard with bioactive, but have you seen any poos recently? Having any artificial plants increases the risks for veileds to get a bowel obstruction if they take a nibble. I advise removing them and replacing with safe live plants. Train some pothos to grow upwards and you’ll be rewarded with huge leaves and thick vines. Do you wash your branches before using? Where do you usually get your feeders/crickets from? The highest risk for infected feeders would be from pet stores that sell or have animals on site.

Yes I dug around in the substrate two days ago to make sure and there are no bugs or pests that shouldn’t be there. No new plants or branches, yes I wash the plants and change the soil, the artificial plants I have, have been in his cage since I got him, they’re clean and he never tries to bite at or eat them. Currently he has a mixture of branches and hanging fake plants for cover, and then he has live Swiss cheese and normal monstera plants, an umbrella tree, creeping fig, and 2 types of pothos. Outside of his cage he has a super long hanging vein like pothos that hangs from the ceiling and then a tall tree. I get my crickets from petsmart, Dubia roaches and hornworms come from dubia.com. I think I want to start purchasing crickets from online though cause I’m worried the pet store crickets may have gotten him sick.

 

[JacksJill]

I don’t know which it could be, the bump is kinda soft. Like it has some give and is a little squishy, but also clearly a part of him.

There is no way to tell from here. A burn would have blackened areas.