Large black spot/shedding??

[koinos]

Celo's a veiled chameleon, about 6 months old. He finished shedding about two weeks ago and a large black spot remained on him after shedding was completed.

He eats 2-3 crickets daily, worms with calcium and has a steady flow of water. His heat lamp is 75W, 10 3/4" from his mesh cage. He is active and mobile. His disposition has not changed any and he eats regularly.

The spot did not appear until after shedding started and completed. It has not changed (grown or shrunk).

I have put Zoo Med Repti Shedding Aid on him for 3 days now and there has not been a change, other than the area does not look dry.

Any suggestions?

 

[lindawaz]

Sorry You little buddy has a spot. It could be a few things, bruising, fungal infection...
Could you please fill this out so their whole world is in one place
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[koinos]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Veiled Chameleon; male; 6 months old; in our care for 1 month
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? 2 to 3 times a week
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? 2-4 large crickets daily, meal worms with calcium on them. He usually eats about 5 meal worms over a course of 3 days. I put 2 crickets in the cage about 7am and 2 crickets about 5pm. The crickets have the calcium pieces in their container.
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Mealworms: Rep-Cal Herptivite with beta carotene. Crickets: Fluker's Cricket Quencher Calcium Fortified.
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? Little Dripper. Mist twice daily with tap water. I have seen him drinking more in the past couple of days than before.
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? White, looks like bird droppings. He has not been tested.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. He is active, likes to hang upside down. He sleeps at night and his awake with movement during the day. He does not like to be handled. He shies away from being misted.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? 18x18x36 mesh screen. Sits eye level on a table. UV light is placed directly on the cage. Heat lamp is on the wall and is about 6" from where he likes to be (I measured incorrectly on my first post).
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Zilla UV light stays on all of the time. Heat lamp is 75W. It is on for an hour in the morning (6am-7am), then again 5pm-10pm. Heat lamp is located at the top corner of the cage.
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? 75 degree average temperature. I have not measured different areas of the cage.
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? 50%. Mist live plants with water.
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? Everblooming Gardenia and Golden Pothos
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? It is not near air vents, about 9 feet from a ceiling fan that is rarely on. He is in moderately high traffic area. The top of the cage is 5 feet from floor level.
Location - Where are you geographically located? Arizona

Current Problem - Celo has a black spot on him that showed up during his shedding and is still there. He finished shedding about two weeks ago. To look at the spot, it appears there is loose skin around the outer area as if it is peeling. The spot has not grown or shrunk or changed in color since it first appeared. Petco recommended applying Zoo Med Repti-Shedding Aid for 7-10 days, and if it does not help then to take him to a reptile veterinarian. I don't think it's a bruise simply because I can see the loose skin. However, since I have been applying the shedding aid the area appears most and I do not see the peeling any longer.

I have attached pictures of him before shedding (without the black spot) and pictures after shedding (with the black spot)

Thank you for your help.

 

[lindawaz]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Veiled Chameleon; male; 6 months old; in our care for 1 month
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? 2 to 3 times a week
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? 2-4 large crickets daily, meal worms with calcium on them. He usually eats about 5 meal worms over a course of 3 days. I put 2 crickets in the cage about 7am and 2 crickets about 5pm. The crickets have the calcium pieces in their container.your gut loading needs a little help https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition-gutloading.html
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Mealworms: Rep-Cal Herptivite with beta carotene. Crickets: Fluker's Cricket Quencher Calcium Fortified.They need every day calcium without D3, they need calicum with D3 2 times a month and vitamins 2 times a month
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? Little Dripper. Mist twice daily with tap water. I have seen him drinking more in the past couple of days than before.
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? White, looks like bird droppings. He has not been tested.
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. He is active, likes to hang upside down. He sleeps at night and his awake with movement during the day. He does not like to be handled. He shies away from being misted.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? 18x18x36 mesh screen. Sits eye level on a table. UV light is placed directly on the cage. Heat lamp is on the wall and is about 6" from where he likes to be (I measured incorrectly on my first post).
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Zilla UV light stays on all of the time. Heat lamp is 75W. It is on for an hour in the morning (6am-7am), then again 5pm-10pm. Heat lamp is located at the top corner of the cage.They need a UBV light. The reptisun 5.0 is a good linear tube light. The lights should be on for 12 hours and then off. NO lights at night they need darkness for sleeping. If they do not drop below 65 at night they need no heat at night, the temp drop is good for them. If lower than that a ceramic heater should be used
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? 75 degree average temperature. I have not measured different areas of the cage.They need a gradient temp in there cage High towards the top for basking, then as they go lower in the cage the temps lower. This is for cooling themselves. Basking helps them to digest- temp should be higher than 75. Closer to 80-82
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? 50%. Mist live plants with water.
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? Everblooming Gardenia and Golden Pothos
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? It is not near air vents, about 9 feet from a ceiling fan that is rarely on. He is in moderately high traffic area. The top of the cage is 5 feet from floor level.
Location - Where are you geographically located? Arizona

Current Problem - Celo has a black spot on him that showed up during his shedding and is still there. He finished shedding about two weeks ago. To look at the spot, it appears there is loose skin around the outer area as if it is peeling. The spot has not grown or shrunk or changed in color since it first appeared. Petco recommended applying Zoo Med Repti-Shedding Aid for 7-10 days, and if it does not help then to take him to a reptile veterinarian. I don't think it's a bruise simply because I can see the loose skin. However, since I have been applying the shedding aid the area appears most and I do not see the peeling any longer.

I have attached pictures of him before shedding (without the black spot) and pictures after shedding (with the black spot)

Thank you for your help.

I do not know what the black spot is. Someone is sure to come and speak about that. My suggestions are in red.

I am also attaching a great care sheet for you actually 2 of them

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/chameleonsinmyhouse/395-veiled-chameleon-care-sheet.html

and Pilotmanns

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/pilotman800/548-new-chameleon-owner-information-husbandry.html

Happy reading

 

[lindawaz]

How is the spot? If not growing or the same I would guess it is a bruise

 

[Solid Snake]

Hey there! ...and welcome! I've only seen a bruised cham once, and it was a tiny bruise. I'm on my phone and the pics are difficult to make out, its possible its a bruise. On a likely related note, he is most likely climbing on the screen because there is next to nothing else to climb on, from what can be seen in the pics. Its likely he fell while climbing the screen, as they don't have much to really hold onto while doing so. Go grab some sticks to throw in there for the moment, and your cham will be much happier I hope it is just a bruise, if so its likely that that is the extent of his injuries(nothing internal) since he's behaving normaly. It should heal up in time. Look at the links lindawaz provided, and just keep an eye on him and his spot. Just my 2cents.

 

[pennyz]

that black spot looks a lot like the one currently on my cham's back knee
any thoughts on what it is yet?

 

[koinos]

So far it has not changed in color or size. Reading all of your responses, and looking at some other posts about black spots, I'm thinking it may be a bruise - since it hasn't changed. My understanding is it may take a couple of sheds for it to disappear. Is this correct?

In the meantime, we did add more plants for him to grasp onto. He still likes to climb on the wire cage, but seems to really love the live plants. I've noticed him walking around a lot more on the bottom of his cage.

I still need to do the homework you gave me on his diet. That's this weekends project.

Thank you all so much for your advice!

 

[lindawaz]

Glad it has not increased and things are going better. Is he staying on the ground or is it more like a tour of his cage including the ground?

 

[koinos]

Definitely a tour. He walks around on the ground of the cage, but then climbs all over. His mealworms are down there, so maybe that's why he is there. He's found some new hiding spots in the new plants. I think he's much happier.

 

[Silkyslim]

Might want to try to place the feeders into a cup suspended within his cage, this will keep the feeders off of the ground; where all your water, drainage, poop etc. lands. Not the most ideal "plate" to be eating from if you catch my drift. Don't want to unnecessarily risk some parasite infection.

Also with your cham being a juvi and still growing, I feel you may not be providing him with enough food. 4 crickets a day would be nowhere near enough for a growing 6 mo. old cham. I let mine eat as much as he could in 15 mins (which turned out to be quite a bit actually!) then I would offer him a treat in the form of a superworm or other during the afternoon. Shy away from offering meal/wax worms if you can. They offer very little in the way of nutritional benefits acting more like junk food which is what nobody needs to be eating on a daily basis.

It also looks like you could use a few temps/humidity gauges within your set-up. I picked up a few outdoor temps at my hardware store for $20. I set one right on his basking spot so I can constantly monitor his temps, and one down lower in his cage to keep an eye on ambient temp level. His UV light and basking spot should be on for 12-9 hours depending on season.

Chams generally hate misting hehe, most have good success using warmer water on them. Small droplets of room temp water will quickly cool when sprayed making for one cold shower for a reptile in my eyes. I have never had an easier way of getting my cham to drink on the spot (or poop for that matter) if I spray with some warm water.

Here is the holy grail of insect and gutloading information: Read it, study it, memorize it, there will be a pop quiz later.

If you feel there is stuck shed leftover, I would take a wet Q-tip and gently rub away at the spot, it should loosen up