My veiled chameleon's casque and cheek is swelling up

[Tiga Wu]

I took him to a vet before, and he says it's just fat and I should not worry about it ($400), but it's getting bigger and I'm worried. Anyone have any idea what this is? Should I go see another vet?

Info:
age: ~1.5 years old
food: super worms + crickets with vitamin D powder
lights: 5.0 uvb fixture long bulb, uva daylight bulb & heating lamp
temp: 60-80
humidity: 50ish

(there was a period (~1 month) he refuse to be in the cage and spent a lot of time outside, thus he didn't get enough lighting and humidity, we suspect this might be the cause of the swelling?)

 

[Sammy Grigio]

When you say outside do you mean outdoors or inside the house outside of his cage? Off the bat I see a few things in your husbandry that could be contributing to the issues your guy is having. Can you please post a pic of his entire set up. It's crucial.

1. How often is he getting vitamin D supplements?

2. Veileds require the higher end of UV output so you will want to switch to a Reptisun 10.0 or Arcadia 12% for his UV needs.

3. How often do you feed him?

4. How old are all of your lights?

Make sure you post a picture of his entire set up. I'm sure those that are better versed in veileds will be able to help you out more thoroughly once you supply some more information. He doesn't look good.

 

[Brodybreaux25]

New vet first thing in the morning, looks like he’s about to pop.

 

[Brodybreaux25]

The lighting you have is sufficient as long as the bulb is less than 6mo. Edema is a common symptom of mineral imbalances, which it sounds like you have.

I’ll wait for your completed help form to elaborate further.

 

[Kaizen]

Is that just a bad angle? Please search the thread ‘show me them veils’.

 

[The Wild One]

Isn’t the casque and checks where fat is stored? What are you feeding on a daily basis? That could just be loads of fat. Again I’m still new, this is just my option/theory don’t take this as facts.

 

[kinyonga]

Please post a few more photos including one from the side.

His casque is definitely "swollen" too.

What vitamin D3 powder are you using and how often? What do you feed/gutload the insects with? You don't use any calcium to dust with? What about vitamin A...is it getting any prEformed vitamin A?

 

[Tiga Wu]

When you say outside do you mean outdoors or inside the house outside of his cage? Off the bat I see a few things in your husbandry that could be contributing to the issues your guy is having. Can you please post a pic of his entire set up. It's crucial.

1. How often is he getting vitamin D supplements?

2. Veileds require the higher end of UV output so you will want to switch to a Reptisun 10.0 or Arcadia 12% for his UV needs.

3. How often do you feed him?

4. How old are all of your lights?

Make sure you post a picture of his entire set up. I'm sure those that are better versed in veileds will be able to help you out more thoroughly once you supply some more information. He doesn't look good.

Thank you for your reply!

We feed him everyday and he can eat around 7-10 dubia roaches or super worm per day. And all the insects are coated with calcium powder with vitamin D. He drinks every 3 days.

The light bulbs are changed every 4 months and we just changed the light bulbs about 2 months ago. There are two uvb lights put on top of this enclosure.


The silver cage is his summer enclosure, and because New York is really cold and dry in the winter, we built him a new wood enclosure with 2 screen sides. We got him a fake tree because he really likes exploring and he likes sleeping on the tree at night. Every morning we take him back to his enclosure for the uv lights. When he is in his cage, we turn on two uvb lights and daylight heating lamp, as well as a humidifier.

We took him to 2 different vets already. The first time the vet said it's infection, and he gave us a tube of ointment, and that didn't help. And the second time, we changed a vet. He gave our chameleon a Xray check, turned out he had metabolic bone disease, and that why his crest stopped growing. The vet said its muscle and fat growing in his crest, and we don't need to be worried the crest and just give him enough uv lights and calcium he needs. So we make sure he's getting all the uva and uvb he needs as well as calcium, but it doesn't help with his big crest. it's still growing bigger and bigger.

When we first got him, we didn't do a good job of taking care of him. Because he didn't like his cage no matter how we adjust it, so we usually just let him free roam by the window, and thinking the sun light will provide uv for him too. And sometime we would force him to stay in his enclosure. He was always happy to go out, and when we walked pass his enclosure he would come to the front waiting to be picked up and came out. We are so regret for what we did wrong. He is such a sweet chameleon and he never gets grumpy at people.

 

[JackRipper]

Looks like he's been burned as well as over exposed to one or more vitamins or minerals and is edemic. They do store fat but not like that lol. I would request a refund from your hamster (small animal) vet and put it towards a reptile specialist. Enclosure(s) look nice be careful of excessively hot bulbs they can and will burn the back and casque severely. Best of luck

 

[JackRipper]

Just noticed that he is almost touching his back and casque to the white lamp fixture. The burns are lined up with the position that he's in. He may be burning himself on it. They will sometimes sit there until they finally realize they are melting at wich point is too late. Keep him away from heat sources! no direct contact. Check temp of all basking areas and the underside of the top directly under the lights, anywhere he can climb to.

 

[MissSkittles]

And all the insects are coated with calcium powder with vitamin D. He drinks every 3 days.

He shouldn’t be getting vitamin D every feeding. Should be calcium without vit D every feeding. Then calcium with vit D one feeding every other week, alternating with one feeding with a multivitamin.
When you say he drinks every 3 days, do you mean you mist/spray every 3 days or that is how often you see him drinking? Also am curious about why the fogger is on during the day and why the soil substrate...are you bioactive? You need to find a better vet.

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Your husbandry needs a total overhaul from the ground up, not exaggerating. Don't take it personally...

 

[Kaizen]

Ok, so I know you’ve answered some of these questions above, but please fill out this form:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

 

[Kaizen]

Thank you for your reply!

We feed him everyday and he can eat around 7-10 dubia roaches or super worm per day. And all the insects are coated with calcium powder with vitamin D. He drinks every 3 days.

The light bulbs are changed every 4 months and we just changed the light bulbs about 2 months ago. There are two uvb lights put on top of this enclosure.


The silver cage is his summer enclosure, and because New York is really cold and dry in the winter, we built him a new wood enclosure with 2 screen sides. We got him a fake tree because he really likes exploring and he likes sleeping on the tree at night. Every morning we take him back to his enclosure for the uv lights. When he is in his cage, we turn on two uvb lights and daylight heating lamp, as well as a humidifier.

We took him to 2 different vets already. The first time the vet said it's infection, and he gave us a tube of ointment, and that didn't help. And the second time, we changed a vet. He gave our chameleon a Xray check, turned out he had metabolic bone disease, and that why his crest stopped growing. The vet said its muscle and fat growing in his crest, and we don't need to be worried the crest and just give him enough uv lights and calcium he needs. So we make sure he's getting all the uva and uvb he needs as well as calcium, but it doesn't help with his big crest. it's still growing bigger and bigger.

When we first got him, we didn't do a good job of taking care of him. Because he didn't like his cage no matter how we adjust it, so we usually just let him free roam by the window, and thinking the sun light will provide uv for him too. And sometime we would force him to stay in his enclosure. He was always happy to go out, and when we walked pass his enclosure he would come to the front waiting to be picked up and came out. We are so regret for what we did wrong. He is such a sweet chameleon and he never gets grumpy at people.

Please note that your linear bulb is a t8, and has about a 6” uvb range.

 

[JoXie411]

Thank you for your reply!

We feed him everyday and he can eat around 7-10 dubia roaches or super worm per day. And all the insects are coated with calcium powder with vitamin D. He drinks every 3 days.

The light bulbs are changed every 4 months and we just changed the light bulbs about 2 months ago. There are two uvb lights put on top of this enclosure.


The silver cage is his summer enclosure, and because New York is really cold and dry in the winter, we built him a new wood enclosure with 2 screen sides. We got him a fake tree because he really likes exploring and he likes sleeping on the tree at night. Every morning we take him back to his enclosure for the uv lights. When he is in his cage, we turn on two uvb lights and daylight heating lamp, as well as a humidifier.

We took him to 2 different vets already. The first time the vet said it's infection, and he gave us a tube of ointment, and that didn't help. And the second time, we changed a vet. He gave our chameleon a Xray check, turned out he had metabolic bone disease, and that why his crest stopped growing. The vet said its muscle and fat growing in his crest, and we don't need to be worried the crest and just give him enough uv lights and calcium he needs. So we make sure he's getting all the uva and uvb he needs as well as calcium, but it doesn't help with his big crest. it's still growing bigger and bigger.

When we first got him, we didn't do a good job of taking care of him. Because he didn't like his cage no matter how we adjust it, so we usually just let him free roam by the window, and thinking the sun light will provide uv for him too. And sometime we would force him to stay in his enclosure. He was always happy to go out, and when we walked pass his enclosure he would come to the front waiting to be picked up and came out. We are so regret for what we did wrong. He is such a sweet chameleon and he never gets grumpy at people.

Omg do you do have a tiny couch at the bottom

 

[AmandaS]

Omg do you do have a tiny couch at the bottom

So homey

 

[The Wild One]

On the bird toys.............. um, they are bird toys. The chams don't necessarily play. And if any of them have a reflective surface then the cham could be seeing itself and stressing it out.