New Veiled Cham Owner Skin Issues

SharmaineDG

New Member
Can anyone help me? What is wrong with her skin? Do I need to be worried? Only had her for 1 month.
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Can anyone help me? What is wrong with her skin? Do I need to be worried? Only had her for 1 month. View attachment 343843
Hello and congratulations on your new chameleon. You are definitely in the right place for information. If you search the forum you may find related topics. Personally looking at the black mark on her back, are you using a heat bulb and how close to the basking area is it?
 
Hello and welcome! She has such a sweet face :love:

That looks like a thermal burn from her heat lamp being to close/too hot. We don't know why, but chameleons don't seem to have a sensor in their brain that tells them they are burning.

Can you send pics of her enclosure? We can help you adjust it so its safe for her.

Lastly, she will need a vet to get some cream to help that burn heal and not get infected. Do you need help finding an exotic vet with chameleon care experience?
 
Hi and welcome. @elizaann2 has given great advice. I’d just like to add to that, that babies that young don’t even need heat/basking lights. Also, all lights need to be raised above the screen top at least 3+ inches to prevent burns from babies who walk upside down along the top. All lights need to be a distance of around 8-9” away, depending on your uvb. @elizaann2 will help you get everything just perfect for your sweet tiny baby.
 
Hi! Babies are quite fragile and there husbandry needs to be spot on. I would recommend filling out the husbandry form attached below. To me, this looks like a pretty severe thermal burn. I would visit the vet and have them prescribe a silver sulphadiazine cream to treat it.

Chameleon Info:

  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
Cage Info:

  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
  • 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?
  • Location - Where are you geographically located?
Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
 
Welcome to the forum. As already stated it is a thermal burn. Need to double check your temps and lift your heat fixture. Might be using too high of wattage as well. A husbandry review would be really helpful for us to give complete feedback to get you started. You can copy and paste the info above into your reply then fill it out with as much detail as possible. Also add pics of the entire set up from the lighting down.

You will need a vet for the thermal burn. You need to get silver sulfadiazine cream for it to prevent infection and heal the topical burn.
 
Hello and welcome! She has such a sweet face :love:

That looks like a thermal burn from her heat lamp being to close/too hot. We don't know why, but chameleons don't seem to have a sensor in their brain that tells them they are burning.

Can you send pics of her enclosure? We can help you adjust it so its safe for her.

Lastly, she will need a vet to get some cream to help that burn heal and not get infected. Do you need help finding an exotic vet with chameleon care experience?
So we are currently stationed in South Korea. But I will attach our photos of their cage. Also I had got a male and female and seems like he is doing just fine
 

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So we are currently stationed in South Korea. But I will attach our photos of their cage. Also I had got a male and female and seems like he is doing just fine
He is huge compared to her so I didn’t even think of a thermal burn cause she hasn’t grown much like him so I thought it was more serious 😭
 
Hey there!!

If they are in the same enclosure one chameleon will often grow and the other will not. This is most likely due to stress and one chameleon will be the more dominant cham and will eat all the food so the other won’t get any. As previously mentioned, it also causes chronic stress and the their health will eventually decline.

I would recommend moving them to their own enclosures asap. The minimum enclosure size is 2’2’4’ for both babies.

Proper uvb is equally important. Without proper uvb they will develop MBD which is a painful disease. You will need a T5 HO linear UVB, the light itself can be either an Arcadia 6% or a ReptiSun 5.0

Let me know what other questions you have I’m happy to help any way I can :)
 
Hi there so you will want to separate these two immediately. They will start to stress each other out and one will fail to thrive until it passes away or the other one gets so large that it starts harming it. Chameleons can not be kept together and they should not see one another when in separate cages. Same issue they will stress each other out.

UVB is incorrect and I am not sure what you have available there. Depending on the UVB bulb your using if it is a mercury vapor bulb this can cause severe thermal burns which is why they are not recommended for enclosures only really large free range areas. You need a linear T5HO or linear T8 fixture. Let me know what you can get here and I can tell you details for bulb strength and distance to the basking branch below it.

Start reading this for husbandry https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/ Then ask questions here.

If you are open to filling out a husbandry form we can post that as well and do a review for you to catch anything that may be missing or incorrect. Just let us know.
 
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