Odd Growth Along My Veiled's Spine :(

[EvansP]

I just noticed a few days ago that there is an odd growth going along my chameleons spine. I am worried as to what it may be, anybody seen it before?
The last pic is just to show my cham overall and see if you guys think Dexter is healthy looking, thanks.

EDIT:Your Chameleon - Male Veiled Chameleon, been in my car since march '11 so almost a year now, believe he is approx 11 months old.

Handling - Once a week

Feeding - 2-3 Dubia roaches every 2-3 days plus 5 or 6 large crickets
Supplements -dusted with d3 FREE calcium every feeding, herpivite and D3 twice a month.
Watering - 2-3 mistings per day at 1-2 minutes each misting. Physically watch cham lick water off the leaves

Fecal Description - brown and white

History - no history of problems

Cage Info:

Cage Type - 2ftx2ftx4 ft all screen cage

Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?: 12 hours a day..I think its just a regular reptile basking light?

Temperature - Temp at top is 85 for basking, low 70's at bottom. Heatlamp stays on 24-7 along with a seperate UVB light that is on during the daytime

Humidity - Not sure on humidity levels, only comes from mistings

Plants - I use one ficus tree as well as fake vines

Placement -Located in corner of house pretty secluded from traffic\fans

Location - Southern California

 

[jannb]

I'm not sure what that is but I would have a chameleon vet take a look at it. Maybe one of these vets will be within driving distance to you.

Attila Molnar, DVM *
All Animals Medical Center, Calabasas, California - (818) 591-2773

Geoffrey Stein, DVM *
Shipp's Animal Hospital, 351 Foothill Blvd., Beverly Hills - (310) 550-0101

Daniel Reimer, DVM *
Adler Veterinary Clinic, North Hills, California - (818) 893-6366

Thomas H. Boyer, DVM
Pet Hospital of Penasquitos, 888-F Carmel Mountain Road, San Diego, CA - (858) 484-3490
Pet Hospital of Penasquitos

Todd R. Cecil, DVM
Pet Emergency and Specialty Center, Chula Vista, CA (619) 591-4802 and La Mesa, CA (619) 462-4800

Tom Greek, DVM
Greek & Associates Veterinary Hospital, 23687 Via Del Rio, Yorba Linda - (714) 463-1190 or (866) 940-7028
www.tomgreek.com

 

[squeekz1992]

It looks like some sort of abscess to me

 

[Carlton]

Supplements -dusted with d3 FREE calcium every feeding, herpivite and D3 twice a month.

Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?: 12 hours a day..I think its just a regular reptile basking light?

Temperature - Temp at top is 85 for basking, low 70's at bottom. Heatlamp stays on 24-7 along with a seperate UVB light that is on during the daytime

Humidity - Not sure on humidity levels, only comes from mistings

I'm not sure what that is, but would suggest coating it with an OTC antibiotic ointment such as Polysporin in case it's a thermal burn or early infection. One reason I would consider a small burn is its location and your lighting. Unless your house gets colder than the low 50s at night you should not need any sort of heat at night. Chams see full color, so any visible lighting at night is going to keep him from sleeping. Chams would normally drop their metabolic rate at night. Dark and cooler temps (about 10 degrees) permit this.

If your cham is sitting quietly (maybe trying to sleep) under the heat lamp too long it can burn itself. Their sensory ability to detect "too hot" isn't all that great. And, burns result from not just a hot temp, but the amount of time they are exposed to it.

A couple of suggestions: you don't need to use the herp multivitamin twice a month. Drop back to once a month to 6 weeks instead.

If your UV light (brand???) is older than 6 months replace it. They don't emit the same level of UV past 6 months.

Get a humidity gauge. Dehydration can creep up and cause many other problems so this is an important thing to track.

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

I agree that it looks most likely like a thermal burn to that area.

 

[ChameleonMom]

In the second picture it almost looks like he's growing a second set of spikes for the couple of spikes that are affected. Polysporin may help as its an antibiotic cream - if you can't get the Polysporin (available in Canada), Neosporin is more readily available in the States and is basically the same thing. Try it for a few days and see what happens. If there isn't improvement, he'll need to see a vet.

Handsome boy btw, very large and stately casque!

 

[CarlyMK]

When did you first notice it?

 

[EvansP]

two days ago

 

[szpond]

Max had something that looked very similar and about the same size at the base of his tail. I took him to two vets and the first said abscess and the second said growth. The second vet removed it (it was not an abscess) and it has since then healed VERY well! An expensive process, but it has shown no signs of regrowth.

Good luck with your guy!