Sam has a bump on his leg.

[Michael_Morgu]

Hi everyone! am a huge chameleon forums fan and have been using it along the way when I got Sam my chameleon! I have had Sam for about two months now. He had his last shed about a month ago, and I noticed that he had a black bump on the top of his right leg. I looked into it on the forums and found only little documentation. Most posts said to wait for his next shed, as it might come off. The past few days I noticed it opened slightly. I don't know if it is a cut or just part of his shed. Below are some images of Sam, hopefully someone can help me! He is always getting misted from an automated mister, as well as many mistings daily!

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Male, 2 months since purchased.
• Handling - 4 Times a week
• Feeding - Small crickets (up to 18), some fruits (rarely), Horn worm (once a week). Gut load: Fresh kale, cricket gut load mix.
• Supplements - Every other Sunday, Rep-Cal calcium with VIT.D3. Every other Sunday Rep-Cal Herptivite Multivitamins. Daily Repashy calcium without D3.
• Watering - Sam is drinking. Automated misting system every two hours for 60 seconds. Constant hand misting to keep up humidity.
• Fecal Description - Brown/black, with a white part.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Screen Exo Terra 24x18x36
• Lighting - 7:00am-7:00pm Reptisun 5.0 UVB strip bulb. Flukers deep dome with a 75 watt heat bulb.
• Temperature - Low: 73f Basking: 85f Night: low 70's, high 60's.
• Humidity - 30-60 humidity levels. During a heavy mist it reaches 60, then lowers to high 30's.
• Plants - Medium schefflera arboricola.
• Placement - On top of a dresser, not near any fans or vents. Window across from it for natural light.

 

[Dave Bolamperti]

Welcome to the forum
Sam looks to possibly have an infection to me , I'm no Vet. Hopefully someone else will chim in. I'd get Sam to a Vet soon. For the time being you can put a little Neosporin non pain relief on the spot to help cracking of skin and kill some bacteria
Good luck Dave

 

[Michael_Morgu]

I put some Neosporin on it tonight right before bed, over the past few weeks it looked like it was fading away. I will give it a few more days to see how the Neosporin helps. He also should be shedding soon, and that may help as well! Thanks a ton Dave!

 

[Virgil1972]

It might be a fungus.

 

[jajeanpierre]

That's a really odd place for a lesion to just pop up. It's not a place that gets a burn and it's not a place that is easily injured. To be honest, I would have him to the vet for a scraping to find out exactly what it is. Do you have any other reptiles? If you do, I would suggest you quarantine the chameleon and consider what he has as highly contagious and deadly. My worry would be yellow fungus, which I believe is very contagious and a death sentence eventually. Also, until you know for sure it isn't contagious, I would not touch any one else's lizards or even handle things at a pet shop.

How long has it been going on?

 

[Michael_Morgu]

How long has it been going on?

This appeared since his previous shed at the end of March. I do not own any other reptiles besides Sam, and WOW I did not realize this could be something deadly. If it turns out to be a fungus are there any solutions to help fix it? Will a normal shed do the trick?

 

[kinyonga]

If it's CANV fungus it will need to be given an antifungal medication like Itrakonazole orally to get rid of it. If that's what it is you need to deal with it quickly.

 

[jajeanpierre]

This appeared since his previous shed at the end of March. I do not own any other reptiles besides Sam, and WOW I did not realize this could be something deadly. If it turns out to be a fungus are there any solutions to help fix it? Will a normal shed do the trick?

I am not a vet. I've never seen yellow fungus and I hope I never do. It just looks really odd to me, to have that kind of an injury out of the blue. Yellow fungus is a problem with some of the commercial breeders. Do a google search on it.

 

[jajeanpierre]

If it's CANV fungus it will need to be given an antifungal medication like Itrakonazole orally to get rid of it. If that's what it is you need to deal with it quickly.

Can it be cured? I had thought it could't.

 

[kinyonga]

I think they had trouble curing yellow fungus in bearded dragons at first. In chameleons CANV (yellow fungus counterpart) is curable if treated with an oral antifungal such as Itrakonazole. My Parsons chameleon was the one that CANV was first found on and that thus started off the study that my vet, Jean Pare took on. He also studied yellow fungus in bearded dragons.

 

[Daniel Martin]

I'm sorry about that but the comments above are most likely correct. If that chameleon is an adult it's a she buddy, check at the base of his tail and if there is no hump/ bump it's a female.

 

[Michael_Morgu]

I'm sorry about that but the comments above are most likely correct. If that chameleon is an adult it's a she buddy, check at the base of his tail and if there is no hump/ bump it's a female.

Hey Daniel I'm a little confused? Are you talking about Sam? I didn't know I had a pic of the tail. Also he is only 3 months old or so.

 

[Michael_Morgu]

Here is what he looks like asleep (being woken up! ) with more definite coloring. The glow on the bump is layered with some Neosporin

 

[Michael_Morgu]

I plan on taking Sam to the vet soon. Out of curiosity, would a shed help this issue if it is not a fungal infection? Is it like a scab that will eventually heal itself? Thanks again to everyone who helped me out!

 

[kinyonga]

Don't wait too long. If it's CANV it goes internal and the chameleon will die.
Jajeanpierre..Its hard to cure in bearded dragons...but then each species seems to be species specific so some may be more difficult than others to treat.

 

[Michael_Morgu]

Yikes!! I will be contacting my local vet to take a look at him. Thanks again everyone!

 

[Veild Cham Owner]

Yikes!! I will be contacting my local vet to take a look at him. Thanks again everyone!

Is he still eating? If he is I would up his intake of calcium just to kinda give him a little more strength in his immune system if it is something serius but I give you the best of luck with your little chameleon

 

[Michael_Morgu]

Update: Today I took Sam to the local vet. He said that there is very little infection, but it is an open wound that needs to be cleaned. He prescribed an antibiotic called Septra. Once a day for one month in a syringe that can be squeezed in his mouth. There was a small surgery to debride the lesion. He also said that we could wait for the next shed and go from there, to see if it heals itself with the antibiotic. Im happy that the Septra will clean it all out! Thanks again guys for all your help and suggestions! It makes this journey alot easier!

 

[Michael_Morgu]

Is he still eating? If he is I would up his intake of calcium just to kinda give him a little more strength in his immune system if it is something serius but I give you the best of luck with your little chameleon

Yes! He is eating like an animal!! The thing was, Sam is acting like his normal self! Bright lovely colors! Soaking up some light! Eating! So to think this could have killed him was a complete shock and a very serious issue. The vet said that he may be in some pain, is this possible that he could be in pain but not show it with his color?

 

[JoeVet]

Could be viral or fungal. A biopsy may help. Apparently some don't have a known cause. I think someone in University of Florida is collecting these for further study.