Skin discolouration? Should I be worried?

[Effykins]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - He's a little over a year old panther chameleon, I've had him for almost 11 months now. (I was told he was 3 months old when I got him but he looked much smaller than pictures I'd seen of other panthers that age. Maybe a runt?)
Handling - Depends. Sometimes a few times in a week, sometimes not for several weeks. Lately it's been closer to every other day to get a closer look at these strange spots.
Feeding - Primarily he eats crickets, anywhere from 3 - 10 daily I'd say. Gut load with fruits and veggies usually, whatever's in the fridge. Usually spinach and oranges, sometimes different kinds of berries as well. I also feed him meal and butter worms from time to time.
Supplements - Calcium (Exo Terra) every day. I was having trouble remembering to dust when I first got him, luckily he doesn't appear to have any sort of calcium deficiency because of it. I am on my game with it now though.
Multivitamin (Exo Terra) once every two-ish weeks. Usually done on a Friday or Saturday.
Calcium with D3 (zoo med) Alternating with multivitamin every two weeks. Sometimes forget which one I did the week before, in that case I mix the two for that week.
Watering - I have the Exo Terra RS400. I have it set to go off every 2 hours for 2 mins at a time. I have not once seen him drink during those times. Sometimes I just turn it on for between 10-20 mins. I've had much more success when it runs longer, though I was told not to do this? I built a drainage system so water pooling isn't much of a concern.
Fecal Description - Dark, look a little "dry" would be how I describe it. Urate is mostly white with a little bit of orange. He has not been tested for parasites.
History - I took him to the vet about a month ago regarding dehydration, they injected him. He's doing much better in that respect. Urates used to be purely orange and shriveled. I also moved him from an Exo Terra combo terrarium about two months ago which is when the dehydration problem started. But that's a different (under control) issue.. I think.

Cage Info:
Cage Type -Screen 2'x2'x4' with a shower curtain covering the back and one side to maintain some humidity.
Lighting - Exo Terra Reptiglo 5.0 in a generic fixture with tinfoil (x2) to reflect more light down into the cage. And an Exo Terra Day Glo halogen bulb for heat. 12 hour cycle.
Temperature - Cage floor - between 60-70F.
Basking spot- Between 85-90F
Lowest overnight temp- 60F
All measured by analog hydrometers and thermometers
Humidity - At lowest 40%, at highest 70%. I live in a very dry climate. Maintaining humidity here in the winter is extremely frustrating. I have live plants in the enclosure, a humidifier that runs for an hour every two hours, a shower curtain to help trap some of it in, and the misting system.
Plants - I've got an umbrella plant in there, a pothos plant and a little croton plant.
Placement - In a low traffic corner of the living room. No fans or vents nearby. Cage top is probably at about 6 ft.
Location - Central Canada

Current Problem - Ever since I moved my little guy to his new home he has started developing these strange spots all over his body. Upon closer inspection today one of the new, larger spots looks as though it's trying to peel, sort of like a sunburn? Is he maybe trying to shed? It doesn't look the same though. Also it's notable to mention that other than those spots, he seems to be in good health. The hydration is getting back on track, has a strong grip, eating, active for the most part. Haven't seen him with eyes closed other than when they're supposed to be. Please help. I'm worried this is some kind of skin condition or something?

The first photo was taken Jan 6th
Second and third taken Jan 16th
Fourth taken today (Jan 23rd)
Also included a photo of my setup in case that has something to do with it.

 

[Carlton]

So, just to be clear, are these discolored areas constant regardless of his normal color changes? Does he get a new spot for a few weeks and then does it disappear on its own? And then does a new one show up? What happens when he does shed? Do these areas take longer to shed or do they ever? Are any of the discolored spots getting larger over time?

If he's always had these patches show up off and on since he was small maybe he has some sort of fungal or bacterial infection cycle going on. Maybe our forum vets can help.

I think one or two (the smaller one on hind knee and the one near his dorsal spines) could be mild thermal burns, but its hard to tell for sure. These are fairly common sites for burns. The larger patch is pretty subtle so I don't know what that is. Some panthers develop different color patches with age (not an expert on this at all).

If they are burns or possible bacterial infections an OTC antibiotic topical can help. OTC Polysporin can work. A burn-specific is Silvadene, but you'll need to get that from a vet.

Also, if you have better luck letting your mister run longer, do it especially during the cold dry months. As long as there's air exchange and the cage can dry out for a while each day it should be OK. Dehydration is a real stressor.

 

[Effykins]

They change color along with him a little. They either get darker or brighter but they stay pretty much the same color and is still an obvious discoloured spot. So far I haven't noticed any spots disappearing at all, he just keeps getting new ones. They don't seem to grow in size at all either, they just get more intense I guess? You can see in the first picture there's a spot that's very faint, and then in the second or third one it's the same size and shape but it's got a white outline and a bluish centre. One day they aren't there, the next, boom! Big ol' spot. The large bluish one circled in red in the picture was the first time I'd seen that one. This only started happening at the beginning of the month to my knowledge.. I took him to the vet late december to get him rehydrated for the first time and at that moment in time the only anomaly with his skin as far as we could tell is that he has a little scrape/dry looking patch on one of his feet. Doesn't seem to bother him at all though.

He hasn't had a shed yet since I moved him to this new enclosure which is alright I think.. I only moved him near the beginning of December. I actually put off moving him for a few days until he had a bit of time to recover from his last shed. Should be due for another one though..

I was thinking maybe thermal burn too but they don't look like most of the pictures I've seen. Also the colors he's showing in those are colors he has shown in other areas before. His dorsal spines have occasionally shown that pinkish red color near the base ever since he was starting to really colour up. And now that same color is sometimes showing up on other places like his knee and side.. His heat light was maybe a little too strong for about a week but I've since gotten a lower wattage bulb and adjusted his basking spot. As soon as I noticed the spots were increasing is when I changed the bulb because I was worried it was thermal burn but he's still getting these weird spots even though I changed it weeks ago.

The big color patch on his back pretty much matches the colour of the centre of the spot outlined in white. Just took another picture of the large spot from yesterday. Looks like it is also starting a white outline as well.
Can you recommend a forum vet that can take a look? I only really started using this forum actively late last month.. Thanks!


Edit: a few hours after this photo it looks like he is starting a shed. Got some skin coming up on his foot and chin. Hopefully these spots will fix themselves with that. Will update in a day or two.

 

[ataraxia]

That is very strange. It is almost like the skin is about to shed but it is having other issues.

 

[Effykins]

That is very strange. It is almost like the skin is about to shed but it is having other issues.

It does almost look that way, hey? Almost like the outside ring of those spots is ready to come off but the centre is stuck. Is it possible that he's not hydrated enough to shed properly? His urates have still been pretty orange with slow but steady improvement than they were a few weeks ago.. I'd say half orange, half white now, as opposed to entirely dark orange, almost red. This morning I turned his mister on and he drank a lot. Didn't turn it off until he looked like he was finished. The parts on his foot and chin that looked like he might have been starting a shed haven't progressed at all. Usually he starts and finishes a shed within 24 hours. So now I'm a little bit worried about that...


Has anyone seen this before? I'm fairly new here, can someone refer me to a forum vet? Please help! I want my little dude to be in impeccable health!!

 

[kinyonga]

If I had to bet I think I would go with fungal....but you need a vet to tell you for sure.

 

[KellyRose12]

The same thing happened to my panther male when he was 7 months old. We are not 100% positive, but we think it was due to the UVB bulb. What kind do you have? If it is a spiral bulb I would say to change it to a reptisun 5.0 ... When I noticed the spots I didn't take him to the vet. Big mistake. His burn became infected on the inside and we didn't know until it became noticeable on the outside. I would say to take him to the vet to get proper cream before it gets worse.

 

[Effykins]

The same thing happened to my panther male when he was 7 months old. We are not 100% positive, but we think it was due to the UVB bulb. What kind do you have? If it is a spiral bulb I would say to change it to a reptisun 5.0 ... When I noticed the spots I didn't take him to the vet. Big mistake. His burn became infected on the inside and we didn't know until it became noticeable on the outside. I would say to take him to the vet to get proper cream before it gets worse.

Bulbs are listed in the first post. I don't think it's the bulbs... Maybe though? I'm taking him to a vet this week. He just shed yesterday and was hiding after but I could see that the spots were still there but looked a little different.

 

[KaijuVeiled]

I would see a good vet just to be on the safe side. It seems he might have a final infection, if this is the car he will most likely be prescribed either an oral or topical or antifungal or both. Just go see a vet to be safe. Good luck!

 

[Effykins]

Had a chance to get a good look at him today. He just shed yesterday, you can see some leftovers on his spine. This is the same spot shown in the last update post.. it looks like it's all dried up so now I'm actually thinking it's a burn. Do they usually take a while to show up? I changed his bulb from a 100W to a 75W at least two weeks ago but that big blue spot only showed up noticably on Thursday or Friday (same day I made the original post).
I made an appointment for him to get looked this Friday. Can anyone actually confirm what this is though? The clinic I'm taking him to has been known to do excessive and unnecessary tests. Unfortunately it's also the only place that seems to have an actual herp vet around here.

 

[Effykins]

Turns out I'm just a bad chameleon mom...
Now I'm 99% sure they're burns.
My temp gauge at his basking spot wasn't actually measuring the hottest point. I put a different one there for a few mins and it was reading between 100 and 105. Way too hot. Poor little guy.
Still going to get him checked out though just to be safe.

Thanks everyone for the input. I really appreciate it.

 

[KellyRose12]

Let us know what happens! it should be easy topical treatment

 

[Effykins]

Vet says they were burns and don't look threatening enough to leave permanent marks. They gave me some topical flamazine. The biggest mark has already started scabbing off, vet says the skin underneath that's showing looks good. So glad it was an easy fix/solution to the original problem. Might update again in a few weeks with his healing progress.

 

[KellyRose12]

Great to hear! Good thing you caught it early