Swollen Throat

[MangoCham]

My Nosy Be Panther is about 2 1/2 - 3 months old. 10 days ago he fell from a short drop and i didnt see any swelling after the first couple days so i didn't worry.(i felt sooo bad .) Now its been 10 days and i had noticed that the bottom part of his mouth like near the neck was incredibly swollen and i am really concerned.

Cage Info:

Cage:Screen cage, all sides are made of screen.
Size:24x12x24
Lighting:Basking light is 100w Exo Terra(i think i am not sure) Night light is Exo Terra Heat Glo also 100w(kept a little bit farther away)UVA/UVB light is 15w Repti Glo 8.0 UVA - 33% UVB - 8%
Hours:13 hours during the day and 11 hours during the night.
Temperature:Basking Area - 85 - 90 degrees and at night its a bout 70 - 80 degrees.
Humidity:Usually around 65 - 75%. I mist him with a spray bottle with bottled and/or filtered water. I also have a Exo Terra fogger that i keep above the cage in a small tub with filtered and/or bottled water and let the mist slowly fall into the ficus plant below.
Plants:Yes i use live plants. I have a ficus and ivy(i read somewhere that it was okay to use the kind of ivy i have if it was clean.)
Location:The cage is located in my room near the door(the door is always open so air circulates through m y room.) Not near any fans, air vents or high traffic areas.

My Chameleon: Nosy Be Panther Chameleon, Sex-not sure i think it might be female but i hope its a male.
Age: 2 1/2 - 3 months old
Food:Crickets. He eats probably 4 - 5 crickets a day. The crickets are fed with ESU Reptile Gut Load.
Supplements:Wardleys Rep. Calcium with no phosphorous added. I just give the crickets a good dusting and put them in the cage.
Watering:I mist the cage about 2 - 3 times a day with a spray bottle. i always see him drink a lot of water the second time i mist him.
Fecal Description: Dark Brown with a whiteish yellow tip.
History:None
Problem:My chams neck is swollen from what i think is an injury from a short fall,but the fall happend 10 days ago and swelling just started apearing now but i am not sure, it could be something else.

Please help, i dont know what to do
Thank You

Here are some pics of his neck.(the first two are of him without the lump and the other three are of him with a swollen neck) in pic 5 there is a greyish sack under his front arm pits

 

[westcoastchameleons]

i am 99.9% positive that thats notswelling, he is inflating his neck himself.chams do this for multiple reasons. he looks to be in good condition.

to be honest he looks more like a she, where did you get him/her

 

[MangoCham]

What are the multiple reasons??
i ordered her/him from LLLreptile

 

[Scrappy]

I would have to agree with WestCoast, I think it's a she as well, and the neck looks ok. I would lose the night light though. Chams do need dark for "down-time" so-to-speak. They do not require night lights like other reps do, they actually need the dark and quiet. Other than that she's a real cutie!

 

[westcoastchameleons]

i will give a few ex.

1. when threatened a panther cham will puff up(your cham could have easily been threatened by seeing you)

2. when sun bathing a cham will puff up to catch more rays

3. A mature male would puff up to look big and attract a female(obviously not the case lol)



Not even 5 minutes ago my male was inflaating himself when he sawsome scary tweezers(he is only 4.5 months(so funny, lol)

o ya, i do believe that your he is really a she, there is no sign of the hemi-penus at the base of the tale under the skin....also it has very peachy coloration

 

[MangoCham]

but he has been like that for the past couple days and when she is sleeping its just like fat and it hangs over the branch. it looks different when she puffs up because at the bottom of the lip where the skin that she inflates, it like sticks out and i can tell its not the same thing.

 

[westcoastchameleons]

get a pic. showing what itlooks like when she is sleeping if you can.

 

[MangoCham]

random but, like right after you posted(west coast cham) i took mango out and i held her for like a second and she pooped on my floor. like i was watching her before i took her out n she didnt look like she was pooping so i took her out and she pooped. it was really wierd. ill post a pic of the poop in a little while

 

[Jamie]

The swelling (gular edema) is most apparent in the 4th pic. She should be checked by a vet.
I don't know that your little girls edema was caused by the fall....
How much exactly, is a "good dusting"? Do you supplement all her food?
I would GUESS she is being over-supplemented. I have seen excesses of calcium cause gular edema in females.

 

[MangoCham]

the dust on the crickets isnt a lot but what i meant by a good dusting is just making sure that all the crickets i was going to dust were fully dusted in a coat of the calcium. and all the crickets that she eats are supplemented with calcium .i alredy called the vet and they said i could go tommorow.

 

[westcoastchameleons]

wats the ratio of dusting to feedings, and do you use vitamins when dusting every once in a while?

 

[Will Hayward]

In photos 3, 4 and 5 signs of gular edema are visible:

Adcham Define: Gular Edema

Unfortunately, the other website that I usually link to that has a great article about hypervitaminosis is down at the moment.

Vitamin D3
Excess vitamin D3 supplementation – especially in combination with calcium – may result in organ toxicity. Metastatic calcification and gout are common results. Gular edema or pseudo gout is a common clinical sign of these problems. The pseudo-gout (calcium hydroxyapatite) deposits usually appear as irregular firm swellings over joints in the limbs and on ribs.

-http://www.all-creatures.com/456012.html​

No signs of trama from the fall, don't worry, they happen.

Also, 'It' is a female. But no worries, she looks great and as far as females go, they (EDIT: They being Nosy Be Females) seem to have great colours compared to those of other locales. Very peach pink.

 

[ChameleonsTree]

I was just about to comment that i thought it was female and not male and Will answered it for me. Shes a pretty little girl.

 

[MangoCham]

how do i treat gular edema. should i stop using the calcium duster for a while or shud i definatly take her to the vet?

 

[Will Hayward]

Significantly decrease dusting with Vitamins and Calciums, consult your vet, and discuss with them what routines you should be using for dusting.

Secondly, increase your chameleons water intake.

You may want to see a vet because oversupplimenting can often cause kidney problems aswell.

 

[Brandy]

Looks like a female to me for what it is worth,

like jamie said looks like edema, go over your supplementing with your vet, I have had the odd case of edema in my care and stoping supplementing for a month and then reducing the dusting amounts when i start up again fixed any sign of edema, Falling is usually not a good sign and is prolly related to the edema wich is symptom of manny issues one common one being kidny porblems. make sure you mention the falling to the vet as well.

She looks healty other wise well hydrated ect..

 

[MangoCham]

so if i stop dusting the crickets with calcium and give her more water, will the gular edema go away by itself or is a visit to the vet neccessary??

 

[kinyonga]

There are quite a few reasons for gular pouch edema...renal problems/organ dysfunction, chronic dehydration and improper supplementation (too much vitamin A or vitamin D3) for example. I don't know if the fall would have anything to do with it or not. There's no way of telling which it is without the help of a vet. The vet should be able to tell you if the fall had anything to do with it too.

Even after visiting the vet and finding out what is causing it you'll likely have to make changes to reverse and/or prevent it from happening again.

Sometimes there are things we don't think about containing things we can overdo that cause problems. Do you gutload with any thing that contains D3, or vitamin A from preformed sources? Do you use vitamin powder that contains vitamin A from a preformed source? Do you use a D3 supplement at all?

Does your chameleon drink well?

Some articles that talk about gular pouch edema..
http://www.all-creatures.com/456012.html
See "vitamin D3" and "Renal disease".

http://www.seavs.com/case_studies/lizards/chameleons.asp
"Excessive vitamin A supplementation may result in organ toxicity (kidney and liver) some times causing gular edema and reproductive problems such as sterility."

http://www.anapsid.org/diverskidney.html

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

 

[MangoCham]

Swollen Throat 2

i went to the vet today (finally because my mom didnt want to take me untill finally this day she told my granma to take me. ive been really worried about my cham so dont think i dont care IF you get that impression) and it been a while since i last posted and the vet said that there was nothin wrong with my chameleon. also my cham weighs 16 grams which he said was healthy. he said that all my husbandries were fine(or sumthin with good husbandry..idk) and that the swelling was just normal skin and that there was nothin i should worry about. im confused because i told him it might gular edema and he said it wasnt so....idk because the swelling is still visible to me....oh and also when he opened his mouth(the cham)after he put him down his face was like black around the eyes....he looked scary. is that supposed to happen???

 

[scooter4n]

http://www.veiled-chameleon.com/weblog/archives/000229.html