Veiled back spikes falling off!!

[Irishboy85]

I have a female veiled and all her back spikes like the entire spine is falling off!! I dont know what to do that will help her! She also has a very hard tail its like stiff.

 

[Irishboy85]

Photos of her

 

[Syreptyon]

Oh yikes, that's not a good sign! Have you triple checked her basking temperature lately? It's possible the spines are getting burnt off and the tissue damage is so severe that the whole spinal ridge is sort of peeling off. I would take her to a vet ASAP! There is open flesh present, which poses a very large risk of infection

 

[Lennoncham]

She doesn't look to be in good shape at all. Her legs and feet look all swollen and lumpy as well. She needs to see a vet asap.

Now that a look closer she seems to have bumps all over her tail in the last pic as well. I wonder what those are and they could be somehow related to her spine falling off

 

[Remkon]

The spine could well be a burn, but there's definitely more going on here as she has lumps everywhere and limbs are swollen.
This animal needs to see a specialist vet yesterday.

Meanwhile I think your husbandry may need some attention, please fil out the how to ask for help form https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

 

[Curlytails]

Photos of her

she may have malignant tumors... also the back is 100% a burn.

 

[chameleonneeds]

As curlytails said likely tumors and I agree the spine peeling is 100% burn injury.

I'm thinking the poor look is due to mbd - bulgy legs and fractured ribs.

 

[andrearamirezo91]

Omg poor thing! He looks like he neeeeds a vet asap, please keep us posted

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Your first priority is getting him to a vet, he is well beyond the point of casually asking around the internet for advice. Brace yourself now because that cham does not have long to live.

Once you are done with the vet you desperately need to fill out the how to ask for help form as Remkon mentioned yesterday. A current picture of your chams setup should be included as well, with emphasis on the heat sources.

We all want to help you but we cant until the below information is provided, the more detail the better:
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.

 

[Irishboy85]

• Your Chameleon - female veiled we have had her since a baby think its abour 4 years now
• Handling - rarely handle she hates it
• Feeding - she geta crickets everyday 8-10 large.
• Supplements - gets calcium wirhout d3 everyday and vitamins 2x a month sane with calcium with d3
• Watering - reptirain goes off every 60 mins for 30 secs also a dripper
• Fecal Description - brown poop a littlw drier urate is yellow and white
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - dull screen cage shes in a smaller one now because she was in the xl but was falling alot shes been doing better in the smaller cage
• Lighting - 75 watt basking bulb not sure in uvb bulb but she has one
• Temperature - basking spot gies between 80-90 lower cage right at about 60-70
• Humidity - stays about 75%
• Plants - no live planfs
• Placement - cage is in our bedroom doea have a fan to help with heat during the day....usually a lot of traffic
• Location - new hampshire

[/QUOTE]

 

[Irishboy85]

Cage set up

 

[andrearamirezo91]

I'm no expert at all, but it seems weird to me that she has those burns on her back since it looks like the branches aren't super close to the bulb. Even if she were to hold on to the mesh and hang right under the bulb, she would have burned her belly and not her back. (Maybe that's why she keeps on falling? On the other hand, her legs do look a little weird and maybe she just falls because her bones/muscles are weak due to MBD?). Just me thinking out loud, maybe this info helps someone with way more knowledge to think about something.

Also how do you drain the enclosure and how often? I have the reptirain too and am currently struggling with the whole drainage thing. I've been cleaning his cage daily to avoid any type of bacterial infection while I figure out a drainage system that works for me. Could it possibly be something related to that? Again I don't know if any of this information is relevant or not but I figured it wouldn't hurt to put it out there.

Have you called your vet yet? What did they say?

 

[Irishboy85]

We dont have a vet unfortunately...and we actually dont have a drainage system....I put a lot of paper towels down thw bottom and the cage is sitting on a towel that soaks up the moisture! Not sure its the best set up but all we can do where we had to move a few months ago. I do believe she got the burns a long time ago before I switched her cage around and its just now starting to fall off

 

[andrearamirezo91]

What area do you live in exactly? Maybe someone from the forum can help you find a vet around the area? Also a quick google search might help.

 

[Lennoncham]

Why does everyone think it's burns? To me it looks more like an injury that's so bad due to a weakened immune system. There was another member on here with a similar situation not to long ago but I can't remember who or find the thread. Can't remember what the outcome was.

 

[Syreptyon]

"We don't have a vet here" is not a very good attitude to have. There are vets in New Hampshire, and you really need to bring her in right away for her to stand a fighting chance. The search bar is your friend. Here's one:

New hampshire, hooksett, Northside animal hospital- Dr. Krogman
Massachusetts, south weymouth, The Odd Pet Vet

Brief notes on husbandry:

1. You are feeding her way too much for her age (especially for a female). You should only feed her every other day.
2. You should switch to a linear model of UVB light, instead of the compact one you have right now which is no good.
3. The reptirain misting system can only mist for up to 60 seconds at a time, which is not enough time to stimulate a chameleon to drink usually. 2 minutes or more per misting session is recommended, so I hope you supplement this with hand misting and/or a dripper

 

[Irishboy85]

I didnt say we dont have any in nh...we don't currently take her to a vet is what I meant we just moved here. I found a vet and will be taking her in. She has always eaten that many everyday she never leaves any I dont want her to be hungry. And I do have a dripper on top of the mistings.

 

[Irishboy85]

Also as far as the linear light goes I never heard of it ive only seen people using rhe one i have. Is there a reason thw linear one is better? Thanks foe the responses and thw advice its all much appreciated

 

[Lennoncham]

I didnt say we dont have any in nh...we don't currently take her to a vet is what I meant we just moved here. I found a vet and will be taking her in. She has always eaten that many everyday she never leaves any I dont want her to be hungry. And I do have a dripper on top of the mistings.

The reason you shouldn't feed her that much is because she will produce larger Cluthes of eggs which can lead to eggbindinng. Constant large clutches will also shorten her life. I feed my female about 7 or 8 crickets every other day.

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Why does everyone think it's burns? To me it looks more like an injury that's so bad due to a weakened immune system. There was another member on here with a similar situation not to long ago but I can't remember who or find the thread. Can't remember what the outcome was.

Now that I see your set up I agree with Lennoncham, I don't think they are burns anymore. You did not mention that she was "falling a lot" in your original post. I went back and took a second look at the pics of your chams spine and those look just like my male veiled fell and injured his crest. See pics below. Your cham most likely hit her spine on something on her way down while falling. that would explain why the tips are not burnt but it looks like something got under her spine and ripped a bit of it up. I think an impact could make those types of wounds.

I might be the guy Lennoncham was thinking of...