White crusties on nostrils

[mBuxx]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - 2.5 months, had him for 2 months.
• Handling - once maybe twice a week
• Feeding -as many crickets as he wants at 830 am, and as many as he wants at 430. Crickets are gutloaded with kale, collards, sweet potato, apples, oranges, carrots and big burger. What are you feeding your cham?
• Supplements -zoo med rep cal without d3 every feeding for first feeding of the day. Zoo med reptivite with d3 every other Sunday.
• Watering - mist king 4 times a day for 3 minutes, with a dripper running all day. Yes I see him drinking.
• Fecal Description - fecies are very consistent (he’s even kind enough to poop in the same spot 90% of the time). Stool is solid but moist looking with a completely white urate.
• History - Cham came from a reptile store via fedex, was told he was 2.5 months old but I think he was closer to 2.5 weeks.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Reptibreeze 2x2x4 with 2 sides covered in clear plastic,
• Lighting - Arcadia t5 6%, 6500k full spectrum day light bulb and a standard 100 watt Incandescenthat bulb. 12/12 on a timer
• Temperature - 87 basking, 72 at the bottom of the cage and 66 overnight. Using a temp gun and in cage thermometer.
• Humidity - 30 at the lowest, 60 at the highest (besides when mister goes off)
• Plants - yes, one giant Schefflera.
• Placement - cage is in the basement, not much traffic, no fans or drafts. Top of the cage is about 6.5ft off the floor.
• Location - Ontario, Canada.

Current Problem - My issue is he’s always building up white crystals on his nostrils pretty bad. If I don’t dust for a few days, then they completely go away. If I dust crickets in the morning, he’s forming crystals from his nostrils by the time I get home from work.

I do my absolute best to make sure the crickets are just barley dusted with calcium. They don’t look solid white or anything, just a light dusting. I feel like no matter how little calcium I use he expelles it out his nose. Is this something I should be concerned about?

Today it was pretty big, I don’t have a pic because he usually gets it off himself from mist, or just lets me wipe his nose.

 

[CamrynTheCham22]

Can you post a pic? That's just mineral deposit, and it isn't fatal or anything. It usually happens to most chameleons. It is good that you don't overload the calcium, because some chameleons are more susceptible to mineral deposits than others. Especially if it comes off with a good mist, it isn't anything you should worry too much about.

 

[mBuxx]

I just added the best pic I have, sorry he hates my phone and it’s hard to get pics of him.

 

[salty dog]

I vitamin supplemented mine this morning and just noticed that on one of my females, it could just be the vitamin supplements if you very recently supplemented

 

[mBuxx]

I did notice it is abnormally large when vitamin supplementing.

How ever it’s somethitn that’s there somewhat 80% of the time.

 

[mBuxx]

Could it be the fact he is eating so much right now I simply need to dust less crickets?

 

[salty dog]

I would stop dusting for 4- 5 days then see if it goes away, if it doesn't it could be a respiratory infection, if you can get close enough to hear breathing, listen for wheezing... I always try the easiest solution first, thank you for beiing attentive to your cham!!

 

[mBuxx]

I would stop dusting for 4- 5 days then see if it goes away, if it doesn't it could be a respiratory infection, if you can get close enough to hear breathing, listen for wheezing... I always try the easiest solution first, thank you for beiing attentive to your cham!!

Oh it 100% goes away when I stop dusting for a few days. But as soon as I dust the first morning after that I can see it again the following night. I tried to make sure the crickets are minimally dusted when testing this as well.

 

[salty dog]

I don't always supplement, 3 days a week I dust calcium no d3 low phospates and every 2 weeks a repashy supervite, but I gutload everything and check my feeders food every day for freshness, I'd like to add grasshoppers or katydids, but found they are illegal to ship....

 

[mBuxx]

So I stopped calcium for a few days, completely went away. Introduced it again this morning in the most minimal amount on about 6 tiny crickets. Checked on him tonight when he was sleeping and sure enough he had crusties. I did feed him a couple horn worms yesterday for the first time, I read they are high in calcium as well though.

 

[salty dog]

Try getting bsfl to add as a staple, my chams nose deposit looks different and also dissapears after supplementing but I have panthers, I'm not familiar with veilds

 

[JoshD49]

My panther gets the same build once in a while. It's nothing to worry about unless it's causing breathing issues.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...-cause-of-the-white-crusts-on-the-nose.75998/

Here is what a member reasearched and found to be the cause. I know it's long and the conclusion is on the third post if you want the short answer. He says do not cut back on dusting since it's mostly potassium and sodium in the crust not so much calcium. These minerals are more from the plants in the gutload.

 

[Beman]

So when I first got Beman I was told to use. Repti Calcium without D3 and Rep Cal Herptivite. He constantly had crusty stuff on his nose. When I would skip a few days it would clear up. His would get pretty bad with hard chunks. I was then introduced to the Arcadia brand of supplements. Earth pro A used on every feed and then Calcium Pro Mg used on every 4th feed. I do not use any other supplements. Once I started using these the crusty stuff went away within a few days and he has never gotten them again. I am modeling my supplements the way Bill Strand recommends. UVB from light rather then additional supplements. (please keep in mind I am modeling everything including my lighting and bought a solarmeter to make sure I was acheiving accurate UVI levels for UVB) I am not sure which episode because I have listened to so many. I am pretty sure it was one of the ones from season 3. His podcast is fantastic by the way. He has been on these for 2.5 months and when he went to the Vet she was very pleased with his overall health and said that there was absolutely no sign of MBD. I buy all my Arcadia stuff from Todd at lightyourreptiles.com

 

[mBuxx]

Thank you everyone , will watch the pod casts and give that link a read

 

[salty dog]

One thought I had was the mineral molecules were binding together forming a solid, like a precipitate... not entirely sure....I also use repti calcium no d3 no phosporous and rep-cal herptavite. Was there a reason it solidifies??

 

[Beman]

One thought I had was the mineral molecules were binding together forming a solid, like a precipitate... not entirely sure....I also use repti calcium no d3 no phosporous and rep-cal herptavite. Was there a reason it solidifies??

Hmmm I dunno. Big words lol. I failed biology in high school

 

[Graves923]

Dont cut back on dusting. Just make sure the feeders are lightly dusted. What kind of water are you using? Tap? bottled? filtered?

I had the same mineral build up on my cham. Switched from tap to RODI water and it cleared up in less than a week with no other changes.

That build up is just excess salts that are excreted from glands in the nasal passages.

 

[mBuxx]

Dont cut back on dusting. Just make sure the feeders are lightly dusted. What kind of water are you using? Tap? bottled? filtered?

I had the same mineral build up on my cham. Switched from tap to RODI water and it cleared up in less than a week with no other changes.

That build up is just excess salts that are excreted from glands in the nasal passages.

Hmm now that you mention it, I am using hard filtered tap water (from a well)... that passes through a water softener filled with... you guessed it lol, salt.

 

[Graves923]

Hmm now that you mention it, I am using hard filtered tap water (from a well)... that passes through a water softener filled with... you guessed it lol, salt.

Distilled water or RODI are as pure as you can get. I'd try switching to distilled for a week or two and see if that helps. Alternatively you can go to any local fish store and get RODI water. RODI can also be made at home with a RODI filter system which are extremely easy to set up.

 

[mBuxx]

I will try this, it is odd though that it goes away when I don’t dust for a few days