White spots on belly?

[meako]

I have a roughly six month old female Veiled named Galileo. She's been the most wonderful little girl - she's not aggressive in the least bit, she loves drinking from the sprayer, and she's mostly hand fed. She's very happy in her giant enclosure with four foot Ficus and vines and such. Anyway - she laid eggs about six or seven days ago in the bottom of her Croton (in soil, hard to believe) and there were only about eight. I waited til she climbed back up to dig them out. She was brown the whole week leading up to, but was eating and friendly. Now she's a little less energetic and hasn't eaten but I believe two crickets the past week and yesterday she started developing this white spot on her side near her back leg. It's lumpy there, and it's somewhat visible on the other side. I'm assuming she didn't lay the rest of her eggs??
I've put her in a large storage container with deep, damp sand and her light but she won't lay the rest - should I take her to the vet or are there other methods?
It snowed a lot here, so the vet's been closed for two days! I'm hoping to get her checked out tomorrow, but any suggestions?

 

[ferretinmyshoes]

Welcome to the forums! Sorry to hear your cham is having problems. Please fill this out to give us a better idea of what's going on so we can try to help you:

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.

Pictures of your cham would be very helpful!

 

[meako]

I've had Galileo since she was about a month old. We handle her pretty often, but she rather likes it! She likes playing climbing games.
We normally feed her large crickets, and large superworms. Both being fed on Fluker's high-calcium. The schedule is more daily to every other day. Along with the Fluker's food for gut-loading, I dust them with Rep Cal. She is watered (as we say) about three times a day. She enjoys drinking off the leaves, but her favorite is to lean up and drink straight from the spray bottle.
Her feces has been normal, and she's never been tested.
She's in a 2' x 2' x 4' tall mesh cage we built. She has a four foot real Ficus outside the cage that she visits in the sunshine, and a four foot fake one in her cage. There's a real Croton, a small sand box, and fake vines and foilage for her to climb on. We keep a 100w blue heat/uv light on her for the first twelve hours of the day (along with being next to the window) and either turn a 75w black heat lamp on her, or none depending on how cold it is.
Her cage is only near the window, and I live near Washington DC.

Attached is a picture of her enclosure (we got a new top, and she has a larger sand pit at bottom and a much larger plastic bin of sand near her real Ficus outside the cage)
The second is just a cute one of her trying to escape her old cage, she's very adventurous. And the one after is just another of her with me.
The last two are ones I just took of her - it's very very light around her legs and lumpy. It's hard to tell with her light shining.

 

[Jweezy]

Yes I would take her to the vet if she is not laying the rest of her egg/eggs when you put her in the bin, it looks like an egg right by her leg but not coming out. So might be good idea to take her when you can, don't want anything bad to happen

hope things go well

 

[meako]

thank you - i'm hoping it all goes well. is there anything that causes them to not lay all their eggs, or anything to do to prevent this in the future, assuming her visit goes successfully tomorrow?
i love my little girl to death.

 

[kinyonga]

Could she see you watching her when she was digging the hole and laying the eggs? 8 does not seem like enough for a clutch....but its possible. The vet could do an x-ray to see if there are more eggs....and if there are he could give her some oxytocin to make her lay them....but this will only work near the time that the female is supposed to be laying the eggs. If she has retained eggs and you wait too long and miss that window then she head towards eggbinding and need surgery to spay her.

Incorrect husbandry, reproductive deformities, watching the chameleon when she's digging, no proper place to lay the eggs, misformed eggs, etc. are just some of the reasons they sometimes can't lay eggs.

Being close to a window in a cold climate is not a good idea...she could end up with a fungal infection or a respiratory infection.

What brand and type (compact, spiral, tube, etc.) UVB light are you using?
Is the black light a "real" that emits UVB?

 

[freeflymedina]

Hey you might want to check this link out. A good guide for keeping and preventing female veiled chams from laying eggs (in the future). http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html

 

[meako]

I made sure not to watch her and even put up a blanket around the second bucket.
Oh, i didn't know that! the window is closed and sealed with clear plastic - so i'm pretty sure no chilly air is getting to her, but she enjoys the sunlight. i use a 100w reptiglo blue/day light during the daytime for her, and a 75w black night light from reptiglo sometimes at night (if the temp is below 70).
I read about the oxytocin injection to help induce contractions.

i attached a better picture of her side.

 

[facelesdoll]

those look like they can be burns from that 100watt. ive seen something like this recently.

 

[kinyonga]

I think you could be overdoing the UV light since black lights usually produce lots of UV. On female veileds I use a double fluorescent fixture with one Repti-sun long linear fluorescent light in it and one regular fluorescent. This usually puts the temperature in the low 80'sF.

Here's some information you might find helpful......
Exposure to proper UVB, appropriate temperatures, supplements, a supply of well-fed/gutloaded insects, water and an appropriate cage set-up are all important for the well-being of your chameleon.

Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

Since many of the feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects before you feed them to the chameleon with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).

If you dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.

Here are some good sites for you to read...
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200604210...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/

 

[meako]

Oh wow - I had read that it was possible for them to burn themselves from sitting too close, etc. but didn't know what it looked like and such. Do you think this is from her holding eggs, or from the light? I'll still have her checked out tomorrow in case of course.

all these links are very helpful, thank you!!

 

[jandie]

one of our girls laid only 4 eggs the first time she laid eggs.....and i think it had a lot to do with how small she was and everything.... she didn't become eggbound or anything like that, returned to her normal routine, no longer gravid colors, etc. she then laid a retained clutch about a month later with 22 eggs.

with the large lump, i'd definitely agree with the vet visit as it does look like an egg and they can give you something for her for the burn if that's what that is.... definitely check out those links...lots of good advice.

it is at least a good sign if she's still eating (according to our vet...), even if it's only a small amount.... i would definitely take her in tomorrow though if you are able because they can decline rapidly. not to alarm you....

but we'll keep our fingers crossed and let us know how she's doing!

 

[ataraxia]

anyone else see the HEATER behind the cage on the window seal????!!!!!!!!the skin of your cham looks strange other than the white spot. looks extremely dry (the tail area just jumps straight out at me). i would take that heater off the cham and move his cage away from the window ASAP! also id remove the black light and get a ceramic if its getting to cold. here is a basic care sheet for this chameleon. i recommend changing what needs to be changed before it gets to late. if you have a good chameleon vet near you i would take her.

Cage:your cage size is great. needs more vines or branches imo.

Lighting: 5.0 reptisun or reptiglo linear tube (length depends on cage size)/house hold bulb for basking. the house bulb watt will depend on how far your nearest branch is from the light and your ambient room temps.
***change bulbs every 6 months.

Temps: basking temp around 90* / ambient temps 72* measure by digital guages.

Hydration: manual spray 2-5 minutes/2-3 times a day. provide a dripper.

Feeders: gutload (24 hours before feeding) with fresh veggies and fruits and once a week with sticky tongues gutload. Crickets, mealworms, superworms, silkworms, hornworms, dubai roaches, reptiworms, BB flies.

Supplements: repcal calcium w/o d3 every feeding, repcal calcium w/d3 twice a month, repcal herptivite twice a month

 

[facelesdoll]

i didnt have a basking bulb on my girl for a week or two at most, my bulb blew and when i finally got a new one for her, somehow the beam of light burned her on the side. im not saying that is the case, buit it is an option to keep open.

 

[meako]

Actually we don't use that heater anymore - we used it for about half a week when we first set her up in there. The picture of her cage was taken about two months ago - she has more vines, a bigger sand box, a small hammock (does need a bigger one of that). I'd still like to get more, but it's better. I switched out her 100w for a 50w the other dayyyy.

Her cage is misted about three or four times a day, and twice a day we spray in her mouth (she runs to the top of her cage when she sees the squirt bottle :] ) and every once in a while I'll spray her side with warm water.

Annnd she went to the vet today (exotic specialist wasn't in yesterday) and they took x-rays, she's definitely egg bound so they gave her a shot of oxytocin. He said that the white spot could either be a burn or just a mark for where the eggs are, which makes sense since it's changed. He said she looks very healthy aside from the fact that she has not wanted to eat the past week. She hasn't laid them yet - how long does it take to take effect .. or do I know it's missed?

 

[kinyonga]

Its supposed to work quickly. If that egg shape is deformed or has grown too big it may not work....or if its too late.

 

[meako]

I didn't see the x-ray myself, but my boyfriend said it looked like a huge white blob inside. The vet said there's a 50/50 chance at this point and apologized for not being in the past three days.

 

[donnak0125]

That's so sad. I hope she can passed it and gets better soon. Fingers crossed.

 

[donnak0125]

Meako: How is your chameleon today?

 

[meako]

Truly, Galileo is as happy as ever. She doesn't act any different, apart from she won't eat on her own. She is drinking on her own though.
She's showing no intentions of wanting to lay the rest of them naturally, sadly.