skin problem for a little Calumma Globifer

lietf001

New Member
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Calumma Globifer, un-sex as this stage, age around 12 weeks with 9cm long. have been keeping for 4 weeks.
Handling - none
Feeding - small crickets, gutload with dry puppy foods, feeding every morning,
Supplements - one weeks twice pollen. two weeks once cal. with D3. re-cap band
Watering - dripping system, see it drink from there. auto misting 15mins in the morning, every two to three hours misting 1 min.
Fecal Description - never tested for parasite. dark brown to black with little white end.
History - none

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 450mm x 450mm x 800mm height 4 face mesh. keeping two globifer in same cage.
Lighting - uvb 10.0. cage 2meter from light souce.
Temperature - 17 to 21 degree
Humidity - measure meter. 70 to 85%
Plants - artifical
Placement - near window. very good ventilation. 1.2m from ground
Location - hong kong

Current Problem - the current problem is found out it has skin problem. something like a corn (feet corn) grow on left front leg which attached jpg for reference. none happen to the other little boy. please suggest what kind of infection if known. and how to help him out. he currently eating fine and drinking fine. with no problem for moving. it looks scared in photo during to handling for photo taking.
pls help.
 

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I don't know much about calumma globifer chameleons, but I'm going to guess that their husbandry is similar to panthers. Please correct me if I am wrong!

I think you can raise your basking spot temperature to around 27 for these guys. Also, it is not recommended to keep 2 chameleons together-especially males. What brand and type(coiled or tube) of UVB are you using?

Also, your gutloading can improve. You should give them greens-mustard, collards, or kale. you can throw in an orange slice here or there. Also, you can put in dry oatmeal/rice baby food and flukers cricket food. You can do a search for more options on gutloading as well.

As for the skin problem, I don't know what it is but it doesn't look like it will get better without medications. I think you should go to an experienced chameleon vet and get it looked at.
 
careful on the heat- I think they are more like parsons when it comes to heat. That's what I remember for mine anyway unless thinking has changed over the years...

I had a pair years ago and sold them when madagascar shut down so I could get panthers instead, thinking no-one knew how to breed globifer, and at the time i thought panthers would never come out again either, so my bets went with panthers. LOL how wrong I was...

Really really neat chameleons- awesome skin, really really cool robust heads and bodies- I could bang my head against a wall now for selling mine.

I'd say take him to a vet if there is a decent one in HK for lizards.

Not worth the risk of loosing that living diamond to general advice on the internet.

But a good vet would have something to take care of it- also can't tell from pic if it's an abcess with soft crud in there or what... Looks like it though- probably a good vet could give you a good cream or something to treat, along with making sure his environment is correct so his immune system is working right. It's probably caused by bad environment and then something breaking the skin (another one biting, scratch on cage or something) and bacteria getting in there... {edit- second look- I think his foreleg and foot are swollen a bit already- treatment gets a little trickier than cream at this point if I'm right- probably need antibiotics}

Are these chameleons readily available in HK?

He looks dehydrated- use a fine mist to water him 20 minutes 1x or maybe 2x a day. If you can't get one for chams there, the type of mist that people keep their porches cool in summer works great too. Drips aren't enough for these guys. They prefer to drink water that's raining on them...

That thing he's walking on in the pic is a little rusty. Those rust spots are scratchy- that's the sort of thing that can cause an infection like the picture shows. If that's in his enclosure, get rid of it.

Get two cages and keep your chams seperate too- his problem could have started from a bite or a nail puncture. Plus his coloring is really poor- he's stressed. Limit stress by keeping him isolated from the other one - even visually isolated so they can't see each other.

Maybe someone else will come along with better advice here...
 
Luckily for me I have not had to deal with issues like this before. You may find some information on reptilian dermatology from Anapsid (http://www.anapsid.org/basicdermatology.html). I recommend taking him to a vet. You may want to contact the Hong Kong Reptile Society at (http://www.hkras.org/) for vet references.

On a side note high humidity with good ventilation is key, being in Hong Kong I suspect humidity won't be an issue. Make sure the basking temps are on the lower side of mid to high 70's (not over 80 degree's) with a healthy drop at night.

These asian wild caught specimens generally arrive in poor shape - dehydrated, and over heated. Not to mention parasites, so I really urge you to get a fecal exam and have a vet look at him as soon as you can find a specialist.
 
I have had a little bit of experience with Globifers....had a pair for 6 or so years.

If its cold outside, then I would recommend that the cage not be kept in front of a window...it can lead to fungal infections and URI's and the light coming through the window won't provide any UVB. Some fungal infections can be serious and the chameleon will likely need an oral antifungal med. in that case.

The mark looks fungal to me...but you need a vet to tell you for sure. Also looks a little swollen in that area so there could be an infection involved too..so I really think a vet visit would be a good idea.

You said you gutload with dry puppy foods...dog food is not a good gutload...it contains a lot of protein and preformed vitamin A, etc. that is not good for your chameleon. I would gutload the crickets, roaches, superworms with a wide variety of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, zucchini, sweet red pepper, sweet potato, etc.)

You said..."Supplements - one weeks twice pollen. two weeks once cal. with D3. re-cap band"...I would recommend that you use a phos.-free calcium at most feedings as well.

You said..."keeping two globifer in same cage"...this is okay until they are about 4 months of age. If you leave them together when they become sexually mature they will mate. This mating may occur before they are fully grown themselves and IMHO its better to wait until the female is full grown so that you don't put egglaying demands in competition for calcium that should be going into her own bones. Globifers are one species that can be kept together as adults as long as they are watched to be sure that they don't develop stress-related issues.(...and I "never" recommend keeping chameleons together.)

I would recommend using the Repti-sun 5.0 long linear fluorescent tube light for a source of UVB and a regular incandescent household light in a dome for a basking light. I would keep the basking area in the low to mid 80'sF. The light should be within a foot or so of where the chameleons can sit.
 
Anthony, give me a call, I know what it is.

Minor surgery will be needed. No need to get to hkras.org, they are pretty much useless and point you to the same vet in TaiWai, which they knew nothing about chameleons.
 
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