Strange bump on male Veiled Chameleon, possible abscess?

Travers329

New Member
Hello Everyone,

The pics below are of my male Veiled Chameleon, Emerald. I feel like I take pretty good care of him: he has a 3'x3'x4' screened enclosure with plenty of stuff to climb on, real and fake plants, I gutload his crickets with spinach and carrots and dust them about half the time. He is about 3 years old, but recently I have noticed a strange bump on his side.

To me it looks like an abscess, I had read about possible infections from cricket bites and I was wondering if anyone has experience with this sort of thing. I've uploaded a few pics to Imgur and I hope you will lend your collective expertise. I've been treating it with Neosporin, and it seems to have recessed some in the last few days. The glossy sheen is from the Neosporin on I've been putting on it. The abnormality appears waxy and is about 3 mm x 4 mm and round. He remains active and has been behaving normally, if maybe slightly more lethargic. He is eating normally and there have been no abnormalities in his... whats the scientific word...poop. In addition, the bump is hard to the touch and does not seem to be causing any pain when ointment is applied.

Please let me know if this looks familiar to any of you, and if so, what course of action is prudent. Thanks in advance!

Images:
http://i.imgur.com/scfQrXK.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/2yJJ5dc.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/0jDFs5D.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/89TvDea.jpg
 
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Welcome to the forums. I am sorry to hear about your boy Emerald's bump. I keep veileds and I had a male with a bump years ago but it really didn't look like Emerald's. You can see my boy's here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/update-luie-s-health-issues-91238/

I would recommend that you take Enerald to the vet. That bump looks bad and you really need to find out what it is and how to treat it. Do you already have a chameleon vet? If not I might be able to help you find one if you tell me where you live.

I also wanted to let you know that you need to work on the gut load. Spinach is not a good gut load for chameleons. Try endive, dandelion greens, kale, collard and mustard greens instead.
 
Thanks for your prompt response, and sorry to see the pictures of Luie!

I would greatly appreciate that, I live in Baldwin, MD but Baltimore is close enough. Anyone within the Baltimore area is close enough for me. Thanks again for your help!!!
 
One of our long time senior members lives in MD and this is the vet he uses:

Stahl Exotic Animal Veterinary Services
4105 Rust Rd.
Fairfax VA.22030
703 281 3750
Dr Stahl and his staff are excellent and I take all my chameleons there!

It's about an hour and a half for you but you would have a good chameleon vet. I'll see if there's anything closer.


Another member has used these vets.

Scales tails and claws- Westminster MD
Best Friends Animal Hospital- Gaithersburg MD

This is just a list of vets in your area but I don't know anyone that's used them.
http://www.arav.com/find-a-vet/#Maryland
 
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Update for Emerald

I took Emerald to one of the local vets, and they suggested using a local anesthetic to remove it and then doing a subsequent biopsy. They did a great job removing the growth, and even a day or two later it is very difficult to see the incision.

They mentioned that there was very little bloodflow to the growth, indicating that it was likely benign. After getting the results back today, I am happy to confirm that it was the equivalent of a wart of humans. The growth is removed, Emerald is happy and so am I! I greatly appreciate the support and list of vets I've received from here, you are all great thank you so much for your support.

Here is the imgur album of Emerald post-op, looking healthy and surveying his territory haha.

http://imgur.com/a/KnBGU

They really did a great job removing the wart, he is shedding right where the scab/scar is so you can't really see it. Regardless, comparing with the photos I uploaded previously in the thread I am very happy!
 
If the vet is calling it a wart then it may be papillomavirus. Hopefully the removal cured him but I would still be vigilant. Watch for recurrences. And I would wash hands between holding animals if you have more than one.
 
Thanks for the heads up,

Emerald is my only reptile currently, so that shouldn't be too much of a concern. I was just happy to hear that it was benign and shouldn't recur.
 
You can feed / gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms with a wide assortment of greens such as collards, escarole, endive, dandelion greens, kale, etc and veggies such as carrots, sweet red pepper, squash,zucchini, sweet potato, etc.

You should dust the insects just before feeding them to the chameleon with a phosphorous - free calcium powder at most feedings to help make up for the poor ratio of calcium to phosphorous found in most feeder insects.

You should dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A. PrOformed sources of vitamin A cannot build up in the system and lead to overdoses like prEformed sources can. This leaves it up to you to decide whether the chameleon needs prEformed or not.

You should dust twice a month with a phosphorous-free calcium/D3 powder.
 
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