thermal burn?

lysinlight87

New Member
Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - Oustalets, male, under 1 year old. Owned for 4 months
Handling - Only to take him outside if the weather is nice, or to weigh him.
Feeding - Daily. 20+ feeders. He mostly eats locusts but also enjoys crickets, dubias and silkworms. Feeders gutloaded with dry mix, butternut squash, sweet potato, kale.
Supplements - Plain calcium daily, reptivite twice monthly
Watering - Mister is timed to go off for 90 secs 4 times daily. Do not see him drink but urates are white.
Fecal Description - he poops very large!! Mid-brown in colour.
History - CB import from Germany. Purchased from pet shop, no further details provided.


Cage Info:

Cage Type - mesh, 2 extra large reptibreeze joined together
Lighting - arcardia 10% uvb strip light, currently on from 7am to 8pm
Temperature - Basking temp 88-92F, night temp 65+, thermostat and digital thermometer located beneath basking spot
Humidity - Live plants used, ficus & umbrella plant. Misting system in place.
Plants - Ficus & umbrella plant
Placement - Living room, 2 foot above ground. No fans, air con or heaters near by.
Location - UK

Riker has had this yellow patch for a couple of months. I thought it was his natural colouring at first but I now doubt this. Could it be a thermal burn? There was an incident where his thermostat sensor slipped & the temperature rocketed to 100F! I became concerned this week when I noticed his shed skin didn't come off this patch. Do I need to get him to the vet and get some ointment on him?
 

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Yes that's what I'd do. It does look suspiciously like a burn based on where it is and how defined the area is. We don't know how deep the damage went however. Ask the vet about an equivalent for Silvadene ointment...it will protect from secondary infection and protect the damaged tissue as it heals. Hard to say how much if any tissue is dead and that may slowly peel away (such as losing spines). Even if the burn is minor the ointment won't hurt him.
 
:( I feel awful about it, it's so important to check the position of the thermometers and thermostat sensors. It's caught me out twice- once when it became too cold for my veiled & now this burn incident. Hopefully he won't have sustained too much damage but it's become more yellow with time, which is what made me start to worry. I'm now worried about infection, as I can see some scabbing.

I guess it's a good sign that he's not off his food (far from it!) and that he continues to grow. It'll be fun trying to get him to the vet though. He's a good boy but at 400g, he's incredibly strong with sharp claws.

I'm going to book him an appointment tomorrow.
 
it is a burn, he lost 2 spines as the vet was checking him. She gave him an antibiotic injection and then gave me an iodine wash and silver sulfadiazine cream (I assume it is silvadine?) to apply twice daily. She also advised me to lower his basking temp slightly as the scar tissue will be sensitive. I've moved it from 90F to 88F.

I asked her if he would suffer any long term effects & she said he'd never be pretty! He'll always be pretty to me & he should heal well.
 
The cream you got is probably Flamazine. Excelent stuff for burns for both humand and reptiles. I keep mine in first aid box. All chams are beautiful!!!:)
 
Yea, it's flamazine. He's coping well with me treating him. I feel so bad that I got him burned :(

He got lots of treats this morning- he loves dubias & silkies. & he'll always be my big beauty
 
More and more dead skin has come away from Riker's burn but the wound is clean and I continue to treat him twice a day with iodine and silverdine. There's no sign of infection. He flinches with the iodine but he is very good. He continues to eat well, gain weight and I have his basking temp in the mid 80s until he heals.

Will his scales grow back? He's lost a few spines & I know they might not grow back, but will his skin will grow back ok? The dead skin didn't start coming away until I started washing it. The vet said he may have on-going problems in this region. It covers about 1 fifith of his back & there is a small burn on his casque.

I really feel awful for letting this happen to him & I'm grateful he hasn't shown any ill effects from it. He's my gentle giant- now weighing 447g

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his favourite food is adult dubia roaches & locusts. He eats me out of house and home but I love him for it.

The vet said it'd be ok to put him out in the garden for natural sunshine, but I'm not sure he enjoys it
 
With furcifer pardalis the dorsal "SPike" scales do not grow back. I cant say for sure with oustaleti but i would guess that they wont.

He is your animal but the wound is still fleshy. If you have ever had a burn and then tried to be out in the sun...It is not pleasant. I would personally wait till his wound is completely healed before taking him outside for some real sun.

At this point, I would stop putting ointment on the wound and would keep doing the provodone iodine treatments till it is healed. Heavy ointments are great for fresh wound to keep the healing area moist but after time you want to let good ol'fresh air do it thing :). JMO
 
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