Seriously worried.

i searched the forums for this, found nothing. I also googled it and still found nothing.

Today when I misted Fred, I realized it appears that his skin is peeling, and it doesn't look like shed. Ironically enough, he is shedding at this time, but the skin isn't white--its colorful, like -not- dead skin. on one patch i can see grey underneath and thats when I became alarmed. He has never been burned. Is this just a shed thing? He's otherwise fine, active and hydrated. At this moment I don't have access to a digital camera, but just imagine it LOOKS like shed, but its colorful skin!!

What could this be?

Pictures please. Are you sure its colored?

I am wondering the same thing..you sure its just not close to the skin still that it have color peeking through but is really just a thin shed?

You are such a good mommy.

I dont have my digital. But trust me, this is impossible to see. It's barely noticeable, but its like just little tiny flicks of skin. But he was shedding white skin earlier. This somehow spiked me as NOT normal. Out of fear I misted him to try and hydrate the areas, so now it appears totally gone. It couldn't be UVB right? Ive never heard of a 5.0 zoomed linear uvb tube burning a cham?

I don't understand what you asked?

Could it just be areas that havent shed completely so they are still adhered to the skin?

I asked, is there ANY way possible this could be due to my UVB light? I don't know, I'm trying to think of any possible reason why my chameleon would be shedding healthy looking skin?

Amanda --

I'm not sure. Do they go back to being colored when its incomplete and adheres? Somehow I think that's unlikely?

those uvb lights cant get hot enough to do that. are there loose feeders running around? they could be munching his skin, and there is a possibility that the skin wasn't ready to come off yet, and he scratched the side and it pulled a little fresh skin with it as well. i can place my hand on my uvb, and it wont burn it, and if its on the other side of screen then it would make it impossible

I'm with LinkinPark- on this one. you seemed stressed and cant properly explain it or? you are being overly cautious. especially when you say "just tiny flicks of skin." how minute are the flicks?
I've never burned a Chameleon, but have seen it on a Iguana before, colored skin peeled off, and yes a milky gray/white under the burn peeled skin.

Nope. No loose feeders. My basking spot is only 80-85, and he has NO way of getting to his light since its on a clamp six inches above the cage. Ever since his shed, his skin has been very mottled. I don't know what to do in this situation. It literally looked like his skin was just peeling off! I grabbed my brother in law's digital camera. Here are two pictures:

He was JUST cleared for parasites from a fecal. What makes a chameleons skin look like this when I've been doing everything right??

Ok, from those pic's I see scar tissue and possible he was burned. his casque back of arms and such look suspisious to that also.
Do us one favor since you got a camera. Hold the camera back abit from your Cham, then zoom in abit if you can but stay at least 2 to 3 feet from the Chameleon, and take the clearest picture possible.
If you double click the attatchment it comes up for me in another frame that I can Zoom in and get a good look but the Picture has to be extremely Clear if you can, then post some of those for us?

if his bulb is 6in away clamped then i honestly have no clue. can he evade the light? this also allows him to photo regulate his D3 absorption. is it a coil, or tube? and are all the rays directed into one area?

You want a picture of my VIV? is that what you're asking?

This chameleon has NEVER been burned. There is NO WAY. This supposed "scar tissue" didn't show up until today. Yes, he can escape his light. I use a 5.0 linear zoomed uvb light, and a regular light bulb for his basking. These are not burns. These are something else and I don't even know where to begin. This all began with his shed. I can't take pictures anymore tonight since his timer turned his lights off. I can do so tomorrow morning, however.

I posted several days ago about how he was pooping orange, and that wasn't his urates. The fecal from the vet cleared him from parasites. Is this correlated? Why hasn't this happened to anyone else??

More pics woudl be needed - he looks like he's got some burns on his front arms and the top of his casque. the dark stuff looks like some liquid was on him and dried up. Try getting a wet cloth and see if it rubbs off.

Burns happen because of heat form the light, not from touching the light. They will sit there and burn, they dont' think to move unless their iternal temps are high. What kind of bulb and what wattage is it (the heat bulb). I've had animals burned from more than 6" away with 100W bulbs, nasty burns from much further than that with 90W halogens.

When they're cold, they sit under the light for a long time, as theirbodies are cool. Their skin will burn, and they won't even have a clue.

To me, what it looks like, is after a burn is starting to heal. This pus forms, and scabs up - looks like the dark stuff on him. It can get really thick, and then peel off.

Stick you hand in his cage, nearest to the heat lamp, and hold it there for a minute or two. If it's too hot for you, it can burn him.

I've burned a lot of lizards in my time.

im not trying to shake you up Leid. But Do you guys remember the gal that had the skin bacteria issues? I can't remember what the post was called where the cham basically turned dark grey/black and it looked like burns, but was some sort of bacteria issue. I know it wiped out all her chams within a few days. I probably should not even be posting that, but thats what it looks like to me. Could it be possible? It came on fairly quick if I remember correctly. The vet gave her cream to no avail. I hope its nothing that cant be treated. I wish you the best of luck Leid!

Hey, Im not trying to surmise that you have done anything wrong, & thats not the point. Im sure your a great owner. The point is you sence a problem, you post it and we are to help. It does appear a burn. and now we/you need to address it. But not only to figure out why, but how this came about.
Also I was asking for a real clear picture of the CHameleon not at all the Viv.

Titan, I wasn't trying to snap at you, I'm just really shaken up about this.

Eric, I put my hand a halfway distance between the basking bulb and Fred, and it doesn't burn my hand at all, ever. Someone else had mentioned this in previous posts and I took those precautions previously. It's a regular 60 watt house bulb. This is nuts! yesterday, he was a gorgeous green and yellow! Jason, I know, but this doesn't look the same. That stuff looked and spread like skin. It didn't create crevices.

No thoughts on the orange poop yet?

His front arms are actually yellow, the color that his 'bars' are coming into. They're not off-pigmented just to let you guys know. The flash from the picture made it look lighter than it really is. The light spots on his casque are shedding skin, too. His casque and tail are shedding at the moment.

leid said:

Titan, I wasn't trying to snap at you, I'm just really shaken up about this.

Eric, I put my hand a halfway distance between the basking bulb and Fred, and it doesn't burn my hand at all, ever. Someone else had mentioned this in previous posts and I took those precautions previously. It's a regular 60 watt house bulb. This is nuts! yesterday, he was a gorgeous green and yellow! Jason, I know, but this doesn't look the same. That stuff looked and spread like skin. It didn't create crevices.

No thoughts on the orange poop yet?

His front arms are actually yellow, the color that his 'bars' are coming into. They're not off-pigmented just to let you guys know. The flash from the picture made it look lighter than it really is. The light spots on his casque are shedding skin, too. His casque and tail are shedding at the moment.

Click to expand...

he might have a infection, and if the poop was kinda gooey looking that would be my guess since it sounds more like mucus in the stool. in order to diagnose the stool i need anything and everything he might have been able to eat, and what you are feeding your feeders. go ahead and take a picture of the viv from a distance so i can see whats around it. not saying you did something wrong just wanting to see if anything may have came in contact with him in some fashion. dont even try to clean the area just do a straight pic of the cage and its immediate surrounds like in excess of 2 ft, and ill continue to think about his skin in the mean time

60 watts bulbs are very unlikely to cause a burn. It looks like there is something on him. Try to wipe it off. When I treat chameleons for burns, I use silvadine cream. When it dries, it kinda looks like that dark crud on him. HAve you put nythign on him? COudl anythign have spilled or dripped on him?

Hey, Get us some clear pic's if ya can. If its burns, your Cham will survive no prob. A scar here and there. I have MANY and I'm not dead yet! Unfortunatly memory marks.
I think it would be good learning for us all to get to the cause of this. I feel for ya, All of us here intend to be the best keepers we can, and none of us have been here without minor fail. Keep us updated?