Another post on shedding issues

bonesandjones

New Member
I've read through about a dozen posts on shedding issues, specifically on incomplete sheds. My ~1 year old male panther is taking more and more time to shed...but I've heard that's fairly normal, so I haven't been worried that his current shed has taken a few days. But today I noticed dark spots on many of his stuck shed pieces, especially on his left hind knee. This seems abnormal. Is this infected? It doesn't appear to be inflamed...and I had the thought that the darkness could just be his dark pigment, but I don't see why he would have dark pigment under this shed while the rest of him is brightly displaying.

Do I need to do anything?
 

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Welcome to the forum!

It looks like it could be a fungal infection. You might want to get it checked out by a vet.

You haven’t been pulling off areas that are still stuck to him have you?
Does your chameleon get some prEformed vitamin A twice a month?
what specific supplements do you use and how often with each? I’m looking for calcium, phos, D3 and the form of vitamin A. Also, what specific UVB light do you use…long linear tube light or folded/coiled type?
 
Can you tell be about the fixtures your using for your lights and the wattages along with temps he is exposed to. These look very similar to thermal burns as well.
 
thanks for the thoughts, No, I haven't been trying to peel the scales.
He does get Rep-Cal herptivite multivitamins 2-3X/mo, calcium every feeding, D3 calcium 2-3X/mo.

UVB lighting is the long T5 bulb and is about 5-6 months old. I don't have a UV tester, but I assume they're still new enough to be good.

Heat lamp is 100W red bulb ~6-7 inches above the perch (perch is about 5 inches from the top screen, bulb is about 1.5-2 inches above screen.) I use an "Accurite" thermometer/humidity monitor that is pretty accurate to measure ambient air temp, but I don't know how accurate it is for surface/spot temperatures. Air temps far from basking spot is typically mid 60's at night, high 60's low 70's during the day. (this is our winter temps...Summer is about 5 degrees warmer both day and night) Again, Idk highest temperature right under the bulb, but the back of my hand is warm, not burning, at his back height when basking.

This is the first time I've noticed black on his back spikes, and you're right, it looks a bit like thermal burns. I think I'll raise the heat lamp ~1 in just to be sure (unless from my wattage and distance description you think it should be even higher.) But I can't see how his knee and tail would be thermal burns when they are resting so much lower than his body.
 
thanks for the thoughts, No, I haven't been trying to peel the scales.
He does get Rep-Cal herptivite multivitamins 2-3X/mo, calcium every feeding, D3 calcium 2-3X/mo.

UVB lighting is the long T5 bulb and is about 5-6 months old. I don't have a UV tester, but I assume they're still new enough to be good.

Heat lamp is 100W red bulb ~6-7 inches above the perch (perch is about 5 inches from the top screen, bulb is about 1.5-2 inches above screen.) I use an "Accurite" thermometer/humidity monitor that is pretty accurate to measure ambient air temp, but I don't know how accurate it is for surface/spot temperatures. Air temps far from basking spot is typically mid 60's at night, high 60's low 70's during the day. (this is our winter temps...Summer is about 5 degrees warmer both day and night) Again, Idk highest temperature right under the bulb, but the back of my hand is warm, not burning, at his back height when basking.

This is the first time I've noticed black on his back spikes, and you're right, it looks a bit like thermal burns. I think I'll raise the heat lamp ~1 in just to be sure (unless from my wattage and distance description you think it should be even higher.) But I can't see how his knee and tail would be thermal burns when they are resting so much lower than his body.
So with the T5HO fixture which UVB bulb strength? What is the distance to the branch from the bottom of the fixture? Is it a single bulb T5 fixture?

For the heat bulb you can not use the red bulbs with chams they are bad on their eyes... You want a regular incandecent white bulb. 100 watt at a 7 inch distance to branch is going to be far too hot once you also account for the cham sitting there. You want to get a probe with a gauge that you hook in below the basking fixture on the branch to determine real basking temps. You do not want anything hotter than 82 at the branch because it gets hotter the closer they are. I use a 75 watt bulb but I have a total distance of 12 inches to the branch. This ensures there is never an issue of thermal burns. Fixture is lifted off the cage 4 inches then 8 inches from screen to branch. This puts my guy in a 82-83 basking temp in a hybrid cage.

Depending on his angle he very well could get thermal burns along the spine, tops of legs and the tail. Looking at your pics that is what a thermal burn can look like when a cham sheds. It makes it so the area does not shed properly.

Please note about the herptivite this does not have preformed A only Beta Carotene. It has not been determined if they can convert Beta Carotene to usable vitamin A. They need the A for eye health and proper targeting.
With your supplements the herptivite would only be used two times a month along with the calcium with D3. These two would then get rotated week to week using one or the other so that you are only giving them 2 times a month each. Then all other feedings would be calcium without D3.
 
Thanks for the info. I'd never heard about red bulbs being bad for chams eyes (only not to use at at night since it disrupts their sleep.) I'll get an accurate read of the temperature at the perch to see how much adjusting the lamp needs.
 
Thanks for the info. I'd never heard about red bulbs being bad for chams eyes (only not to use at at night since it disrupts their sleep.) I'll get an accurate read of the temperature at the perch to see how much adjusting the lamp needs.
Yeah they are not recommended within the chameleon hobby. Only white bulbs.

Watch the areas you may need to get him into a vet and get them to give you silver sulfadiazine cream to put on them. Burns can get infected and this topical also will treat that.
 
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