Black spot on mouth?

gracie88

Member
Today while I was taking Cosmo out, I realize that he had some sort of black spot on his mouth. I looked at it closer, it looks sort of ashy, it is directly on his skin. It doesn't look like any thermal burn I've ever seen and he is not one to climb on his screen or get super close to his lights, but yet again I am not an expert. I attached pictures of the black spot (sorry they are so blurry) and my filled out the health care form and attached them below, any help is appreciated!

Chameleon Info:

  • Your Chameleon - Male veiled chameleon around three months old, have had him for almost a month, got him 5/1/20.
  • Handling - I try not to handle him too often, probably a couple times a week. This seems like a lot but he has a 5 foot tall money tree and until I can get him more live plants this is his only live plant time, so it gives him a chance to enjoy that. I will admit, when he does come out he is out for a long period of time, but 75% of this time he is enjoying his live plants or outside time. I closely look for any kind of stress and when he is out he is always green and active.
  • Feeding - I feed Cosmo a balanced diet of dubias, BSFL, and superworms. If I had to make an estimate of how many of each, I would say 6-8 dubias, 4-5 BSFL, 2-3 superworms, but around 13 feeders total. I feed him once a day in the morning/early afternoon. I gutload my feeders with turnip greens, collard greens, and carrots.
  • Supplements - I use ZooMed's ReptiCalcium without D3 everyday, ZooMed's with D3 once every other week, and ExoTerra's Multivitamin once every other week.
  • Watering - I use a misting system that goes off once every 4 hours for 2 minutes. Twice a week a mist for 7 minutes straight to give him a chance to really drink/wash his eyes out. If I don't do this, I have shower time with Cosmo. Although this isn't neccessary, I'm from an EXTREMELY dry climate so this gives him a chance to really get some water and like I mentioned before, wash his eyes out if needed. I also have a homemade dripper system but until I can set up drainage I won't use it. I do occasionally see him drink but he is shy about it.
  • Fecal Description - Cosmo has consistent, dark brown poops with almost completely white urates. The other day I did see a urate with a little piece orange but I quickly looked it up and Gingero says this can happen through a crystal structure type thing, I haven't seen any orange urate since. Cosmo has never been tested for parasites but I hope to get him tested once we are out of this Coronavirus craziness.
  • History - Nothing special in particular, got him from LLLReptile on 5/1/20.
Cage Info:

  • Cage Type - Cosmo has a 24x24x48 screened enclosure with clear saran wrap on the outsides. This may sound a little weird but it is completely safe and is only to make sure his humidity stays up (considering my dry climate.)
  • Lighting - I am using the ReptiSun T5HO 5.0 UVB light and a 100 watt light bulb for heating. Cosmos lights are on from 1030 AM to 1030pm but once I get back to school I will slowly work on getting this time closer to sundown.
  • Temperature - Basking spot temps are around 80-84 but I do not know the exact floor temperature. His overnight temps are about 70 degrees. I measure this with a duel thermometer.
  • Humidity - Humidity levels are 40%, but at night they reach 60-70%.
  • Plants - I only have one bamboo plant in Cosmos enclosure but I am hoping to add Pothos soon/transition to all live plants. When I give Cosmo free range time he has a 5 foot tall money tree so he has a lot of oppurtunities to enjoy live plants until I can get him real ones (I can't get them yet because his drainage isn't set up yet because his stand for his enclosure is still being shipped).
  • Placement - My cage is located in the corner of my room away from an fans, airvents, or traffic areas. I ordered a ReptiBreeze stand for his enclosure that should be coming soon but until then it just goes on my floor. Besides me, I only have a cat that has access to my room and she is barely in here so his cage being on the floor doesn't seem to stress Cosmo out at all.
  • Location - I am from Nevada.
 

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Looks like a bruise hun... Is he rubbing his nose on the screen? Front of the mouth looks like it has a bit of roughness to it... looks like in the first pic there is a piece of something kinda hanging out the mouth. could be shed if he did that recently. otherwise I am leaning toward damage from screen rubbing.

Your husbandry is fine just need more plants which you already know. :)
 
Looks like a bruise hun... Is he rubbing his nose on the screen? Front of the mouth looks like it has a bit of roughness to it... looks like in the first pic there is a piece of something kinda hanging out the mouth. could be shed if he did that recently. otherwise I am leaning toward damage from screen rubbing.

Your husbandry is fine just need more plants which you already know. :)

Oh no! I never see him rubbing his nose on the screen but he does occasionally rub it on a branch he has. Now that I look, he does kind of have something coming out of his mouth, he had a shed really recently so maybe that is it. I am going to offer him a dubia right now to see if when he eats/opens his mouth it will come out. Is there any possible way he could've been nipped by a super worm to cause the spot? He usually goes at them face first so they can't nip him but maybe one got the best of him. Thank you so much for the help, is there anything I can do to help him heal or feel better?
 
Oh no! I never see him rubbing his nose on the screen but he does occasionally rub it on a branch he has. Now that I look, he does kind of have something coming out of his mouth, he had a shed really recently so maybe that is it. I am going to offer him a dubia right now to see if when he eats/opens his mouth it will come out. Is there any possible way he could've been nipped by a super worm to cause the spot? He usually goes at them face first so they can't nip him but maybe one got the best of him. Thank you so much for the help, is there anything I can do to help him heal or feel better?

Update: I think the little piece was just a left over leg or antenna from a dubia. He let me grab it (gently of course) and it came off really easily. Also, now that I think of it he did slip off of his tree and took a bit of a spill, he was totally fine, he only fell about 7 or 8 inches before latching on to another branch and quickly climbing his way back up. Like I mention before, he was totally fine but maybe he bumped himself a bit causing the bruise.
 
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Update: I think the little piece was just a left over leg or antenna from a dubia. He let me grab it (gently of course) and it came off really easily. Also, now that I think of it he did slip off of his tree and took a bit of a spill, he was totally fine, he only fell about 7 or 8 inches before latching on to another branch and quickly climbing his way back up. Like I mention before, he was totally fine but maybe he bumped himself a bit causing the bruise.
Yep so bruised and the slip means you may need more branches and the plants sooner then later. It will heal up fine just keep an eye on him and make sure that is the only bruise that pops up. :)
 
Yep so bruised and the slip means you may need more branches and the plants sooner then later. It will heal up fine just keep an eye on him and make sure that is the only bruise that pops up. :)

Yeah, luckily this wasn't in his enclosure it was only on his tall money tree. He must've just just stepped on a flimsy leaf that didn't support his weight. Even so, I am adding more branches to his enclosure right now because when he gets bigger the plants are definetly not going support his weight. Thank you so much for the help!
 
Yeah, luckily this wasn't in his enclosure it was only on his tall money tree. He must've just just stepped on a flimsy leaf that didn't support his weight. Even so, I am adding more branches to his enclosure right now because when he gets bigger the plants are definetly not going support his weight. Thank you so much for the help!
Your welcome. They get big fast at that age.
 
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