casque fell off???

burnedrose

New Member
OK, so this is not a post for me, but for my friend (and I promise it's a real friend and not just me saying it's "for a friend" lol). She got a cham for her birthday in october. He is a male veiled and looks to be about 6-8 months old (she got him at petsmart/petco and she had no idea how old he was, exactly). I went by her house today and it looks as if a chunk of his casque just fell off. It was bruised or burned last time I saw it (it was pretty big - Kukui had a burn and it wasn't nearly as bad as this was!! Took up the top third of the casque!!) and advised her to go to the vet and to put some neosporin (I couldn't think of anything else) to put on it as well as get a stand for her lights. I guess she either ignored me or the vet told her to keep up with the neosporin. Either way, the burned part of the casque seems to have just fallen off and left a pretty decent scar. The cham is fine besides that. She said he was eating and drinking and active and from my observance, he seemed to be doing just fine and dandy except for a scar.

So I guess my question is: what should she do? Can I advise her on anything? I filled out the husbandry thing for her to the best of my knowledge, but it could be off on some aspects, so I apologize ahead of time if there are parts blank.

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - male veiled, about 6-8 months old
Handling - no idea
Feeding - she cup feeds crickets, but I don't know how many or how often. She does have the proper dusting supplements (calcium w and w/o d3 and a multi vitamin) and she uses the same recipe for gutloading that I use (hibiscus leaves and spinach and any type of dark greens leftover from dinners throughout the week)
Supplements - calcium with and without d3 and a multi vitamin (for the first few weeks she wasn't dusting until she asked me about it and I gave her some of my supply), but I don't know her schedule.
Watering - She hand mists as far as I know and uses a hand made dripper.
Fecal Description - From what I notice, all looks fine - solid feces, white urates.
History - Again, I don't really know.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - It's slightly small. I'd wager 30x18x30? maybe bigger? it's all screen.
Lighting - she has a UVB that she got in october and a regular bulb for heat.
Temperature - No idea. I didn't check. sorry.
Humidity - again, I didn't check on that. sorry guys. She does hand mist and use a homemade dripper.
Plants - she has a pothos, but the rest are fake
Placement - she has it in her spare bedroom.
Location - upstate NY

Current Problem - looks like a burned casque fell off? I wish I had a camera on me for pictures, so I apologize for that as well!
 
encourage your friend to join this forum, then she can answer all the questions in full detail, plus gain longer-term from the usefulness of this place
 
it's hard to say because when she first got him, she knew NOTHING about chams and got him as a kind-of "happy birthday to me" thing. I had to help her out a lot, but I only see her every few weeks or so. but he does seem healthy. I don't know if he is handled much - when I see him, and go to look at him in the cage, he does hiss and gape at me. I have seen him drink from the misting, but I don't know how often she mists or for how long. I told her to try to do it every few hours until the leaves are wet and to use the dripper when she's at work, which is just a large plastic container with a pinprick in the bottom. I don't know her dusting schedule, but she has everything she needs to dust, so I don't see why she wouldn't. And when I make my gutload, I make enough for my crickets and hers (I have three hibiscus plants in my house, so it's easier for me to just pick a few leaves off for her). So I don't see why she wouldn't use that either. It's hard for me to judge, as I haven't sat there and personally watched her take care of him, but he looks fine, except for the casque.
 
OK. Well I hope all it is is a burn. and nothing more serious. and that shes taking care of him correctly.
 
Sounds like a burn that has finally sloughed off. The inside of the casque is mostly fatty tissue and that will eventually die off from the earlier injury.

Instead of reiterating some of my experience, here are a couple of posts that I have made about sloughed Veiled casques:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/urgent-help-needed-54322/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/male-veiled-chameleon-question-20329/

Perhaps this is what is happening to your friends calyptratus?

Trace

YES! that is exactly what it looks like. I tried searching for past posts, but I guess my searching is not up to par. :/ I'll still take pictures anyway, so everyone can see how he's doing, maybe get some input that I can pass along to her about her setup. Thanks Trace!! You are awesome!!
 
This is common for badly burned areas.

My Nosy Be is missing 90% of his spine-spikes because the past owner had a 100w bulb on him.

Polysporin might help a bit, and keeping the area lubed with it will help it from being uncomfortable for him. I find that small pieces of dry skin drive chameleons nuts lol, they will scratch at it like a dog constantly.
 
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