Chameleon shedding off spikes

lgd1998

New Member
Hello, so I’ve had my male veiled chameleon Bilbo for almost three years now. I have never had any health issues with him, however in the past few days the spikes on his back have been shedding completely off. I am taking him to the vet tomorrow but am very distressed about this and wanted to see if anyone had anything to say about it. He is almost 3 years old, he eats gutloaded crickets and super worms for the most part. I feed him every other day and give him about 10-12 of each during feeding. His humidity is usually at least 50%. I mist him often and always have a drip system going. This first started happening maybe 4-5 days ago but I haven’t been able to take him to the vet yet (going tomorrow) but it’s gotten significantly worse. It was not this severe when I first noticed the issue. The pictures are not great but I don’t want to bother him very much right now. But as you can see he has a huge open wound on his back right now. Is there anything I can do to make him more comfortable until I can bring him in to be checked? He is still eating, drinking and moving around perfectly. He does look a little skinny though.
 
I feed him every other day and give him about 10-12 of each during feeding.
He does look a little skinny though.
This is quite a lot of food for a three-year-old veiled chameleon. I don't have a veiled so I couldn't tell you from personal experience, but chameleonacademy.com recommends that adults should be fed 2-3 items every other day. Most likely your cham is obese but it won't be possible to know the extent until we see a picture. Though it is interesting how you note how he is looking a little skinny. How big are the feeder insects? Are they super tiny? I can't imagine a veiled eating 10-12 items a day and being skinny. But if he is indeed skinny, then he could be having other issues as well such as parasites.

in the past few days the spikes on his back have been shedding completely off
huge open wound on his back right now
What is the basking spot temperature? If it is too hot, they can get badly burned and end up losing dorsal spikes as a result. I've seen some images on here where chunks are missing from a cham's back due to bad thermal burns. Glad to hear that you are going to a vet. As for helping the burn itself, that's something I don't have experience with.
 
Hi yes I feed him every other day/every 3 for the most part. But I just started feeding him that much like pretty recently because he was looking a little skinny. He’s definitely not obese!
 
This is quite a lot of food for a three-year-old veiled chameleon. I don't have a veiled so I couldn't tell you from personal experience, but chameleonacademy.com recommends that adults should be fed 2-3 items every other day. Most likely your cham is obese but it won't be possible to know the extent until we see a picture. Though it is interesting how you note how he is looking a little skinny. How big are the feeder insects? Are they super tiny? I can't imagine a veiled eating 10-12 items a day and being skinny. But if he is indeed skinny, then he could be having other issues as well such as parasites.



What is the basking spot temperature? If it is too hot, they can get badly burned and end up losing dorsal spikes as a result. I've seen some images on here where chunks are missing from a cham's back due to bad thermal burns. Glad to hear that you are going to a vet. As for helping the burn itself, that's something I don't have experience with.
The basking spot temperature is max 90 degrees. It hasn’t changed since I got him so I highly doubt that is the issue because it’s been the same for years. I could be wrong but I don’t see why it would take so long for that to happen. I just recently started feeding him more because he was looking skinny he doesn’t eat every day he eats every other day and they are fairly small sized feeders
 
Hi yes I feed him every other day/every 3 for the most part. But I just started feeding him that much like pretty recently because he was looking a little skinny. He’s definitely not obese!
That sounds abnormal they should be able to maintain weight with an every other day schedule. Have you had a fecal done to check for parasites? I would be concerned with the weight loss.
 
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