Difficult Shed and staying in one spot

[morganmusick]

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for input on my panther chameleon’s recent behavior. I’ll lay out the situation as clearly as I can.

Background​

My 13 month old male panther chameleon has been dealing with an irregular shed recently. He had some stuck shed on his back spines, and on one front leg.

• About 3–4 days ago, the one front leg I mentioned above finally shed cleanly. (Yay?!)
• No other areas have shed since then, and he currently does not appear to be actively shedding but seems like he needs to, dull colors and he is rubbing his chin a lot and is grumpier than usual.
• Per my vet’s instructions last week and during a follow up two days ago, I increased nighttime humidity with a fogger (he already has a mister) and slightly increased Vitamin A for a short period of time.
• On Sunday I removed and cleaned all of his plants and added a few new branches, so the enclosure layout changed somewhat.
• 142 grams but he does not look skinny and is a good eater
• I also had to pull him out to weigh him to get his vet an exact weight to have his vet prescribe the wormer, he was stable on a branch while moving him, no symptoms of MBD
• Temps, humidity, Linear UVB (replaced every 6 months), basking temps, and vitamin routine are all within normal range ( Without D3 regularly, with d3 2x monthly, Multivitamin with A 1x monthly)

Current Behavior​

Since Sunday night, he has remained on the exact same branch which is NOT in the basking area)
Today is now Tuesday morning, so this includes:

• All day Monday
• Overnight Monday
• And now Tuesday morning

Despite staying in one spot, he is showing the following:

• Eyes open and alert, not sunken or closed
• no daytime sleeping
• Head upright
• Feet gripping tightly, strong wrap on the branch
• Normal resting posture (not drooping, not lying flat)
• He ate a hornworm yesterday and ate the day before normally (He hunted a gnat he found, was moving normally, ate at least one dubia roach and worm)
• No black, stressed, or drastically dark colors
• Pooped normally on Sunday night, normal colored urate
• When lights go off he appears to be sleeping normally with tight tail curl and Pajamas on

I am really concerned about him remaining on this branch and cannot find any other posts where someones Cham is doing this without any of the other "Sick" signs. Is it normal for him to hunker down like this after a stressful day and trying to get through a difficult shed? I am freaking out. I put a cover over the side of his enclosure he is resting on so he can have extra privacy while stressed. He will start his wormers tomorrow or the next day when they come in. I can get him back into the vet on Friday but I'm hesitant to take him any earlier (or at all?) as he has been 2x in the last few weeks. help

Thanks a ton to this community for all the support

 

[ehdee6]

Are you able to provide a picture of the Cham, and a full picture of the enclosure? So it shows the lights and everything? Once chams get older they start to shed in patches instead of a full body shed. Did the vet do a fecal test for worms?

It is normal for them to hunker down if stressed... But hopefully with pictures we can try to assess things.

 

[morganmusick]

Update he just climbed up more (YAY) but still worried. of course he moves after I posted this. Here is a photo of him currently in the full enclosure. You might be able to see the white on his spines that is retained shed. He is getting wormed this week so yes parasites are a concern. The second bar light you see is his plant light, the other is his linear t5 UVB, and his heat lamp in the back, fogger and two misters .

Are you able to provide a picture of the Cham, and a full picture of the enclosure? So it shows the lights and everything? Once chams get older they start to shed in patches instead of a full body shed. Did the vet do a fecal test for worms?

It is normal for them to hunker down if stressed... But hopefully with pictures we can try to assess things.

 

[morganmusick]

Here he is this afternoon, I went to open and he turned and ran to me to eat so he is still pretty active but just struggling to shed and I'm not sure why and neither is the vet. I thought the spine might be burn but the vet says it is retained shed

 

[ehdee6]

Sorry for the delayed response.

As long as the shed isn't constructing blood flow, it should be fine to just let it be. My guy had a bit of stuck shed on his back once that didn't come off until the next shed. Some people try to gently wipe it away with a q tip.

What's a bit concerning it that Chameleons are dry shedders. So, if you're misting him too much, it can actually make the dead skin stick to him even more.

I'll tag some more senior members in case they spot something off. @MissSkittles @Beman

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi. From the pics, I can’t be absolutely certain that it isn’t a burn. Are you able to get a top view, looking down upon it? I just want to have 100% certainty.
Chams do shed differently when they get older. When babies and young, they go ‘poof’ over their entire body at once and it’s quick. As they get older, it’s body part by body part and not so quick. As they get misted, if they don’t move out of the way of the spray, it can result in the shed having a little harder time to detach and come off. But, it should still be coming off.
For your multivitamins, they need to be given twice a month (or every other week - alternating with the D3). There are also two different types of vitamin A and the beta carotene (proformed) may not be able to be used by chameleons. Due to this, it’s best to use a retinol (or preformed) vitamin A. Repashy multivitamins and Zoo Med’s ReptiVite both have the desired type.

 

[morganmusick]

Hi. From the pics, I can’t be absolutely certain that it isn’t a burn. Are you able to get a top view, looking down upon it? I just want to have 100% certainty.
Chams do shed differently when they get older. When babies and young, they go ‘poof’ over their entire body at once and it’s quick. As they get older, it’s body part by body part and not so quick. As they get misted, if they don’t move out of the way of the spray, it can result in the shed having a little harder time to detach and come off. But, it should still be coming off.
For your multivitamins, they need to be given twice a month (or every other week - alternating with the D3). There are also two different types of vitamin A and the beta carotene (proformed) may not be able to be used by chameleons. Due to this, it’s best to use a retinol (or preformed) vitamin A. Repashy multivitamins and Zoo Med’s ReptiVite both have the desired type.

I have the Repashy vitamin A, he only gets misted at night, and it is directed so he can move away from it. The vet doesn't think it's a burn but I'll try to get a better view, all the spines are intact, just white and flaky, you can kind of see they have a casing of shed on them

 

[morganmusick]

I have the Repashy vitamin A, he only gets misted at night, and it is directed so he can move away from it. The vet doesn't think it's a burn but I'll try to get a better view, all the spines are intact, just white and flaky, you can kind of see they have a casing of shed on them

Adding to that I originally thought it could be a burn but it's literally every single spike very consistent and nothing else with no structural changes, just flaky. I will up his multi vitamin, it was already upped this month since he has had a few vet visits. So the d3 and multi are the same frequency?

 

[MissSkittles]

Adding to that I originally thought it could be a burn but it's literally every single spike very consistent and nothing else with no structural changes, just flaky. I will up his multi vitamin, it was already upped this month since he has had a few vet visits. So the d3 and multi are the same frequency?

Yes, you want to give each one twice a month. Which multivitamin are you using? If it is a Repashy, it should already have preformed vitamin A and no extra is needed (and can be detrimental).

 

[morganmusick]

Yes, you want to give each one twice a month. Which multivitamin are you using? If it is a Repashy, it should already have preformed vitamin A and no extra is needed (and can be detrimental).

Yes it is repashy, that's what I meant when I said vitamin A, the multivitamin kind. I was only giving once a month but I will increase frequency, he is fine this month as the vet did some extra supplementing so he has had it twice in the last four weeks

 

[Beman]

Yes it is repashy, that's what I meant when I said vitamin A, the multivitamin kind. I was only giving once a month but I will increase frequency, he is fine this month as the vet did some extra supplementing so he has had it twice in the last four weeks

Are you using repashy vitamin A plus? If so this is the wrong one and can be overdosed very easily. You want Repashy Calcium plus LOD This one is the correct one and better balanced for a chameleon to receive 2 times a month. Then you need calcium without D3 for all other feedings.

 

[morganmusick]

Are you using repashy vitamin A plus? If so this is the wrong one and can be overdosed very easily. You want Repashy Calcium plus LOD This one is the correct one and better balanced for a chameleon to receive 2 times a month. Then you need calcium without D3 for all other feedings.

Oh no yes it is the A plus, what do I need to be watching for? I will order the other right now. Thank you

 

[morganmusick]

Are you using repashy vitamin A plus? If so this is the wrong one and can be overdosed very easily. You want Repashy Calcium plus LOD This one is the correct one and better balanced for a chameleon to receive 2 times a month. Then you need calcium without D3 for all other feedings.

I have the reptivite multivitamin with D3 as well- can I just switch to that? I literally just got the repashy this month so he hasn't had it much. sorry for all the questions, I had a less than knowledgeable vet so I've been to two and it all gets jumbled and confusing when I'm getting conflicting info.