Is this scale rot?

aubslemond

Member
Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - panther chameleon , around 3 years old. I’ve had him for a year and 4 months.

Handling - i take him out once or twice a week to roam on a fake tree by the window and he loves being out of the cage and climbing on me.

Feeding - made the switch to Dubai roaches as the staple for his diet started a colony of them about 3 months ago? 2-3 medium/large roaches every other day to every 3 days. I feed them fresh vegetable and fruit scraps

Supplements - zoo med repti calcium without d3 every feeding besides the one time a month I do Rep-Cal multivitamin and Rep-Cal calcium with d3

Watering - I have an automatic misting system that sprays the cage every 3 hours for 20 seconds and I do usually see him drink from it.

Fecal Description - never been tested for parasites, most recent dropping was large but he had just eaten a larger roach. Looks normal.

History - has been super great and haven’t had any problems till just now, has never had an issue with handling or not eating or drinking



Cage Info:

Cage Type - screen cage. 18x24x34 inches

Lighting - from the hours of 8am to 9:30 pm he has zoo med tropical UVB and heat bulbs

Temperature - have a heat gun to measure the temp, basking spot is 84 cage floor is 73 night temperatures are in the 70s

Humidity - i don’t have anything to the measure humidity

Plants - I have two live plants, a large umbrella tree and a mother in laws tongue

Placement - cage is near a window but not by any ventilation

Location - austin Texas



Current Problem - I recently had an issue with my boy mikey of him not being able to open his mouth all of the way and stick out his tongue for an unknown reason, he’s now able to open his mouth a lot more and stuck his tongue farther, not fully recovered but definitely better. I was gone for the past two days with my parents watching my pets and I just got home and noticed my chameleon being very active and scratching at the door and his colors were very bright like he was perhaps stressed and I see this extreme discoloration on his back. Two years ago he got a burn on his head while someone else was caring for him that left a scar but it healed fine but now it looks like the dark scar spot has spread a lot and rapidly, he is still being super active and roaming around the cage more than he ever has and scratching at the sides, anyone have any clue what is going on?
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That looks like a burn to me. Can you post a pic of his whole enclosure please.
Also, he should be getting both calcium with D3 and multivitamin twice a month each. I believe your uvb is incorrect as well. A pic will help greatly.
 
That looks like a burn to me. Can you post a pic of his whole enclosure please.
Also, he should be getting both calcium with D3 and multivitamin twice a month each. I believe your uvb is incorrect as well. A pic will help greatly.
Shoot I forgot to switch the amounts of vitamins I got I do give him more vitamin d3 and multivitamin now after that was addressed in my last post that has been fixed. I’m definitely going to try and get him into my vet ASAP.
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My issue with temps was that my temp gun wasn't reading correctly. And thank god I noticed becasue I would've cooked my little guy. I now have two digital probes, a herpstat, and two digital thermometer/hygrometers.
 
My issue with temps was that my temp gun wasn't reading correctly. And thank god I noticed becasue I would've cooked my little guy. I now have two digital probes, a herpstat, and two digital thermometer/hygrometers.
I just find it so weird that it happened overnight and I haven’t changed the set up of how close his sticks are to the hottest spot or anything so I’m confused it just now has affected him, I’m worried of it being something other than a burn considering he is having an issue with his tongue not shooting I’m concerned of it being some sort of infection. But thanks for the tip with the heat gun not always being correct
 
From the pic, I see a dowel that’s slants upwards on the left. Looks like it can get pretty close to the light. In measuring temps, while a heat gun is great, it unfortunately doesn’t give truly accurate readings of basking temps. For that you really need a digital thermometer with a probe.
Regarding his tongue issue...your UVB needs to be a linear T5 with a 5% (or Arcadia 6%) UVB bulb. My knowledge is lacking, but I might think that incorrect UVB combined with incorrect supplementation (until recently changed) could cause it. A vet visit is a good idea. Try to get a fresh fecal sample to have tested for parasites...make sure your guy is as healthy as can be. :)
 
From the pic, I see a dowel that’s slants upwards on the left. Looks like it can get pretty close to the light. In measuring temps, while a heat gun is great, it unfortunately doesn’t give truly accurate readings of basking temps. For that you really need a digital thermometer with a probe.
Regarding his tongue issue...your UVB needs to be a linear T5 with a 5% (or Arcadia 6%) UVB bulb. My knowledge is lacking, but I might think that incorrect UVB combined with incorrect supplementation (until recently changed) could cause it. A vet visit is a good idea. Try to get a fresh fecal sample to have tested for parasites...make sure your guy is as healthy as can be. :)
I believe that you are right with the issues stemming from the improper UVB and supplementation. I honestly had no idea about the heat gun giving off improper temperatures but I'm glad I did.
 
I just find it so weird that it happened overnight and I haven’t changed the set up of how close his sticks are to the hottest spot or anything so I’m confused it just now has affected him, I’m worried of it being something other than a burn considering he is having an issue with his tongue not shooting I’m concerned of it being some sort of infection. But thanks for the tip with the heat gun not always being correct
Is it hot/burning if you put your hand under the lamp?
 
Is it hot/burning if you put your hand under the lamp?
It’s warm and I can definitely see how if he was right under the heat for too long it would burn him :/ I think he’s in pain seeing his stressed colors and it looks like the spikes on his back that are damaged could fall off. Im going to get a treatment for the burn/wounds, is there a medication I could get him for the pain?
 
It’s warm and I can definitely see how if he was right under the heat for too long it would burn him :/ I think he’s in pain seeing his stressed colors and it looks like the spikes on his back that are damaged could fall off. Im going to get a treatment for the burn/wounds, is there a medication I could get him for the pain?
I think they have pretty high pain tolerance which is why they get burned. If you treat the wounds properly, it should heal and help alleviate any pain he might be feeling. If you don’t get silvadene, you could try neosporin. Some of them have “pain relief” included.
 
With a screen cage, is the whole enclosure not climbable by the chameleon?

From my perspective, I would imagine the chameleon can climb right up the side to get close as possible to the light or even grab the top of the cage, exposing his belly to the light.

For this reason, I do not like to rest bulbs directly on top of a screen enclosure.
 
With a screen cage, is the whole enclosure not climbable by the chameleon?

From my perspective, I would imagine the chameleon can climb right up the side to get close as possible to the light or even grab the top of the cage, exposing his belly to the light.

For this reason, I do not like to rest bulbs directly on top of a screen enclosure.
His claws are too big to climb up the screen cage they don’t fit through the holes and he only likes being on his stable branches
 
He needs a vet... This looks like a thermal burn. They should prescribe the silver sulfadiazine cream to treat the burn and any infection that will develop from it.

@MissSkittles is correct... The tongue issues are directly related to the incorrect UVB type and the incorrect supplementation. Rep cal multivitamin does not have preformed Vitamin A in it. They need that for eye and tongue health. I would be concerned with underlying MBD issues as well with long time use of incorrect supplementation and incorrect lighting. Might get an xray to see what his bones look like.
 
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