Mosquitoes and chams......

[beenpanced]

Are chams susceptible to diseases and viruses delivered via mosquito bites? The reason I ask is I have an outdoor setup for my cham and after all the rain we've had here due to Fay, mosquitoes are crazy right now. I don't want him out during this mosquito malestrom if he could get sick.

 

[Dean Pulcini]

I think are mosquitoes are pretty tame compared to the rest of the worlds. I keep mine outside during the warmer months not to mention they are in screened cages.

 

[studiocham]

Are chams susceptible to diseases and viruses delivered via mosquito bites? The reason I ask is I have an outdoor setup for my cham and after all the rain we've had here due to Fay, mosquitoes are crazy right now. I don't want him out during this mosquito malestrom if he could get sick.

If you live in an area where West Nile occurs, it may be a risk. Last time I looked it up, which was a year ago, I read of some zoos that were worried about their outdoor alligators. A more current Googling shows some captive USA reptiles have been infected:

http://www.cdc.gov/NCIDOD/EID/vol9no7/02-0816.htm

Also, mosquitos transmit various microfilaria, which are known as heartworm here on the North American continent. It is unlikely that the native WC-carried microfilaria (Foleyella) could go through a whole ife cycle and be transmitted by mosquito within a collection. Most keepers know already to be careful with cage drainage, indoors and out.

In the past, I have used fine mesh on my outdoor cages, just in case.

 

[studiocham]

A more direct answer to your question, from 2005:

"Reptiles are known to be infected with several mosquito-borne viruses. Western equine encephalomyelitis virus (Family Togaviridae) was isolated from blood and found to overwinter in garter snakes (Thamnophis spp.; Thomas and Eklund, 1962; Gebhardt et al., 1973) and the Texas tortoise (Gopherus berlandieri; Bowen, 1977). Japanese encephalitis virus (Family Flaviviridae) was isolated from Chinese rat snakes (Elaphe rufodorsata) in Korea (Lee et al., 1972). In a survey in Venezuela, tegu lizards (Tupinambis nigropunctatus) were found to have antibody against eastern equine encephalomyelitis (EEE; Family Togaviridae) and Venezuelan encephalitis viruses (Family Togaviridae; Walder et al., 1984). In crocodilians, seropositive wild American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) for EEE virus (Karstad, 1961) and farmed Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) in Israel for WNV (Steinman et al., 2003) have been reported. Recently, mortality associated with WNV infection was reported in farmed American alligators in Georgia, USA (Miller et al., 2003). There are no additional reports of WNV in reptiles (Komar, 2003). Here we report an outbreak of WNV infection in farmed American alligators in Florida. Viremia data are presented that implicate the American alligator as a potential amplifying host for WNV in southeastern North America."

http://www.jwildlifedis.org/cgi/content/full/41/1/96

Just remember that there is a big difference between infection, morbidity, and mortality rates.

 

[JoshCrane1]

i didnt think mosquitos could even see chameleons since they see in infrared(and chams are cold blooded). maybe during the day when they are basking above ambient temps, but i really doubt it at night. they are CHAMeleons lol.
but i could be wrong....

 

[studiocham]

i didnt think mosquitos could even see chameleons since they see in infrared(and chams are cold blooded). maybe during the day when they are basking above ambient temps, but i really doubt it at night. they are CHAMeleons lol.
but i could be wrong....

The skin temp of basking chameleons is more than adequate to attract a mosquito. I personally batted a mosquito trying to puncture a melleri once when I first moved here, and had two basking loose. Very small chams, which don't have the heat retention of the big species, probably are off the mosquito radar. I think/guess this is why so few neonate/juvenile melleri WCs have microfilaria.

 

[kinyonga]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/filarial-worms-4685/

http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache...toes+AND+chameleons&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=23&gl=ca
"Blood-suckingarthropods such as Culex and Aedes mosquitoes serve asintermediate hosts and transmit the infective larvalstages to other reptiles."

 

[studiocham]

"...transmit the infective larvalstages to other reptiles."

Hmmm... well, I guess I better inform my friend that her vet was sorely mistaken. Yikes! She said they had to complete a lifecycle in the mosquito, not directly transmit.

 

[kinyonga]

http://www.hikingwebsite.com/hiking/problems/mosquito.htm

I wonder if chameleons can get WNV...
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=17771560

 

[beenpanced]

Well I've decide to bring my cham in until the mosquitoes die out alittle. It shouldn't take too long before their numbers go back to regular, granted we don't get another storm anytime soon. Between 10am and say 4pm the mosqitoes aren't real bad but the evenings around here suck, literally.