My Panther Got Burned!! What Should I Do?

[taxman]

hey everyone my name is Mario and I just wanted to leave this post to say hi to the whole chameleon family. My Nosy Be panther is named kamikaze and today when i got back from work i noticed that it got burned a little bit on about 5 of the little spikes that run along its back. this freaked me out. Here are some pics of kamikaze. Has anyone else had this problem? i just recently changed its uv bulb from a 100w to a 150w since the temperature changed so drastically in the last couple of days. i live in so cal and its been pretty cold. I've had the light in there for about 1 week now. His 5 little spiky scales turned black/brownish. I got a cotton swap and put a little bactine on the burn and i am going to change back to the 100w. here are some pics of my animals. please advise on what i should do. please note that the panther pics are not recent they're about 1 month old. Also will this permanently scar my cham or will it go away with a shed?

 

[ChameleonsTree]

your UV is that high in wattage or your basking?

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy Mario,

Post photos...

If the burn looks to be only on the very top surface then you are probably ok to just use an antibiotic cream to reduce the chances of an infection starting. If it looks to be deeper than just the top surface, such as signs that the skin is dead then head to the vet.

How hot is his basking spot? Get a digital thermometer at that spot and see just how hot it is getting. No digital thermometer? Stick you hand right in the basking spot. If it feels too hot for your hand after a minute then it is probably too hot for him too. About 90F max for a panther is what you are looking for at the basking spot.

If you are using a mercury vapor lamp as a combined UVB and heat source then you have issues of balancing the UVB and the heat levels... Without a UVB meter you won't know if you are cooking him with UVB too .

 

[taxman]

here are some pics of my cham. i did change my uvb source. i was using a zoo med powersun but that blew out so i changed to a aquarium hood with a 8.0 uvb. before i used a 5.0/ is 8.0 too high?

 

[Dave Weldon]

...i changed to a aquarium hood with a 8.0 uvb. before i used a 5.0/ is 8.0 too high?

Howdy,

Your 8.0 (Repti-Glo???) is probably ok. When it's time to replace it (6 months...), try the Zoomed Reptisun 5.0 instead. Be sure that it is around 6"-12" away from your critter when he is at his basking spot.

It would help if you can get a clearly focused shot of that possible burn. Either way it doesn't look as bad as some that I've seen. I've seen some that were cooked right down to the spine .

 

[taxman]

Thanks so much and merry Christmas. It’s kind of hard to get a clear shot of it because it’s so small and even with my 6mp camera it’s still not clear. Thank you so much. I just hope it goes away. I love Kamikaze I was thinking about getting another panther, but now I am a little hesitant. I've had mine for 8 months now and I’ve never had a problem until now. Thank you so much though. Will it completely heal? or is it going to scar?

 

[Dave Weldon]

...It’s kind of hard to get a clear shot of it because it’s so small and even with my 6mp camera it’s still not clear.

...Will it completely heal? or is it going to scar?

Howdy,

Photos:

If you want to try again, try backing away a couple of feet (or more), DON'T use any zoom, have plenty of light and you should get a clear photo. If not then also try moving the focus point with each photo, a 1/2" at a time from top to bottom. One of those shots will pick-up the chameleon with the proper focus point. Once you have a well-focused photo, you can use you PC to crop the shot down to a close-up of the burned area. 6MP is plenty if things are focused to begin with.

It doesn't look bad enough to leave a permanent scar, but time will tell...


Example using my old 6MP Canon Digital Rebel and then using a PC to zoom-in on it afterwards... Plenty of resolution available...