New cham owner. Sometimes she blows a little liquid out of her nose. (?)

[treeann]

Hi everyone, new chameleon owner here. Also new forum user here… please forgive me in advance for my site illiteracy. Please let me know what kind of other information you need on our girl, but here are the basics: we’ve had her for around 3 weeks-a month, she’s probably 5-6 months old, purchased from a local pet store (not chain), gets calcium dusted crickets every day and supplemental vitamins every 2 weeks, a mealworm as a bargaining chip for her trust every night, mist morning and night to 75%+, reverse osmosis water only, low temps of 60 at base of cage (all mesh) and high of ~85. Poops and pees great, usually 1x a day. Has a dual bulb heat/plant growth lamp and a UV bar that we added (upgraded the dreaded chameleon kit). Live plants only, plenty of basking spots and hiding spots. We have a lay bin ready to go. Also a little dripper that feeds onto one of the plants. She has not been interested in coming to us but one time during cage maintenance she made an escape and I had to put my hands out in front of her, which she climbed onto. We hung out together for a few mins and her body language and coloring was good, but that has not happened since.

Anyway, here is my question. Sometimes, I see her puff a tiny bit of what looks like snot or liquid out of her nose, just barely visible in the light. We have seen no other signs of respiratory issues. Occasional mouth open temp regulation breathing but not regular and no nose-up stance. I can’t tell if this is happening when she is just performing a little huff at me? It looks like the equivalent of if a person sneezed and blew out a little spit/snot. It doesn’t seem to bother her and is a tiny, light spray. Has anyone seen this before and should we be worried?

If you made it this far, thanks for reading, and thanks for your feedback.

 

[JacksJill]

That is not normal and she likely has a sinus infection or an upper respiratory infection. I would get mine on antibiotics if I saw that.
Veterinarian resources

 

[treeann]

And a picture of her from yesterday.

 

[treeann]

That is not normal and she likely has a sinus infection or an upper respiratory infection. I would get mine on antibiotics if I saw that.
Veterinarian resources

I found someone close by and will be heading in ASAP, then posting a husbandry check to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Based on my quick summary, is there anything really bad that stands out to you? Thank you so much.

 

[kinyonga]

Is it white in colour? It could be snalt…extra minerals its body doesn’t need that are expelled through the nose.

 

[treeann]

Update: we got her into a reptile/exotic vet today and while I am still cautious, she got a clean bill of health. The vet did a visual exam, felt around, and an xray. She has no fluid in her lungs or anything of the sort. The only thing found was lower bone density, likely from her having come from a pet store. Right now, we’re going to get a mister to maintain humidity throughout the night, but that’s about the only thing we’re changing. We’re keeping a very very close eye on her to make sure that nothing changes health wise. The vet will prescribe us an antibiotic if it does.

 

[LizardLurkin]

Kinyonga asked if the fluid is white in color.
Snalt, as it's called here, is basically a result of using hard tap water in your misting regimen. Chameleons will expel the extra minerals from the water through their little nose holes. I believe it's fairly harmless, but if this is the case, it may be a good idea to by RO/distilled/purified water as I've heard it can complicated the misting system itself.

 

[treeann]

Kinyonga asked if the fluid is white in color.
Snalt, as it's called here, is basically a result of using hard tap water in your misting regimen. Chameleons will expel the extra minerals from the water through their little nose holes. I believe it's fairly harmless, but if this is the case, it may be a good idea to by RO/distilled/purified water as I've heard it can complicated the misting system itself.

Yes, I saw that and forgot to reply. Unfortunately it was such a small, fine mist that I could not tell what color it was. Clear would be my best guess. We use strictly RO water for her and will definitely continue to do so. Yesterday she did have some additional symptoms such as a couple back to back coughs and a few minutes of open mouth breathing so I went into SOS mode and got her in today. I guess for now we’ll just have to wait and see.

 

[JacksJill]

Nose crust wouldn't concern me but a liquid discharge from the nostril would make me look for an infection in the sinuses.

 

[treeann]

Nose crust wouldn't concern me but a liquid discharge from the nostril would make me look for an infection in the sinuses.

Please forgive my ignorance, but how different is a sinus infection from a respiratory infection? How do the diagnostics and treatment differ? Like I said she got a clean xray which I was hoping would be the end of it but she is having some little coughs still, almost like a cat trying to spit up a hairball. These go maybe 1-3 times and then she’s done. I haven’t seen the mist recently. She did have nose crusties yesterday but that feels coincidental and irrelevant as she rid herself of them quickly.

She did try some dubia roaches yesterday but was not a fan. She also got to try hornworms and she liked them so much that we gave her a second to encourage eating. Today she has been slowly going through her crickets.

Obviously I want to trust the vet, but with how niche these creatures are, I’m keeping a very wary viewpoint.

 

[JacksJill]

Respiratory infection would include all of the airways nostrils to lungs and everything in between. A sinus infection would be in the areas just behind the nostrils and within the skull. I don't like that she is having coughing episodes. That is not normal if it happens more than once. Report all of this to your vet and see if you can get an antibiotic. I have had mine treated with SMZ-TMP liquid successfully. As with any antibiotic treatment if you don't see some kind of improvement in a few days your vet will want to try a different antibiotic.