Odd Spots On My Jackson, Please Help!

[Mew]

Hi there,
I haven't posted lately,
but I have a Jackson named Merlin.

I recently moved into an apartment and, although in town, it did stress out my poor Merlin. Usually Merlin was an energetic and social chameleon and a voracious eater.

However, he quickly became lethargic and uninterested in pretty much everything. Today, I noticed he had large (relatively speaking) lumps that look rather like toasted marshmallows.

I am really worried, and I can't find anything that really describes what these are. Is there any fix for this? I love Merlin, but I'm afraid I'm going to lose him. I would take him to a vet in a heartbeat but the closest one is two hours away and I exhausted all of my savings and checkings with this move.

He seems to just lay in one spot every day, with his eyes closed, and I find him in a new spot every morning.

He is in an 18x18824 enclosure, humidity is kept around 50 regularly (I live in Arizona so keeping it higher is very difficult), he is fed a cricket diet with D3 dusting every week and a half with intermittent non D3 dusting, he is sprayed regularly and has been drinking just fine until as of late.

Another odd things is that it appeared twice that his gonads had come out of his vent. They were little pink things that quickly retracted back into the vent. I didn't know if this would be helpful.

 

[Mew]

Hope the image works this time

 

[Seiryu]

Sorry you're having issues!

I saw the pic. They are on his belly, correct? Do you have anything like a heat rock in his enclosure? They could be burns. Does he ever go upside down on his enclosure ceiling and bask right under the bulb?

It also could be some type of infection. It would seem the way you are saying he is acting, a vet is likely the only way to help the guy at this point.

Just a few other pointers ;

His hemipenes coming out and going back in is normal. Sometimes they do this when pooping even. As long as it's back in, it's fine.

Is he a sub-adult/adult? An 18x18x24" enclosure is small for his size if so. I would go with a minimum 24x24x36", preferably even a 24x24x48".

You are also doing d3 a little too much. I do my Jacksons with d3 every 4-6 weeks and then calcium 3-5 times a week.

 

[symphonica]

Please fill out the "how to ask for help" form so that we know his current care and history, to be able to give you accurate information and the best guess as to what may be going on:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

Has he ever been to the vet's to have a fecal exam done to test for parasites? This should be done on an annual basis, if not twice a year.

Also, plain calcium with no D3 should be given at every feeding. D3 twice a month and vitamins 2-4 times a month. Too much D3 will do more harm than good, and not enough calcium will obviously cause MBD. You also didn't write anything about your UVB.

And 18" x 18" x 24" is a too small for a Jackson, unless he's still only like 3 months old.

First step would be to fill out the help form in the link.

 

[Mew]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Male Jackson, had for around 4 months now
Handling - Whenever he paws at the glass wanting out
Feeding - Crickets gut loaded with gel formulas once a day
Supplements - ZM D3 dust every week and a half and ZM non D3 every other day
Watering - I mist as well as I have a drip system which my cham usually drinks happily from
Fecal Description - Basically looks like a bird's poop, had a parasite check with his checkup a month ago
History - He's always been perfectly healthy except for a hurt spike which healed well.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Glass 18x18x24 with screen top
Lighting - ZM lamps with 75W basking and 5.0 UVB
Temperature - From 90 right below the heat lamp to 75-80 on the bottom, dropping to around 70 at night
Humidity - spikes to 70-80 when I mist twice daily and drops down to 30-50 in-between.
Plants - Using lucky bamboo, the dracaena plant
Placement - Not near any vents or fans, in the corner of a little used space, around 5 feet from the floor. He's never had a problem with being social or bothered by traffic.
Location - Arizona, U.S.

 

[Mew]

I'm working on building him a custom enclosure that will be 24x24x60, especially since I recently took in a chinese water dragon from some guy who didn't want it anymore and was threatening to kill it if I didn't take it (I work at a pet store). He doesn't have any ceramic heaters (I know that's a big no no and I refuse to carry them in the store I work at for this reason). The only thing that could come to mind is that the vine he sits on could be overheating and burning him. They are indeed on his belly. Is there anything I could be doing now as care in case they are burns?

 

[Seiryu]

Also, plain calcium with no D3 should be given at every feeding. D3 twice a month and vitamins 2-4 times a month.

Jackson's don't require or want as much supplementation as a Panthers/Veiled. D3/vitamin every 4-6 weeks with calcium 3-5 times a week. Although some do use calcium almost every feeding dusted lightly.

As for the OP. Based on your temps it would seem you have him a bit hot. 80-85 F for Jacksons is about right. Glass enclosures are OK (although yours is much too small). But keep in mind that heat also builds up easier. If he can get upside down on the top screen and bask underneath, I would say they are likely burns from that and it's probably much hotter than 90.

What are you using to measure temps? Digital thermometers are not the most accurate and need to be in the spot for quite a while before getting a decent reading.

 

[Mew]

He hasn't been to the top of his terrarium since I upgraded his enclosure from the 12x12x18, and he lost a couple toenails doing it. I purposefully gave him no way of getting to the screen top for this reason. I use a ZM combo analog humidity/temp, a ZM Digital Temp and occasionally a temp gun from my car tools. I did check and the temps and the analog said 95 while the digital said 85. I have reduced his basking bulb from 75 to 50 to be safe, as obviously something isn't working. I've never trusted analog temperature gauges to be honest. I know there's a thread somewhere with some links, but could someone provide me a link for a SIMPLE do it yourself terrarium. I'm hoping to build him an all screen one, but I don't really have the tools for aluminum, so a wood frame is preferred. I really don't want to lose my buddy, but like I said I just can't get him to a vet right now. There is nobody local who I trust, and it's a 2 hr minimum drive to the nearest vet and I fear that the stress from that trip alone would take him out.

 

[Seiryu]

Right now, the reality is he needs to get to a vet. Can you post a picture of his head so we can see how his eyes are looking (sunken in).

Unfortunately fixing the cage now will only help a little so that he doesn't overheat like he likely was before. But beyond that you can try syringing water into him (to the back of the throat).

 

[Mew]

His eyes are sunken in, he just isn't drinking. I'll try a syringe and see if there's any luck. I've reduced the wattage on the bulb which would take care of the overheating. I'll try my best to get him to a vet, I don't want to give the impression that I'm trying to avoid it or that I don't care.

 

[symphonica]

I would not recommend using a syringe, especially if you're a beginner. It's not as easy as it sounds if you've never done it before. They could easily aspirate and end up with a respiratory infection. Make an appointment with the vet and have some diagnostic tests done to see if there are any parasites, etc.

 

[symphonica]

Jackson's don't require or want as much supplementation as a Panthers/Veiled. D3/vitamin every 4-6 weeks with calcium 3-5 times a week. Although some do use calcium almost every feeding dusted lightly.

None of them "want" supplements. Technically, if you're gutloading properly and feeding a varied diet, Jackson's should only need to be supplemented once every 4 months or so. However, that's not the case in captivity.

If you're feeding them crickets or roaches, which I assume you are, those should be dusted daily with plain calcium (no D3/phosphorous). They need the calcium to balance out the high phosphorous levels in crickets and roaches,. If you're feeding something like silkworms that are low in phosphorous, you can dust them every other day. Also, as with any chameleon, no just Jackson's, I recommend only feeding them six days a week, to give their digestive system one day of rest. So, 6 days of feeding. And D3, you can still give twice a month with no harm, although once a month is fine too.