Please advise if my Enclosure is missing something

Hello Everyone!

My name is Kris and I have a 6-7 month old female Veiled Chameleon. I have a had her since she was just a month old. She’s super friendly, has a huge appetite, and her bowels are really huge. I feed her crickets, horn worms, super worms, and I also have some hornworms that are in cocoons at the moment. Also, she loves mangoes, bananas, spinach, peaches, & pears. I’ve haven’t had any success with any other type of greens yet. Anyways here is my enclosure description:


  1. I have a 4ft x 2ft screened enclosure.
  2. It has a mixture of real and fake plants.
  3. I have three light sources. The T5HO lamp, a reptisun 5.0 uvb 13 watt light bulb, and a 60watt red heat lamp. I also have a blue 60w daylight bulb but I never used that because it gets a little too cold due to my AC being on 74 throughout the day. I live in St Pete Florida and it gets pretty hot in our home so we keep it on 74 during the day and 71 at night time.
  4. I have eco carpet.
  5. I do not have a drip system set up yet or a mister. I definitely would like opinions on that but I mist the cage in the morning and night. In between while I’m at work my fiancé mists her cage (he is pretty good with reptiles versus myself)
  6. Ummm that’s about it for now please see pictures.

I’m not sure the first sign of mouth rot but this thing on her mouth appeared after giving her a larger horn worm. Then today we noticed it was this color inside her mouth when we took her outside for some fresh air. I have read about baytril as an antibiotic for mouth rot but I’m not going to give her anything unless I know for sure.


Any advice would surely be appreciated. Thank you!
 

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I have three light sources. The T5HO lamp, a reptisun 5.0 uvb 13 watt light bulb, and a 60watt red heat lamp.

take all 3 back and get a 22" T5HO 5.0. the 13 watt will do squat, and the T5HO barely goes across half the top. The red is not needed

Also you need to find a way to get "an area" to 85-90f for basking, normally this is done with just a "house bulb" or wide flood bulb. At night it can get as cold as you want, 50-55F is fine. No lights on at all at night.


The mister is up to you, if you can hand mist several times a day go for it. Some chams wont drink till you mist them for 3-5min, so hand misting wont work. Others hide till the misting is over, so "misters" dont work very well and the should be hand misted. Its a cham by cham basis. There is also a new style of just running a humidifier at a pretty good pace over night for natural hydration, but have no ran it.

Chams have "pretty" mouths. It should be bright colored and uniform, gums may not be "pink" but instead a startling color like yellow, so you know the mouth means business. ITs even ok for them to have little black specks on teeth.
 
I have three light sources. The T5HO lamp, a reptisun 5.0 uvb 13 watt light bulb, and a 60watt red heat lamp.

take all 3 back and get a 22" T5HO 5.0. the 13 watt will do squat, and the T5HO barely goes across half the top. The red is not needed

Also you need to find a way to get "an area" to 85-90f for basking, normally this is done with just a "house bulb" or wide flood bulb. At night it can get as cold as you want, 50-55F is fine. No lights on at all at night.


The mister is up to you, if you can hand mist several times a day go for it. Some chams wont drink till you mist them for 3-5min, so hand misting wont work. Others hide till the misting is over, so "misters" dont work very well and the should be hand misted. Its a cham by cham basis. There is also a new style of just running a humidifier at a pretty good pace over night for natural hydration, but have no ran it.

Chams have "pretty" mouths. It should be bright colored and uniform, gums may not be "pink" but instead a startling color like yellow, so you know the mouth means business. ITs even ok for them to have little black specks on teeth.


Thank you so much for your feedback! I’ll get the lights changed immediately!
 
Please any help would be much appreciated!
Hi Hun and welcome to the forum. I can do a complete husbandry review if you would like to fill out the form below. You have already gotten feedback on your lighting. Be sure to follow that. The red bulb needs to go now. :)


Here is some recommended information to include when asking for help in the health clinic forum. By providing this information you will receive more accurate and beneficial responses. It might not be necessary to answer all these questions, but the more you provide the better. Please remember that even the most knowledgeable person can only guess at what your problem may be. Only an experienced reptile veterinarian who can directly examine your animal can give a true diagnosis of your chameleon's health.


Chameleon Info:

  • Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
  • Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
  • Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
  • Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
  • Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
  • Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
  • History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

  • Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
  • Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
  • Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
  • Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
  • Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
  • Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

--------------

Please Note:

  1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
  2. Photos can be very helpful.
 
Looks good so far I would raise your heat light up and off the screen to help prevent thermal burns. This is a serious issue.
 
Veileds don’t have temporal glands so we can rule that out. Hard to say beyond that, definitely worthy of a vet visit!
 
Just to rule it out, have you tried to gently wipe the spot off with a Q-tip? Hornworm guts are yellow, and if it appeared after eating a hornworm... might save you a vet trip!
 
Just to rule it out, have you tried to gently wipe the spot off with a Q-tip? Hornworm guts are yellow, and if it appeared after eating a hornworm... might save you a vet trip!

yea just looked like goop to me. The gums look healthy. Im with you guessing its food, or dried something. Ive had waterdragons, so ive had my fair share of mouth rot.
 
It looks like the bottom discoloration is swollen, that’s what makes me think it may not be guts....

I don't disagree. Just saying that it'd be worth seeing if it came off, first! I've brought my cockatoo to the vet more than once for what turned out to be assorted food gunk caught up around her mouth. It'd be a somewhat unusual spot for an infection in a Veiled cham, but certainly not unheard of!
 
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