@FrozenRain00 First off welcome. Your going to receive a ton of feedback so just have an open mind and know we are trying to help you. See all my feedback in red bold.
I am trying my best to keep an open mind. I came here for more advice, it's just a matter of who and what- either way I am here for Houdini's health.
So regarding your post- would you say that the MistKing settings I previously had, prior the veterinarian's advice were fine? With those settings, the cage did dry out completely and that was at the 2-hour timeframes (for 2 minutes) when the mister ran. He seemed ok- minus the unshedding spots. I chose to change the setting and listen to the vet because she was the 'professional' whom I paid nearly 200 bucks to look at him. Although I am not certain I will be going back now because some flags are glaring.
Night-time temps- I have no issue cranking the ac lower- I like cooler temps to sleep myself. I just thought if it got too low it'd be unsafe for him. Everything I read on varying forums, breeder sites, chameleon care websites all vary- and now I have a vet with a completely different view on what to do so it's like- who the hell do you listen to that's correct? *face palm* I just want him happy and healthy again. He is pretty perky and looking good this a.m. tho, so that's a plus.
Cage size: I know it's on the smaller size. When I bought it I was told this was the size he needed for an adult veiled from the breeders, after I got everything all good and dropped over 1k on the final setup, I found that there was an XLarge and I wasn't sold the proper sized one- so now I have to wait to adapt my apartment for the space needed as well as budget in for the new shelving unit, cage, etc... that goes with it all. And I need to figure out what to do with his old cage because I don't want to scrap it. I let him free-range to allow for the ability to move around as needed- but with his behavior changing (not wanting to leave the cage) and his injury, I kept him in the cage to monitor. As noted when I left the door open prior to me closing it up, he stopped leaving himself anyway- this is when I began questioning his behavior changes. I'm going to the reptile faire tomorrow to see what they have and I can check prices and see my options at that time.
Basking Temps: My temps are all pretty on par with what I had noted. I have 2 temp gauges in the cage itself- and I do have a point and click gun that I use, as well as a zilla point and click reptile temp checker (although I use the gun more because I trust it). The gauges all have been right on par with what the gun runs. I am using a 60W halogen spotlight bulb (the box says it uses 60watts to generate 75watt output)- so maybe that's where the temp confusion is. This is the bulb I moved to after the reptile basking bulb problems- honestly, if he has a burn it would've been from the basking bulb because the thing was a nightmare. (I moved to the halogen spotlight bulb AFTER he started having issues. I figured maybe the lights weren't right, so I bought new fixtures and bulbs to see if it'd help. At that time, his patches just appeared to me like his typical shed. Please see the photo attached for clarification on the bulb. I originally had it at approx. 8 inches above basking (so it sat on top of the metal rack directly). It gave him up to 100 degrees basking- at max. I moved it up another 7 inches per vet recommendation and now the basking spot is reading between 88-94 degrees now- which the vet said was safer for him. Again, the patches showed up before the current bulb I now have came into play.
Food: Thank you for the tips on the food- I'm going to see what they have at the reptile faire tomorrow and stock up on some different bugs. If he continues to act stubborn and refuses to eat the other nutritional bugs- what do you suggest? I do gutload the bugs before he gets them. I use a cricket pen which has food and water for them. I use to feed them veggies and stuff but I was advised to use "Fluker's High Calcium cricket diet" so I switched to that. For the super worms, they ate what they were housed in- plus I'd lay shredded potato slices on top of their substrate and they'd eat that. Definitely will be picking up calcium without D3 supplement tomorrow though.
I don't want to sound rude here, but I was slightly off-put by the last comment. I am frustrated with everyone's advice being so varied and not knowing which direction to go. To clarify, my way of dealing with his new aggression was not to 'take away everything,' my way of monitoring his skin issue and leaving him alone was to let him be. He started getting aggressive anytime someone came near his cage. He stopped eating out of my hand and he literally began running into the corner of his cage hissing if someone walked by. It's only myself and occasionally my boyfriend here, so there wasn't any logical reason for the sudden change as he wasn't being harassed or provoked- he just... started behaving like a different chameleon. To me, that says- leave me alone. So I built a bug feeder cup as advised by another site and I closed his cage so he didn't feel like his space could be invaded. He stopped leaving his cage willfully on his own so I closed the door hoping he would feel safer. His behavior began way before I closed up the cage. He went 3 weeks with the door closed, after being recommended to do so on another site as well as reinforced by the vet. Houdini hasn't hissed when anyone has walked by lately, and as I noted yesterday when I opened his cage to take him out and give him a shower/try the olive oil- he didn't fight me, hiss, or try to rip my finger off. That's an improvement in the behavior from when the door was left open, so I don't know. I did leave his door open yesterday and he did not attempt to leave the cage (even when I wasn't in the room), actually he clung to the top corner furthest from the door so he doesn't seem to want to free-range at this point. I'm sure a bigger setup will definitely help, but again, I can't fork out that money until I situate where it will be and see how much exactly I need to invest again. I am curious though, will immediately changing his entire surroundings stress him out more? - or no? Just trying to do what is best at this point, even small improvements are better than none atm. I have to clean his cage next week so if I make those changes it'd be done at that time.
Vet: I never said she didn't look at him. She did take him out, wrapped him in a towel and combated his incessant desire to rip her fingers off. She noted he was strong- grippers, etc... and definitely had energy. She scratched at the spots (which I felt horrible because if they hurt him she definitely didn't make it better by scratching at them). Said they weren't mites and just looked like badly stuck shed- hence the advice to increase the humidity. I also did not like that she dewormed him... not only was it an additional cost, but I don't feel that medicine should be given if there isn't a need and she did not test stool to ensure that was the case. She did say she 'dewormed reptiles often because these little guys often get parasites from their diet' - who was I to argue? They recently called asking me to bring him back for his month re-check and another deworm, I don't believe I will be going. What I didn't like was that she did pull the info. from a vet forum- that seemed a little lacking of knowledge to me.
What are your thoughts on what the spots are if you don't think a burn or mites? I know someone on here said to avoid the olive oil (after I had already applied it), I can say that this a.m. his sides and knees do appear to be shedding more, so the olive oil must have encouraged some of the edges of the skin to peel up further than it had for the past month or so. My boyfriend also thought it looked better, but who knows. He was moving up and down his cage more as well which is an improvement. I'm just going to make the changes I've read from the advice thus far and see what I can pick up tomorrow at the swap- lighting, bugs, potential new cage, etc...
I'll definitely check out the podcasts- didn't realize those existed so thank you!
Again I appreciate your advice, time, and help. I hope I didn't come off brash in any responses- just wanted to clarify anything that needed based on some responses. It gets frustrating when you don't know who to turn to or what advice is correct- especially when you find that you possibly should not trust a vet that operates out of a bird and reptile specialist clinic. We shall see how things progress, any positive changes with him are desired changes.
plus the shape of the burn got the exact shape of the light focal flow
