Residual Shed

Jo00

Established Member
Good afternoon. I’m hoping to figure out how to deal with residual shed on my Male Veiled Cham.

Husbandry Form...
Your Chameleon - 2 year old male veiled Cham has been in my care for over 1.5 years.
Handling - handle about once a week; he signals he wants out on “poop days”🙄when I open the door for feeding/maintenance. Otherwise, I don’t handle him too much; I let him come to me when he’s in the mood.
Feeding -Monday 4-5 crickets; Wednesday 4-5 silkworms; Friday 10-12 BSFL (or silks depending on availability); Weekends sometimes a couple of mealworm. Gutload is typically a combination of greens, Repashy Superload, carrots, squash.
Supplements - EarthProA every feeding except on 1st and 15th of month. 1st of month=Repashy CalciumLoD; 15th of month=Arcadia revitaliseD3.
Watering - Use distilled water. Misting schedule 1.5 minutes at 6pm; 11pm; 2am; 6:30am. Cool mist humidifier from 11pm to 5am, 30 minutes on/off. Dripper 1 or 2x/day for 10-15 minutes. Occasionally see him drink.
Fecal Description - Normal dark brown feces but very odd urates (see photo). I’ve only seen one normal, formed urate. Fecal 1 yr ago was clean; no parasites. Next fecal is next week.
History - residual shed bits for over a year; odd urates from beginning.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - approx 48x24x24 large Dragonstrand hybrid atrium with drain tray and screen doors
Lighting - Exo terra 100 watt basking spot light in a ZooMed dome fixture with a dimmer switch from 7:15am-2pm; Zoo med T5HO 48” fixture with Arcadia 12.0 tube from 6:45am-6:45pm. ; full spectrum LED along back and front (1 from 7am-5:00pm; other from 7:15am-5:30pm. All lights are suspended on a wire shelf 4” above screen top.
Temperature - Floor temp about 73F; middle of enclosure 75F; basking 82F. Ambient temps measured with digital thermometer/hygrometer. Basking temp measured with temp gun. Lowest night temp about 68-70F.
Humidity - humidity measured with digital hygrometer is typically 34% day and about 60-70% night. humidity created with misting system and cool mist humidifier at night.
Plants - left side=2 pothos, spider plant. Middle=Money tree, gold dust dracaena, small fern. Right side-umbrella tree, spider plant.
Placement - enclosure located against a wall with no air vent or drafts, in a low traffic area. Window across the room has closed curtains (he demanded this😬). Top of enclosure is just under 6’ (which is above eye level since I’m 5’1)
Location - Ottawa Ontario Canada
Current Problem - 1). Constant residual shed that stays for weeks. 2). Odd, not formed, looks like curly string.
 

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That doesn't look like shed to me. It almost looks more like silk. Did any silkworms escape into the enclosure and spin cocoons?

I've also never seen 💩 like that. Can you tell us exactly what he ate during the previous 48 hours?

ferretinmyshoes
kinyonga
 
That's a mighty casque ! Sorry I can't help with more info but will try to bump for a experienced keeper to weigh in on veilded shed issues
 
That doesn't look like shed to me. It almost looks more like silk. Did any silkworms escape into the enclosure and spin cocoons?

I've also never seen 💩 like that. Can you tell us exactly what he ate during the previous 48 hours?

ferretinmyshoes
kinyonga
No, it is definitely the outline of his last shed And it doesn’t budge. I check him daily and it’s always the same thing...he sheds beautifully and uses his branches and feet as expected but there is always this dry stuff left behind.
The 💩 is not the newest one so what he ate in the last 48 hrs won’t matter. Still waiting for this week‘s waste. The white stringy stuff is his urate!! And it’s always like that (except once about a month ago). His diet consists of a variety of feeders (crickets, silks, horns, BSFL, occasionally a couple of mealworms.). So ???
 
The white stringy stuff is his urate!! And it’s always like that (except once about a month ago).
I don't doubt you; I've just never seen urate like that/in that ratio. I'm flummoxed. 🤷‍♂️
That is a LOT of uric acid, and IDK if the urates & shed could be related or not.

TBH, if it were my cham, I think it would be vet time, but I'm open to other opinions.
 
I don't doubt you; I've just never seen urate like that/in that ratio. I'm flummoxed. 🤷‍♂️
That is a LOT of uric acid, and IDK if the urates & shed could be related or not.

TBH, if it were my cham, I think it would be vet time, but I'm open to other opinions.
Yes, I have a bearded dragon vet appointment next week then the Cham appointment the following week. Was hoping to get some input from this group in case the vet is stumped😬. Then I can offer suggestions provided by the group for him to explore. My reptile vet is truly awesome but...this is an odd issue.
 
If you post the how to ask for help form some keepers can help go over suppliments but also lighting may need to be addressed I was shocked how low my uvb output was when I was able to use a solormeter. I added a new uvb at right uvi as well as an led a month or two ago and the shed my cham got was one of the best in his entire life. No left overs super clean vs his normal shed leaving mittens and spots. The form is in this link

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/
 
Best of luck with the vet visits. Bring a sample to test for parasite !
Absolutely. Thanks! I actually brought the Beardie sample in yesterday in case I don’t get a sample for Monday. LOL. 2 hour drive there and back but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to present a fresh sample. 😉
 
Last edited:
If you post the how to ask for help form some keepers can help go over suppliments but also lighting may need to be addressed I was shocked how low my uvb output was when I was able to use a solormeter. I added a new uvb at right uvi as well as an led a month or two ago and the shed my cham got was one of the best in his entire life. No left overs super clean vs his normal shed leaving mittens and spots. The form is in this link

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/
I did post the completed form in the initial post with the pics. But in the lighting section, I didn’t mention that the UV Index along the uv basking branch is 2.7 to 3.1 I use a a solar meter 6.5R. Maybe I should increase the UV index to 3.5 or 4. Let me know if can’t see the form above. Possibly I did something wrong When posting. THANKS.
 
I did post the completed form in the initial post with the pics. But in the lighting section, I didn’t mention that the UV Index along the uv basking branch is 2.7 to 3.1 I use a a solar meter 6.5R. Maybe I should increase the UV index to 3.5 or 4. Let me know if can’t see the form above. Possibly I did something wrong When posting. THANKS.
Could you tell me what your UV Index is, please. I’m going to increase it tomorrow morning👍
 
I did post the completed form in the initial post with the pics. But in the lighting section, I didn’t mention that the UV Index along the uv basking branch is 2.7 to 3.1 I use a a solar meter 6.5R. Maybe I should increase the UV index to 3.5 or 4. Let me know if can’t see the form above. Possibly I did something wrong When posting. THANKS.
Those numbers are fine.

Normal chameleon behavior is to bask in the morning so they are getting UVI 2-3 (VERY rough estimate).
https://chameleonacademy.com/basics-uvb-for-chameleons/
 
Those numbers are fine.
Ya, I set everything up based on Bill‘s advice. 😂😂😂I just finished moving the uvb from the top of the shelf unit to affixing it on the underside of the shelf with a series of twist ties! Oh well...much easier to switch it back up. Thanks very much😊. I appreciate your help. I was REALLY hoping increasing the UV index would resolve the shed/urate issue. You enjoy the rest of your weekend. I’m going to get Ricki a treat for tolerating my shenanigan all morning. 👍
 
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