Skin issue-bacteria or fungus???

[nurseekc]

My 8 month old veiled chameleon, Tiki just got through recently with being egg bound, having oxytocin injection, fluid injections, tube feedings, weight loss. She laid 45 eggs-is a virgin chameleon so not fertilized eggs. She is better now & strong & eating nonstop. She has gained 20 grams & is 79 grams now. She has now developed an odd circle on her side up near her front leg. It has been there maybe a week & was initially yellow & flat & stayed this bright yellow even when she got dark. It now is larger & raised. I took her to the vet yesterday & they said either to do biopsy (which is risky in them) or first try antibiotics & cream. I'm concerned-could this be bad or contagious to my other chameleons & beardies? My other 9 month old chameleon has MBD & 2 healing fractures from the same egg binding issue. She is otherwise better now-laid 50 eggs & legs seem to be healing well. I have a baby panther chameleon (male-thank God) & he is so far well.
My 2 beardies & veiled's have also been battling coccidia.
Have spent a small fortune on my babies!
Thanks!

 

[Texas Panther Man]

As long as you are diligent in your husbandry and dont mix feeders from that chams cage with any others. And you dont pick that cham up without latex gloves I wouldnt freak out about it. You have to treat that cham as you would new addition. It should optimally be quarantined in another area. Its cage shoud be cleaned regularly and not while cleaning others. for risk of cross contamination. I would bleach or peroxide his cage at least once every two weeks. If you follow very strick hygiene with him it shouldnt spread to the others. I see that you are a nurse you should be fully prepared in what to do as far as as not contaminating others. I'd try the cream first to see if it helps before attempting any surgery. If it shows no imp after a cpl of weeks you'll have to decide then whats in his best interest.

 

[VeiledChams]

I had the exact same problem on my female veiled. The thing grew to about an inch long. I took her to the vet and he said that it wasnt below the skin so it was TOO bad. He also told me to apply neosporin on it.

He also mentioned that this may have been caused (in my case) from breeding. My male veiled has some pretty sharp nails and a very strong grip. Maybe while mounting the female, he penetrated the skin and got infected. Looking over the markings on her back, they do seem like scratches.

she is getting better. I'll post a picture of how she is doing when I get the chance. Try to get one of your female as well

 

[nurseekc]

Thanks for replies-I did not suspect infection initially because she had injections, etc on her back so suspected that was cause as did vet initially, so was not being as careful as I should have-I am now. I have not been using latex but scrub hands carefully after handling her.
I will post pic later.
Thanks!

 

[Texas Panther Man]

Yeah I keep a big bag of latex gloves because I keep wc's. I dont take chances when I touch any of my wc's or clean their cages. Im always scared I'll get busy and forget to wash up and touch something by mistake. So the gloves keep me from doing that. I got a huge bag at the dollar store for cheap.

 

[kinyonga]

Can you please post a picture of the spot and the chameleon?

If you feed her too much she will produce large clutches and that often shortens the chameleon's life....
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/2007/12/keeping-female-veiled.html

 

[nurseekc]

I went to post the picture tonight & found my daughter had let her friend borrow my USB cord for my camera. I will post tomorrow.
Yes, I've heard large amounts of food produces large clutches so I need to cut her back. I just wanted her to gain some weight back because she got very thin after the egg ordeal. The breeder said to give her either 8 crickets or 8 worms & alternate. Is that a good amount?
Anyone out there heard of Phoenix worms? I was instructed to get them for my new beardie? I hear they are high in calcium. Anyone feed them to chameleons?
Thanks!

 

[nurseekc]

OK I am going to try to post some pictures of my chameleons wound. I was on here a few days ago & never got them on. Since then the wound has blistered, opened, & vet got fluid out of it & cleaned it up. She got an antibiotic injection & is on oral med & cream. Vet feels it is not a skin parasite but a reaction to the repeated oxytocin & calcium injections she had to have.

 

[nurseekc]

And here is how it looked a couple days prior.

 

[kinyonga]

So that was not the injection site??

 

[nurseekc]

Yes, apparently that was one of the injection sites.

 

[spadefish]

This looks like an abscess. They are first flat and yellow and then raised and yellow. When the skin heals underneath, the scab will usually fall off with a shed. I swabbed mine with betadine, then rinsed with a saline wash (both from CVS), dried it and applied neosporin. Of course, mine was a rescue and had these all over her and in two weeks, she is down to three lesions left. When they finally come off, the skin underneath is gray. The vet also prescribed oral antibiotics. It also helps to keep the humidity up and keep them a bit warmer (I used a warm mist humidifier for this and it worked really well).