Small spot on side of veld cham

[Alejandro17]

I have a veld chameleon that I just bought 3 weeks ago thats 4 mouths old and I noticed a small circle on the side of his body thats brown on the outside and white on the inside could it be a burn or infection? he is very active and eats good could any one help?

 

[pssh]

Is it one of his lateral stripes? Post a pic.

 

[jannb]

Please post a picture and fill out the ask for help form so that we can help you.

 

[Alejandro17]

pic

I will try to post a pic asap!

 

[pssh]

Does it look like this? or is is different?

 

[Alejandro17]

diffrent ill post the pic right now.

 

[Alejandro17]

could it be a burn?

 

[bimac6]

Looks like a burn to me.
What are your temps set at?
And how close does he have to get the the bulb to bask?

 

[Alejandro17]

the basking spot is 5 inchs away and for heat i use a 100w
Thanks for all your help

 

[pssh]

HOLY moly! How hot is it under the bulb? I use a 40 watt to get 85 degrees about 6 inches away... I can't imagine how hot 100 watts is.

 

[Alejandro17]

should i use a 75w for day? I have a red 75w for the night should that be cool?

 

[pssh]

Digital thermometer is what you need. You need to know the exact temps so burns dont happen. His basking should be around 80-85 degrees max.

Unless your house drops below 50 at night you dont need a night time heat source. The red bulbs disturb sleep patterns anyways.

 

[Alejandro17]

what should i use for night? color?

 

[Dwinger]

what should i use for night? color?

if your house stays warm high 60's to mid 70's nothing your chameleon should feel the temp drop a bit at night just like outside dont use heat lamps

 

[pssh]

You dont need anything for night time unless it drops below 50 degrees. If it does go down to 50 your best bet will be a space heater to warm the whole room.

 

[bimac6]

Wow yeah. Looks like burn is the problem lol .

I am at a 65 w and I get up to 95, so I have to move it far away from the cage just so it gets down to 87.

No light is needed at night time, you need to go down to a waaaay lower wattage, and get the burn checked out by a vet to see what you can do for it.
Do you use a UVB linear tube?

 

[Dave Weldon]

the basking spot is 5 inchs away and for heat i use a 100w

Howdy Alejandro,

As a sanity check, stick the back of your hand right at the basking spot and keep it there for a minute or so and that will give you an idea of what temp your chameleon's skin/body is likley to be exposed to from a 100W at 5 inches. It is ok to use a 100W incandescent light but it must be placed at the appropriate distance . For example, I use a 60W flood set at a distance of about 6"-8" to get a skin temp of about 85-90F for an adult Veiled. If I had to guess, a 100W flood might need to be 12" away.

The advantages of higher wattage is not so much that you can get higher temps but that you can create a larger lighted/heated area by being able to place it higher up and still develop 85-90F.

If you happen to be lighting/heating dozens of enclosures (not me!) then the costs begin to add-up and using a 60W becomes more economical.

Many of us use an infrared digital temp sensor (like tempgun.com) to read our chameleon's actual skin/body temp. Do a search here and you'll see plenty of links to various models from $10 to $50.