Some sort of allergic reaction to veiled chameleon?

[Kl23]

my girlfriend seems to come out in 'hives' whenever around my 6 month old female veiled chameleon. Even when she's not out her enclosure my girlfriend takes a reaction. I removed the live tree in her enclosure and replaced it with fake vines etc thinking it was the tree but she continued taking reactions. I feed wiz locusts, meal worms and kale daily, has anyone ever heard of any sort of reactions to chameleons, maybe the foods I'm using or possibly even the lighting? Any help at all is massively appreciated!!

Kevin

 

[jannb]

my girlfriend seems to come out in 'hives' whenever around my 6 month old female veiled chameleon. Even when she's not out her enclosure my girlfriend takes a reaction. I removed the live tree in her enclosure and replaced it with fake vines etc thinking it was the tree but she continued taking reactions. I feed wiz locusts, meal worms and kale daily, has anyone ever heard of any sort of reactions to chameleons, maybe the foods I'm using or possibly even the lighting? Any help at all is massively appreciated!!

Kevin

I've seen people post here that their arms broke out with bumps and turned red when the chameleon walked on their arms but never heard of a rash from just being around them.

 

[Moxie]

Stress reaction? Is she afraid of it at all?

 

[wodesorel]

See if it's the food. It's very easy to be or become allergic to mealworms, roaches, pretty much any of it. If she feels brave enough, expose her to them in a neutral location and see what happens. I've lost the ability to feed several insects now due to allergies. Mine is mostly asthma but I have broken in hives many times.

It could be the UVB lighting, but she should be reacting to daylight as well if that's the case. There are certain medications that can make a person break out in a rash when exposed to sunlight,.

And yeah, she could actually be allergic to the chameleon. Anything that has protein chains (anything living) can create an allergic reaction in a person. I think it would be an extreme rarity though.

Has she ever been to an allergy doc and been tested? My family doc blamed my cats for everything and said I needed to rehome them all. When I finally went to a specialist they had to cut the prick test short - it should have taken 20 minutes and they had to scrub me down in 3 because my arms had doubled in size. I'm allergic to everything. He actually told me the cats were the least of my problems and not to bother getting rid of them. It was eye-opening, and it helped me avoid triggers and get treatment to slow the problem down. I highly suggest it to anyone having problems - because you might think it's one single thing but it could be a lot of things combined!

 

[Kl23]

Stress reaction? Is she afraid of it at all?

Nah she's really comfortable being around her and is a bit gutted she can't handle her as much now because of this problem

 

[Kl23]

See if it's the food. It's very easy to be or become allergic to mealworms, roaches, pretty much any of it. If she feels brave enough, expose her to them in a neutral location and see what happens. I've lost the ability to feed several insects now due to allergies. Mine is mostly asthma but I have broken in hives many times.

It could be the UVB lighting, but she should be reacting to daylight as well if that's the case. There are certain medications that can make a person break out in a rash when exposed to sunlight,.

And yeah, she could actually be allergic to the chameleon. Anything that has protein chains (anything living) can create an allergic reaction in a person. I think it would be an extreme rarity though.

Has she ever been to an allergy doc and been tested? My family doc blamed my cats for everything and said I needed to rehome them all. When I finally went to a specialist they had to cut the prick test short - it should have taken 20 minutes and they had to scrub me down in 3 because my arms had doubled in size. I'm allergic to everything. He actually told me the cats were the least of my problems and not to bother getting rid of them. It was eye-opening, and it helped me avoid triggers and get treatment to slow the problem down. I highly suggest it to anyone having problems - because you might think it's one single thing but it could be a lot of things combined!

Thanks a lot for your reply, really helpful! She's seen a specialist who thought it was the dracena plant that was in the enclosure but has booked an appointment to go back again. It sounds like your allergies are pretty bad Im glad it helped you out! Hopefully we can find out what it is that's causing it and change it sooner rather than later, thanks again!