Stuff from her nose

[iya78]

My baby female chameleon has something white coming out of her nose. It looks like it might be skin shed, but she just finished shedding her whole face about a week ago. It looks weired, should I be concerned?


See the thing is I only had her for about 2 weeks, when I purchased her I asked questions about everything I needed, the pet store did not mention when I needed to supplement, I know that I need to, but I heven't yet, so actually it cannot be over supplementing. Can it be lack of? I am going to call the pet store owner tomorrow to get recommendation of supplements to buy and schedule of when to do so. I want to keep her healthy and happy.

 

[supermrchameleon]

It could be that your over supplementing. Try cutting back a little and see if it goes away.

 

[pssh]

Post a picture. It could be over supplementing or it could be salts. It could be quite a few things.

 

[Brad Ramsey]

This is a very common thing with baby chameleons and it is over supplementation.
It's hard not to give them too much ... they are so small and we are so concerned that they get what they need.
I have found it to be (almost exclusively) a problem of chameleons under a year old.
Don't worry, and try not to dust as much.

-Brad

 

[iya78]

Just a note, she is a veiled chameleon, I believe she is around a month old and she eats 1 cricket a day or two every other day.

 

[SpinyFranky]

one cricket a day?

are you just offering one? or are you offering multiples and she only eats one. Are you cup feeding or free ranging? what are the dimensions of your cage?

.... Please fill out the how to ask for help form. Something is very wrong if a one month old is eating 1 cricket a day.

In my prayers you are gonna edit and say typo.

 

[vinny knight cham]

excuse me spinyfranky i think it is .but do u think that is to much?cause mine was'nt eating and then wen he took an exsitment to mealworms i feed him two everyday for the first two days and now he eats 1-2 every other day

 

[SpinyFranky]

excuse me spinyfranky i think it is .but do u think that is to much?cause mine was'nt eating and then wen he took an exsitment to mealworms i feed him two everyday for the first two days and now he eats 1-2 every other day

Babies need to essentially undertake feeding frenzies.

A one month old should be eating 8- 15 crickets a day. 15 if they are smaller, 8 if they are more proportionally sized to the chameleon.

When I first purchased my female, the crickets available were a little small for her size, and she would eat about 20 per day.

When I finally was able to make friends with a petco employee so that he would hand pick crickets for me that were decently sized ( petco only sells small and large, he picked the "inbetweens" for me ) that number went down to around 12 per day.

As she is approaching six months of age now that number has further reduced from 12 to 5-6 daily. At eight months that number will further be reduced to 6 every other day.

If an animal that young is only consuming 1 cricket a day, there is an obvious issue in husbandry, and the animal is at serious risk. It needs the calories and nutritional content of many, not just one, cricket to develop and grow.

----------------------------------------

Mealworms are of little nutrional value to your chameleon, and while pet stores may have their animals on a strict diet of meal worms, it is only because they are dirt cheap to colonize and maintain. Super worms, butter worms, crickets, Roaches, Horn worms, Silk Worms - are all nutritious feeders that should be a regular part of your animals varied and maintained diet. Though I might add horn worms make for good treats and silk worms can become addicting to chameleons.

 

[Elizadolots]

iya, would it be possible for you to post a picture of your chameleon, preferably with something in the frame to indicate size?

If you don't want to take her out and handle her, perhaps measure a couple of major features in her cage and make sure one is in the picture...so, you can tell us: the leaf she is drinking from is 2 inches wide, as an example. Or hang a cloth tape ruler (you can get them at places that sell fabric or even clothes...this might be an "ask a woman" moment) in the cage. Wait a few hours for her to adjust to that before you try taking her picture when she's near it.

I'll make note of something in the original post that strikes me as off. iya says he bought the chameleon 2 weeks ago, and it's about a month old....I doubt any store would sell a 2 week old chameleon. A mainstream pet store wouldn't be sent such a young baby by a breeder and a reptile store that breeds its own is unlikely to do such a thing, especially with a novice owner.

I suspect there's a substantial lack of information, both at the store and, understandably, on iya's part about how big chameleon's get, at what point a chameleon stops being a baby....stuff like that.

Edited to add....

I just realized that your avatar is a picture of you child holding the chameleon in question.

That's is a small chameleon. When was the picture taken?

edited again to add...and then I googled "one month old veiled chameleon"

 

[SpinyFranky]

broken photo link there Eliza.

not unlike the original posters.

Again there are serious issues if the animal is consuming 1 cricket a day.

 

[Elizadolots]

Thanks...I put the image in under my own link. I think it's a pretty big difference...

 

[iya78]

That's is a small chameleon. When was the picture taken?

It was taken 2/24/10, I thought that she was really small too, so I assumed that she was around a month old, but on this forum people let me know that store usually don't sell them that young. So I decided to call the owner and ask him, and he let me know that the batch was about 3 months when he purchased them, so that should make them 4 months now.

 

[Elizadolots]

Well...it means you bought it a month after he got it..so, at least 2 months old, right?

From what I understand, smallness at first is not a huge issue, just a reflection on improper early care...now that your baby is in your hands you should see a growth spurt. I look forward to reading about that.