Tail bitten

[Shanon12]

Hello, I am new to owning a chameleon as I’ve had to take him in from a friend who cannot look after him anymore. He’s a panther chameleon, around three years in age.

The previous owner said that crickets had been eating his tail and that’s why they were scabs there… I just wanted to know if there is anything I can do to help the sores or/and any tips to avoid this… he is now being fed locust instead. (I’ll upload a photo.

Any other general tips Will help, I’ve already swapped out plastic plants for live plants and looking at installing a drip for him.

Thank you.

 

[Gloriawood]

Hi and welcome to both you and your cute guy!!! I would suggest a husbandry review if you are up for it. It would help make sure everything is just right for him. If you want to, let me know and I’ll share the form for you to fill out.

If the crickets are left in the enclosure with nothing to eat, they will bite. You can leave a small something for them to eat so they don’t bite your guy.

 

[Shanon12]

thank you, yes, that would be amazing

 

[elizaann2]

Hello and warmest welcomes!! Bless you for taking this beautiful boy in.

A way to avoid crickets from eating at your chameleon is to not leave any in his enclosure overnight. I keep all my crickets in a lunch log or feeder run, and remove all the uneaten ones just before lights go out.

Chameleons are amazing creatures and if you get their husbandry down right they are quite hearty. I am seeing some things that are concerning and need to change with the pictures you have shared already. He looks fairly overweight and I am afraid I am seeing some signs of MBD (which is basically rickets but in reptiles).

Please share a photo of your boys enclosure including the lights on the top and the husbandry review form that @Gloriawood mentioned is below. Just copy it in a new reply and fill out as much information as you can. The more info you can share the better we can help you in getting things right for your boy.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with, and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long do you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high-traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem -

 

[Gloriawood]

Hello and warmest welcomes!! Bless you for taking this beautiful boy in.

A way to avoid crickets from eating at your chameleon is to not leave any in his enclosure overnight. I keep all my crickets in a lunch log or feeder run, and remove all the uneaten ones just before lights go out.

Chameleons are amazing creatures and if you get their husbandry down right they are quite hearty. I am seeing some things that are concerning and need to change with the pictures you have shared already. He looks fairly overweight and I am afraid I am seeing some signs of MBD (which is basically rickets but in reptiles).

Please share a photo of your boys enclosure including the lights on the top and the husbandry review form that @Gloriawood mentioned is below. Just copy it in a new reply and fill out as much information as you can. The more info you can share the better we can help you in getting things right for your boy.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with, and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long do you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high-traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem -

Thank you! I was wondering if he was showing MBD too. I’m no expert so I didn’t wanna jump the gun I’m also curious, could some of those possibly be burns too? The seem to be all localized on the top of his tail and back

 

[Shanon12]

Hi the enclosure is what he has been in with prior owner and this is only my third day with him but I will fill out as much as I know.

Chameleon: panther, male, 3 years and a few days.
Handling: about once a day, or less. He is quite social and does not hiss much. Only Heard it once.
Feeding: locust- I was told to put a few in with him every few days.
I was giving calci dust ProRep to dust over them.
Watering: I mist 2 times a day, each for a couple of minutes with a spray bottle. He has been drinking from this spray bottle aswell, as was told to spray it towards his mouth(which he drinks) but I am in the process of installing a DIY drip for him.
Previous owner just told me not to get crickets because of his tail and to follow the information I’ve said above.

Cage: the cage I was given is wooden with one side glass, 16” wide 21” long and 34 high.
Lighting is one heat lamp and one Arcadia proT5 UVB . Both of these are at the top of cage. Was told to turn the UV light off at night but not heat lamp.
Plants: have been trying to change out the plastic ones from his cage, at the moment I’ve got spider plant, Ficus and Birdsnest fern in there. - a couple of his original plastic ones but just until I can change them with real.
. I’m unsure how to gauge humidity levels.
Room: at the moment, it’s low on the floor, but this is changing as I’m getting a table to pop it on. He’s in a room that’s not busy and no fans.

I am located Midlands UK.
Sorry I am not that educated on him, just on how the previous owner looked after him, and by doing a little online research myself. Just needed me to take care of him in sort amount of time.

 

[kinyonga]

The marks on the tail look like a burn in one area and the other marks I don’t think are cricket bites…although crickets could have chewed on the spots/areas after they were formed.

In most cases, crickets only chew on chameleons that are not well in my experience. Sick chameleons either don’t kick them off or can’t kick them off because they’re too sick.
Leaving some food in the cage for the crickets is usually a good idea.

I’d be likely to take it to a good chameleon vet.

Can you post a couple more photos of him standing on a stick from the side please. If he hasn’t been getting any vitamin D3 supplements or preformed vitamin A twice a month, that might be part of his problem too.

Is the night light a light or one of those heaters.

Don't spray water right into his mouth…he could aspirate it. It’s better to mist him more from above so the water will gently and slowly run over his face.
This might help…
https://chameleonacademy.com/basics-hydration-for-chameleons/

 

[elizaann2]

See my reply in bold. Also, don't worry about not being educated on him, you are reaching out here and doing your best and that's what matters. We all started somewhere and I think you'll find that there are a lot of awesome people on this forum who would be more than happy to help you with your boy

Chameleon: panther, male, 3 years and a few days.
Handling: about once a day, or less. He is quite social and does not hiss much. Only Heard it once. Chameleons are very shy lizards and handling them often can cause chronic stress which can lower their immune system which in turn will make them more susceptible to illnesses. View him more like a goldfish, he is an awesome animal to observe and to feed, its fun to take care of the environment he is in, but he is not an animal that you hold. We often find that most chameleons that are 'friendly' are actually seeming that way because their enclosure is not set up correctly and they are trying to get out. Once the enclosure is set up properly, the chameleon tends to act more like a chameleon. There are RARE occasions where the chameleon is actually really friendly and doesn't seem to stress with handling, and their enclosure is set up perfectly. Again, this is rare though, just prepare yourself as you get his husbandry set up correctly, he may not care for being handled. I currently only handle my chameleons when I am 1. deep cleaning their enclosure, 2. taking them to the vet or 3. doing a physical check on them to make sure they look good/healthy
Feeding: locust- I was told to put a few in with him every few days. Your boy is very overweight. Note how you can see his cheeks, and the top of his casque (head) buldges out? Those are fat pads. I'll share a picture of my panther to give you an idea of what the casque and cheeks should look like:

Just like with humans, being overweight causes health problems. You'll need to put him on a diet to help him lose weight. Try giving him 2-3 feeders every other day. (@Beman does that sound like an OK amount to start feeding this boy?)
I was giving calci dust ProRep to dust over them. I am not familiar with this supplement, I did look it up online and it looks like it is just calcium. Chameleons also need a multi-vitamin with pre-formed vitamin A and D3 in their supplementation schedule. You will need to get your boy a multi vitamin and a D3 calcium as well. I currently use Repashy LoD, which is a multivitamin and D3 all in one. With this supplement you schedule should be as follows:
Calcium w/o D3 dusted on every feeding
Repashy LoD dusted on feeding on the 1st and 15th of each month
You will need to get this supplement right away as he can develop issues without proper vitamins and D3. The D3 is necessary because it tell his body where to put and use the calcium in his body from the supplements, without D3, the calcium will simply be flushed out of his body and it won't be used for making strong bones and muscles like it should.

Watering: I mist 2 times a day, each for a couple of minutes with a spray bottle. He has been drinking from this spray bottle aswell, as was told to spray it towards his mouth(which he drinks) but I am in the process of installing a DIY drip for him. I am glad he is drinking for you. Ideally you will want to adjust your hydration method so that he doesn't need to drink and/or doesn't drink directly from the spray bottle. Chameleon's airways are in the front of their mouth so if you are spraying water in his mouth I worry he could get water in his lungs. Installing a dripper is an excellent start, have the drops fall slowly over a leaf so he can drink that up safely. You may also want to consider a fog machine for the night. In nature chameleons get their hydration from breathing in a thick fog that rolls in in the early mornings. If you can get your fogging down right he will not need to drink during the day. What do his fecals look like? Can you share a photo next time he goes?
Previous owner just told me not to get crickets because of his tail and to follow the information I’ve said above. Crickets are a fine staple feeder so long as you do not leave them in his enclosure over night. Other great staple feeders are dubia roaches, grasshoppers, and bsfl. You'll want to gut load the bugs (feed them healthy foods) so that they are nice and healthy for your chameleon. I'll attach a document of great feeders and good gut load options for you as well. Also since your boy is overweight I'd avoid feeding him any treat bugs for the time being.

 

[Gloriawood]

Hi the enclosure is what he has been in with prior owner and this is only my third day with him but I will fill out as much as I know.

Chameleon: panther, male, 3 years and a few days.
Handling: about once a day, or less. He is quite social and does not hiss much. Only Heard it once.
Feeding: locust- I was told to put a few in with him every few days.
I was giving calci dust ProRep to dust over them.
Watering: I mist 2 times a day, each for a couple of minutes with a spray bottle. He has been drinking from this spray bottle aswell, as was told to spray it towards his mouth(which he drinks) but I am in the process of installing a DIY drip for him.
Previous owner just told me not to get crickets because of his tail and to follow the information I’ve said above.

Cage: the cage I was given is wooden with one side glass, 16” wide 21” long and 34 high.
Lighting is one heat lamp and one Arcadia proT5 UVB . Both of these are at the top of cage. Was told to turn the UV light off at night but not heat lamp.
Plants: have been trying to change out the plastic ones from his cage, at the moment I’ve got spider plant, Ficus and Birdsnest fern in there. - a couple of his original plastic ones but just until I can change them with real.
. I’m unsure how to gauge humidity levels.
Room: at the moment, it’s low on the floor, but this is changing as I’m getting a table to pop it on. He’s in a room that’s not busy and no fans.

I am located Midlands UK.
Sorry I am not that educated on him, just on how the previous owner looked after him, and by doing a little online research myself. Just needed me to take care of him in sort amount of time.

I’m gonna let more experienced keepers continue giving you advice. I’ve had my guy less than a year and like you, adopted him from someone else. Do not feel bad about not knowing much. Everyone here is non judge mental and so so kind! Follow their advice and you and your Cham will be in good shape. My Cham (Spaghetti) was in rough shape when I got him. And from what you have said, you have more right already than I did. Just be patient with yourself, it can be a lot at first. By the way, does he have a name?

 

[Shanon12]

Thank you. Yes it’s a lot. I will try and upload the photos later.
He’s George, of course after Boy George

 

[Shanon12]

If some of these marks are burns how can I stop/ help this?

 

[Gloriawood]

If some of these marks are burns how can I stop/ help this?

Get him to a good chameleon vet. At least someone who has experience with them. They should prescribe silver sulfadiazine cream. You can use neosporin until then, make sure it’s WITHOUT pain relief. Chameleons for some reason can’t tell when they are getting burned, it’s not uncommon. He is most likely too close to his heat lamp, or the wattage is too high. Lower the wattage of the bulb or raise the light

 

[elizaann2]

Part two, see my responses in bold
Cage: the cage I was given is wooden with one side glass, 16” wide 21” long and 34 high. Can you share a picture of the full enclosure please? Chameleons are arboreal creatures (live in the trees) and so really you need quite a big of height with his enclosure. The minimum recommended size is 24x24x48. I am guessing you may have your guy in an enclosure that may be more suitable for a snake or a bearded dragon.
This is an example of the size you will need here: https://www.chewy.com/zoo-med-reptibreeze-reptile-cage/dp/344873
Lighting is one heat lamp and one Arcadia proT5 UVB . Both of these are at the top of cage. Was told to turn the UV light off at night but not heat lamp. I'd love a full picture of the enclosure including the lights on the top. Placement is important so I can help give any guidance on adjustments that may need to be made. First, with him showing signs of MBD, I would strongly recommend replacing the UVB light. You need to get either an Arcadia 6% OR a ReptiSun 5.0. He needs branches that are about 6 inches below the UVB light so that he can get the proper UVB levels he needs. The UVB is important because it encourages him to eat but also the UVB helps his body use the calcium properly to make strong bones. You want his lights on a 12 hour schedule, on at 8 am and off at 8 pm for example. You can get a count down timer or WiFi smart plug to help you manage that so you aren't having to turn his lights on/off manually. Next his heat lamp, it does need to actually be turned off at night. Reptiles need a cool down in the evenings to get a good nights sleep. The higher the temps, the lighter the sleep they get. What kind of heat light do you have? (pics are fine).

Temps are SUPER important. Reptiles cannot regulate their body temperatures like we can and so they use the temps in their environment to regulate this. Too hot can be dangerous and too cold has issues as well so this will need to be something you monitor. I personally use the Govee hygrometer which checks the temps and humidity levels, it connects to your phone so you can know all your levels anywhere you are You want the ambient temps of his enclosure to be 78-72 degrees, his basking light should be 80 degrees. Chameleons for some reason do not know when they are burning (which some of his tail does look like burns as well as @kinyonga mentioned earlier), because of this, we have to be really careful with our lights and our heat lamps. You'll want to place his heat lamp far enough away from his basking (warming up) branch so he can't burn himself under the light. You'll want his basking branch to be about 6-9 inches or even more away from the heat lamp (the trick with this is to raise your basking lamp above the top of the enclosure), then you'll want some kind of temp gage on the basking branch to make sure his basking temps are correct and then you can do the hand test, which is holding your hand at the closest place he can reach on the basking branch and make sure its a soft warmth rather than a harsh heat.
Plants: have been trying to change out the plastic ones from his cage, at the moment I’ve got spider plant, Ficus and Birdsnest fern in there. - a couple of his original plastic ones but just until I can change them with real. Beautiful, keep this up. Real plants help with humidity levels, which are super important as well but also fake plants if accidentally ingested can cause impaction which is fatal. I'll attach a document with chameleon safe plants for you to work off of. As you are adding plants also, you'll want to make sure that you are creating kind of a 'screen' of plants behind his branches so that he has a place to hide and feel safe. (I'll attach a picture of one of my enclosures so you have an idea of what I'm talking about). Basically if you can look in your enclosure and easily spot your chameleon, you do not have proper plant coverage for him.
I’m unsure how to gauge humidity levels. No problemo! As I mentioned above, humidity levels are equally as important as temperatures. If you get the Govee hygrometer you'll know humidity levels as well, or if you find something similar that is ok too. Basically high humidity levels and high temps can create respiratory infections, low humidity levels and its uncomfortable for your baby and you may find he has eye issues or something. For a panther chameleon you'll want humidity levels around 40-50%. At night you want his humidity levels to spike to 80-100% (this is often done with a fog machine). FYI, you don't want to fog at night if your temps aren't at least 68 degrees or lower.
Room: at the moment, it’s low on the floor, but this is changing as I’m getting a table to pop it on. He’s in a room that’s not busy and no fans. Great job! Height equals safety to chameleons, so you'll want to make sure that the top branches in his enclosure are either at eye level with you or higher. Perfect with the not busy room or fans, chameleons stress easily and being in a high traffic area of your house could stress him. Same with the fans, I think they think they are birds or something

I am located Midlands UK.

Sorry I am not that educated on him, just on how the previous owner looked after him, and by doing a little online research myself. Just needed me to take care of him in sort amount of time. Don't stress too much, you are doing what you can to learn about his care and make adjustments so he can live a healthy happy lizard life and that is what matters. Learning about chameleon husbandry is a bit like drinking water out of a firehose so please stick around and as as many questions as you need to. We are all on here because we love chameleons and we want to help AND keep in mind, we all started off as beginners too. Just be careful with where you get your information on, unfortunately there is a lot of incorrect information on how to care about chameleons. Great resources on learning about their care is:
The Chameleon Academy Website, Podcast and YouTube
Neptune the Chameleon Website and YouTube
The care sheet I use for my panther is found here: https://chameleonacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Panther-Chameleon-Care-Guide-2023.pdf

Before I forget, this is what I am doing with my hydration method should you choose to use it:
7:45 - mist enclosure for 2 minutes
8:00 - lights come on, as cham wakes up he can drink the droplets on the leaves to top off his hydration
12:00 - dripper installed to drip over leaves, cham can drink from this if needed, if I see my chameleon rush to drink from the dripper I know his hydration is off and I need to make adjustments
4:00 - dripper installed again (I live in a dry state and in the winter with the heater running constantly its necessary for me, you may not need to use a dripper 2x in one day)
8:00 - Lights turn off
10:00 - Mist enclosure for 2 minutes
12:00-6:00 am - fog machine is on for 30 minute sessions

 

[elizaann2]

Thank you. Yes it’s a lot. I will try and upload the photos later.
He’s George, of course after Boy George

Oh my gosh I LOVE HIS NAME!!!

 

[elizaann2]

If some of these marks are burns how can I stop/ help this?

I just mentioned this in my second husbandry review post to you, near the temps/heat lamp convo

 

[Shanon12]

 

[Shanon12]

Turning both of the light off at night? I read that temperature shouldn’t go below 18…. With it being winter in the UK, I am worried that it would get too cold nights for him??
With this as well I’ve seen enclosures that only have the netting for sides but I worry it’ll be too cold?

 

[elizaann2]

View attachment 347478

Thank you so much for sharing!

So looking at his enclosure there are a few problems.

Size - It is quite small for him, as I mentioned before the minimum recommended size is 24x24x48. That size allows you to create temperature and humidity gradients so that he is able to move around his enclosure and sit at temps/humidity levels that he needs.

Branches - He needs a lot more branches than what he currently has as well. Chameleons are arboreal creatures and spend their whole lives living in the trees. His enclosure should basically be branches and plants, any unused space is wasted space. The branches you will need to place them horizontally in his enclosure as chameleons prefer to be horizontal on branches. You can grab branches from your yard or a park, make sure they are not from sap producing trees and do not have a strong odor to them. Put them in your bathtub and scrub them down with soap and hot water and rinse well. You'll need at least one branch that runs horizontally 6 inches below his UVB light and another one that is 6-9 inches below his heat lamp.

Plants - I mentioned before the plants you'll want basically a curtain of plants going down the middle and bottom of his enclosure so he has plenty of hiding places.

Airflow - This enclosure does not allow for any airflow as its solid wood all the way around and on the top/bottom, and the door is solid glass. You need some air movement in his enclosure as stagnant air can cause health problems. Plus the amount of water that should be flowing through his enclosure would completely destroy the enclosure. I would strongly suggest getting a different enclosure for him. If you get one similar to what I recommended there are ways to adjust the all screen enclosure so that it can hold in humidity and temps well.

Now for the lights and especially the heat lamp - having the lights in the enclosure is quite dangerous for the chameleon, as the tend to climb. Really you need a heat lamp like this one. All lights are placed on top of the enclosure. With your enclosure top being solid wood I would suggest (if you are handy) removing the top and replacing it with a screen so that you can move the lights in a safer place for your boy George.

What % is your UVB light?
What watt is your heat light?

 

[elizaann2]

Turning both of the light off at night? I read that temperature shouldn’t go below 18…. With it being winter in the UK, I am worried that it would get too cold nights for him??
With this as well I’ve seen enclosures that only have the netting for sides but I worry it’ll be too cold?

Yes you'll want both lights to be turned off at night. Going below 18 degrees celsius is perfectly fine so long as he can warm up properly in the morning (heat lamp). Thats actually ideal because then you can fog safely at night.

My panther's enclosure was on average 14 degrees C last night and he is just fine. Its scary making some of these adjustments because as I said before, there is a lot of incorrect info out there on chameleons. Check out the Chameleon Academy, there is extensive knowledge there on how to care for panthers, what I like most about it is the site explains they WHY behind everything for chameleon care.

 

[CalamityCrow]

Popping in to say that all this advice is most excellent! It's definitely a lot to absorb and I'll reiterate that folks here are VERY glad you're here and being willing to take advice from folks. You care about this lovely little creature and that absolutely shows.

I don't have much to add other than I don't know why in the UK it's a thing to have the light fixtures inside an enclosure with the reptiles but it's DEFINITELY the norm there. You may struggle to find enclosure setups that don't have that, but hopefully you can - @elizaann2 is correct, we've seen MANY chams in this forum from the UK with burn issues because they can access their heat lamps because they're hanging in the enclosure. Lights/fixtures outside the enclosure allows for safety for the cham AND a whole bunch of space in the enclosure itself that you can use now instead of the lights taking it up. I hope you can find something that works well!

The one other thing I don't think has been said is that little hammock that he's on - once you get the enclosure better set up, you'll want to remove that hammock. The fibers on it can get caught on their little toenails and it can tear them out. They can be dangerous that way and they can be a problem because they're porous, they can harbor bacteria/fungi as well.

All in all, welcome! Keep asking questions and I look forward to following George's journey!