The shedding problem of my adult male chameleon~

[Jian Zhang]

Hello, everyone.
I have a adult male chameleon, I bought him when he was 1 year.
he is very health, has a good appetite, and even can eat the Lettuces.
But after few days, we found when he shedding, he always left some skin around his nose, corners of the mouth and eye sockets.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=9954&c=3&userid=12596
https://www.chameleonforums.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=9955&c=3&userid=12596
At begin, we thought he could make it so we didn’t pay more attention about it.

But it became worse, the part where he difficulty shedding became thicker than usual. It be covered with the white shed skin layer by layer.
We try to help him to get off these skin, but it very tight like scabby.
So we used the ZOO MED shedding aid but it no much effect, and my chameleon is frightened. He don’t like to go out of cage anymore.
The parts is too close his head and eyes so we can’t be rude.
The difficulty shedding parts get a little bigger than before. Though he still have a good appetite, but we really worried about it, is it a skin disease? Or he need to eat some things like vitamin?

Would you please check this link of the pictures or go to my Gallery to have a look?

https://www.chameleonforums.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=9954&c=3&userid=12596
https://www.chameleonforums.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=9955&c=3&userid=12596

And could you tell us what we need to do?
Thanks so much.

 

[ataraxia]

are these recent pics? if so, i dont see any bad signs as far as his skin is concerned.

to help him along with his sheds, mist him for longer periods and with warm water. i know you said he hates being out now but you can also try a shower chamber. lastly depending on your cage set up, you can drape a wet/moist towel over the side of the cage to raise humidity up.

 

[Zen Reptiles]

Humidity during shedding will help. Use an Ultrasonic Fogger over the cage and leave it on for 12 hours or so. This will help a lot with shedding.

Also, vitamin A has a lot to do with skin health, you should be putting one drop of a liquid vitamin A onto ONE feeder ONCE a month. I use a vitamin A in a gel cap (same kind that people take as a vitamin), pinch the end, and put one drop onto the back of a cricket, and make sure he eats it right away.

Make sure the type of vitamin A is....retinyl palmitate, and/or halibut liver oil.

There are several forms of vitamin A, you want those two in one capsule, but it's fine if you get one or the other.

Goodluck! It doesn't look too bad though. Humidity and vitamin A will help.

 

[Elizadolots]

Zhang, I see what you are concerned about. I think that ataraxia and Brock are right: it is not serious. If it were my animal I would increase daily mistings (both quantity and time) and when the next shed started, add even more mistings.

 

[Jian Zhang]

Thank you so much~

Hello, my friends,
Thanks so much for your suggests.

When I see your replies, I thought I really pay less attention with Humidity.
I thought I keep a plant and a box full with water in his cage can help him to keep Humidity, and I use watering can two times in a day.

But I still have some questions: The skin he shed is difficult to fall off by himself.
The shedding skin when they fall off is fragmentary.
And I found the parts he shed become coarse and hard like short stabs,like granulate.
Can I get them off with my hands? But I afraid that woud hurt him.

It's night in Beijing, tomorrow I will take more clear pictures when he awake.
I hope you could give help to me, please.
Thank you so much.

 

[Zen Reptiles]

When there is difficult skin left on after a shed, my girlfriend uses a soft-bristled toothbrush, soaks it in hot water for a few seconds, and rubs very gently on our lizards where they are having trouble shedding.

Sometimes I will rub vitamin A right on their skin.

We also use tweezers to pull it off.

By far the best method is an ultrasonic fogger on the cage for several hours, or even the whole day. I find the ones that have irritated eyes or bad skin sheds will sit right under the fog, letting it fall on them, for hours and hours.

 

[Jian Zhang]

Today I use the vitamin A

Thank you for your advice.
I buy some Vitamin A soft capsules form the drugstore.
Then I put a few on a Tenebrio molitor and he eat them.
How long should I keep to feed the Vitamin A for him, one week?
Thank you very much.

 

[Elizadolots]

I would be very careful about feeding vitamin A. It is easy to over do that with these animals. I would be very careful about trying to scrub or pick the stuck shed off as you might take healthy skin along with it.

 

[Jian Zhang]

How many Vitamin A should I give me one time?

Thank you my friend,
I am also care to the dosage of Vitamin A I feed.

I want to know How many should I feed to him one time?

How many dosage is fit for a adult male chameleon, half of a sofe capsule or a quarter of ?

it's the first time I face the shedding problem.

Thanks for your helps.

 

[tdotcham]

from what I have read... more like a pin drop of the liquid capsule placed on a feeder. I will let a more experienced keeper chime in on that but quarter/half of a capsule sounds like way too much vitamin A and could be lethal.

 

[Jian Zhang]

The more close picture of shedding parts and the size of Vitamin A soft capsule~

Hello, my friends.
Today my male chameleon finally get out from the cage.
So I can take a more close picture for him.
Please look at this pictures.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=9982&c=3
He don't like I touch these white parts, as if he can feel pain when I try to get the skin off with tweezers.

and this is the size of the Vitamin A soft capsule, I use the hypodermic syringe to drop them on the food.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=9983&c=3
But it seems that didn't work at once.
I need more patience, and keep observing.
I hope you could give me more advice.
Thanks so much.

 

[tdotcham]

regardless of the size of the pill, make sure you are not giving more than the single drop on a single feeder. As I've already said, administering that much vitamin A (you previously mentioned 1/4 or 1/2 of a pill) continuously. It is a one time thing that some keeps have had good experience on giving once in a while... don't be doing this every day.

His shedding doesn't look that bad.... give him continual mistings as already mentioned with warmer water. I think tweezers may be a little much, especially if the skin isnt ready to come off. Think of it as a scab on a cut, some parts heal faster, however you don't want to be ripping off skin that isn't ready to go yet.

 

[Elizadolots]

One drop on one feeder is what I've always seen suggested. I agree, the shedding doesn't look bad. It's possible some of what you are seeing around the nose is calcium that is being sloughed off through the mucus membranes. It's very easy to give them too much calcium, but fortunately, they don't turn it into kidney stones or things like that. They excrete it through their mucus membranes, usually the nose. It forms a white crusty patch.

I agree with tdotcham, I wouldn't pick at that with tweezers. The most I might do is run a finger over it and see if it brushes off. If not, then leave it and mist some more. You could even put him in a shower (Put your chameleon on a safe plant in the shower stall,point the shower to the wall so it bounces off the wall onto your chameleon, use warm water). That might inspire him to try to rub some of that off.

 

[Jian Zhang]

Please forgive me poor understanding of English~

Thank you my friend,
You mean that I should keep single drop on a single feeder,
please forgive my poor English, I couldn't understand the red sentence correctly.
Could you please explain it for me ?

As I've already said, administering that much vitamin A (you previously mentioned 1/4 or 1/2 of a pill) continuously. It is a one time thing that some keeps have had good experience on giving once in a while...

Thanks so much, I will waiting.

 

[Jian Zhang]

I hope that is too much calcium.

I hope that is too much calcium.
Beacuse they always be here for at least one month.
And they get more bigger.

 

[tdotcham]

to explain the red sentence. If you are doing Vit A droplet (only 1 small drop on 1 feeder) only do it 1 time. If you keep doing it, you can kill your chameleon.

 

[Jian Zhang]

Oops... Thanks so much for the explaining.
Otherwise I could be understanding it as going on.
That will be horrible.
Should I stop to feed him with Vit A?

 

[Elizadolots]

Yes. I think that's what he's saying.

 

[tdotcham]

elizadots is correct. I am no expert, however from what I have read on this forum is that supplementing with Vitamin A is touchy and should only be done in minimal amounts and not often

 

[ruffcuts]

Do some reading

I have two Panther Chameleon's everything that I have read states you should never try to"help" your chameleon shed they will do it naturally...frequent misting always helps