What color should a veiled chameleon's nostrils be?

[Jonah S]

I know if a veiled has too much calcium it will come out of their nose. Larry has two white dots for nostrils and i wasn't sure if this was calcium or just his nostril color. His crickets are being dusted lightly, I'm certainly not ghosting them. He gets calcium five days a week with Wednesday and Sunday being the plain-cricket day.

 

[buzz]

are they white crystals?

 

[Jonah S]

Nope, no crystals, just two tiny white dots probably about the size of a pin head.

 

[buzz]

do you have any pics of it?

 

[Jonah S]

Don't have any pictures where you can see what I'm talking about. Larry is pretty camera shy and the white on the nostrils is incredibly small. I'm pretty sure he is fine to be honest but I figured it wouldn't hurt to get some opinions.

 

[Elizadolots]

Has it always been there? It's not unusual for chameleons to be lighter around the lips and nose.

It might be due to excess calcium. It's not a problem, it's just the animal taking care of itself. You can try cutting back on the calcium a bit and see if that clears it up. You can do that by either skipping more days or pulling out a couple of feeders to dust. Give that at least 10 days to take effect!

Pictures would still be a good idea because it might be something completely different and the experts here might be able to recognize it.

The fact that chameleons vent out excess calcium is really cool! As those of us who have Guinea Pigs can tell you, they send excess calcium to their kidneys and bladders in the form of stones....that's a problem.

 

[Jonah S]

I recently upgraded Larry to a better enclosure that is 18x18x36. It allows me to see him more and I'm pretty sure his nostrils look the same as they have. I have been feeding him 6-8 crickets twice a day and for the last day or two, I have been using less calcium or no calcium for the second feeding to see if anything would change. I will certainely try to get a picture of him, that may not go very well though. My camera phone has decent resolution but fine detail might be lacking. Even worse, Larry is incredibly camera shy. This is what happened last time I tried to snap a picture of him:

The most recent pictures I have of him are here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/larry-showin-me-whos-boss-well-flexin-some-new-color-44371/

I can't really see anything on his nose on these pictures, I may have to snag a friend's camera and see if I can get a close up of Larry. At least he is modest

 

[Elizadolots]

heh...those are funny. Thank you.

I'll be honest, I don't see anything on those pics that screams "calcium overload!". I suspect you might be a bit cautious with your baby. That's good. But don't over think it.

 

[buzz]

yea i didnt see anything as well. I think it is just his coloring. When my veiled lightens up when he gets in the sun he gets some realy light coloring around those areas as well

 

[Jonah S]

I checked on him a few minutes ago and saw the white nostril on his right side but not his left side. He is really confusing me at this point

Tomorrow is his plain cricket day so I will see if it looks any different on Monday.

 

[buzz]

one day of feeding wont have it go away. i dont think you have to worry just sounds like the normal coloring to me . but i havent seen it even then i cant tell you for absolutely sure