White Spots - Sort of?

[maroonbanana]

Problem/info: I went to an expo yesterday, FINALLY ready to buy a chameleon (I've been preparing for months!) and I wound up buying a juvenile giant spiny chameleon. Its so beautiful! Haven't decided on a name yet, either. Anyway! I got it home and there were two white spots, so tiny. My camera couldn't focus on them. One was on the head, a few centimeters from the nose. The more prominent one is on the side. At first I thought it was a piece of dust or lint or something, and I tried to wipe it off with a wet paper towel. Then it wouldn't come off, and when I looked it almost looked like there was a super thin piece of hair next to it? I'm just wondering what this is, how to get it off, if its harmful to the chameleon, and if I need to get some kind of medication/creme for it. Aside from these spots, it appears active, alert, and healthy.

Your Chameleon - I've had it for two days, impossible to sex right now, juvenile, giant spiny cham
Handling - I've handled it four times, once to put it in the cage, and three times to show friends/family
Feeding - small crickets right now, there are four somewhere in the cage, but its refusing them. probably needs to get comfortable in its enclosure before he feeds.
Supplements - they're lightly dusted with flukers calcium/vit D supplement
Watering - it is drinking, i've misted morning and afternoon, and i will again tonight.
Fecal Description - has not pooped yet as far as I've seen
History - I have no idea! the guy that sold them to me didn't have very much information other than that he got really big


Cage Info: one live plant (I can't remember what the name of it was, but its supposed to be one of the leading plants in air purification? its pretty big. I use cypress mulch at the bottom of the cage; just enough to make it more aesthetically pleasing/realistic, large fake bamboo stick (I bent it to become a perch), long fake ivy vine, small zoomed vine
Cage Type - Homemade screen cage, a 3 foot cute (roughly?)
Lighting - I keep my room around 75 because I have other reptiles/animals that do well with higher temps, I also have a 100 watt spot/heat light, 5.0 uv, and at night I use a very dim 60 watt night heat light. I keep the day lights on from about 7 am - 9 pm.
Temperature/Humidity: I'm still waiting for my thermometer and hydrometer to come in the mail! but everything seems okay, it doesn't look upset and it is basking some of the time. I know there's a heat gradient from the top of the cage to the bottom, and the live plant/cypress mulch help maintain humidity.
Plants - I talked about this is cage information.
Placement - not in a high traffic area, away from the other animals.
Location - Upstate NY

Any help would be welcome! and any advice on chameleon keeping, if I'm doing something wrong of if there's something extra I should be doing...well, you know.

 

[camimom]

could be shed skin.
but without pictures, its hard to tell.
also, no night lights, they need darkness to sleep.
i would remove the stuff on the floor of the cage, as he could ingest that, and it can cause impaction.

i dont know the supplement schedule for this species, but calcium with d3 should not be used daily.

 

[Elizadolots]

You should find out what plant it is and check the Safe Plant List to see if it's okay. As they will eat their plants, you want to make sure it's safe.

 

[maroonbanana]

I took the mulch out, and I don't leave the lights on at night any more. Thanks! also, the plant was recommended to me by the man selling plants at the expo, he had a list of plants that were compatible with each animal (snake list, chameleon list, gecko list, frog list. it was p. cool).
Thanks for the suggestions guys!

 

[Carlton]

I got it home and there were two white spots, so tiny. My camera couldn't focus on them. One was on the head, a few centimeters from the nose. The more prominent one is on the side. At first I thought it was a piece of dust or lint or something, and I tried to wipe it off with a wet paper towel. Then it wouldn't come off, and when I looked it almost looked like there was a super thin piece of hair next to it?

History - I have no idea! the guy that sold them to me didn't have very much information other than that he got really big

Cage Info: one live plant (I can't remember what the name of it was, but its supposed to be one of the leading plants in air purification? its pretty big. I use cypress mulch at the bottom of the cage; just enough to make it more aesthetically pleasing/realistic, large fake bamboo stick (I bent it to become a perch), long fake ivy vine, small zoomed vine
Cage Type - Homemade screen cage, a 3 foot cute (roughly?)
Lighting - I keep my room around 75 because I have other reptiles/animals that do well with higher temps, I also have a 100 watt spot/heat light, 5.0 uv, and at night I use a very dim 60 watt night heat light. I keep the day lights on from about 7 am - 9 pm.
Temperature/Humidity: I'm still waiting for my thermometer and hydrometer to come in the mail! but everything seems okay, it doesn't look upset and it is basking some of the time. I know there's a heat gradient from the top of the cage to the bottom, and the live plant/cypress mulch help maintain humidity.
Plants - I talked about this is cage information.
Placement - not in a high traffic area, away from the other animals.
Location - Upstate NY

Any help would be welcome! and any advice on chameleon keeping, if I'm doing something wrong of if there's something extra I should be doing...well, you know.

Other than a piece of old shed, there is one other possibility if this cham was wildcaught (and almost all verrucosus will be imports). You could be seeing an emerging parasitic worm on the skin. Some of them look like threads. As the seller didn't have info on the chams (so hard to imagine...selling something you can't tell the buyer about!!), we just won't know. But, take a fresh fecal sample to any competent vet. This could tell you what parasites your cham is carrying and how to get rid of them.

When the seller said they get big, think of adult size as the size of an adult panther chameleon. They are closely related. The other very large Malagasy cham they might have been thinking about is the Oustalet's cham. They can reach 20-24" TL. Verrucosus is smaller usually.

AFAIK verrucosus don't tend to chew on their cage plants...at least mine never did. But, you should find out what your plant actually is (take a stem to a plant nursery and ask) just in case it might produce an irritating sap or something.

Take out the cypress mulch. Chams can shoot at loose feeders and pick up loose substrate particles on their tongues. Eating enough of this stuff can injure or block their intestines. Chams really do best with NO loose cage substrates. I think you'll find "he" will want more routes to climb around his cage as he'll want to find microclimates inside to regulate his temp and humidity levels. More live foliage will help keep the cage humdity up. The cage size is minimal for an adult verrucosus.

As your room is already kept at 75 F, I would not use such a high watt heat spot. Chams can and do get burned by the focused heat beams from lamps. No heat at night...if your room stays at 75 at night this will be too warm for the cham. They need at least a 10 degree drop in temp at night and NO lights. You may have to find a cooler place for him if your night temps are not lower than 75. They see full color like birds. And, like birds, lights at night will keep them awake.

What are you gutloading with? You will also need a plain calcium dust every day (lightly) with the calcium with D3 once-twice a week. And, a herp vitamin dusting once a month.