White things

[dave101]

I have noticed my cham has 2 white things on its nose, 1 on either side of his nose. I'm not sure what they are or how they got there. I will put a picture of this.

 

[blackbetty]

It might be dust. Too much of it can produce calcium overload. Let me find you some links.

Edit: here are a few:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/white-nose-18516/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/chameleon-has-white-stuff-15323/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/runny-nose-16128/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/white-stuff-my-chameleons-15192/

Thats just afew. Hope that helps

 

[Lizardlover]

He may have shed, sometimes the shed skin doesnt quite come off the nostrils.

 

[dave101]

I dust my crickets everyday

 

[blackbetty]

Yea i know..and too much calcium can come out of his nose. Read some of the links and see if you think it sounds like the same things.

 

[dave101]

Should i dust the crickets every other day instead? Is it hurting my cham?

 

[blackbetty]

Here is some lengthy reading: https://www.chameleonforums.com/supplementation-mbd-1-a-2451/

Please dont take this rudely: there is a search bar at the top of the page, hence where Im getting the info. It comes in handy. I have no issues helping and finding answers, but sometimes its easier to search than to try to explain to someone.

 

[dave101]

Them links did help as i read, there sayings it from to much supplement. Also it can be from the crickets diet. I have my crickets in a glass tank with lettuce / apple / carrots and water crystals.

 

[blackbetty]

Im glad I could be of assistance. Its nice to know that. I hope it gets fixed and everything turns out ok.

 

[dave101]

Water crystals are good to have correct?

 

[blackbetty]

Yes in your cricket setup, not in the cham cage. Do you cup feed?

 

[dave101]

yes i cup feed. I dust the crickets in a seperate container, then i put the crickets in his feeding cup with sliced apple and carrots

 

[blackbetty]

Well I think supplmeneting also depend son how old the cham is. I know younger chams needs more dusting than older but then there is rumor that too much dusting causes kidney issues and not enough causes MBD.. Hard to know which side you are on.

Sandra has some great info: https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/65-supplements.html

 

[dave101]

its hard to get the right amount of calcium without giving him to much or to less

 

[sandrachameleon]

I personally dust crickets every time I offer them. LIGHTLY dusted, that is. Crickets have a poor calcium to phosphorous ratio.
I dont usually dust the other bugs.

 

[dave101]

I think i am dusting them to heavily, i make them look like white ghosts

 

[blackbetty]

LOL.. yea that be too much. Its not halloween!

 

[leid]

Dave,

First I want to tell you that I commemorate you for wanting to know as much as you can about your cham.

You can white dust, but if you do, do it in moderation. Most of the time I dust about three crickets out of the ten I feed him, and you must make sure it's a dust with calcium WITHOUT D3. D3 should only be administered about 1-2 times a month.

My husband accidentally white dusted several of my crickets, and when it happened I held off dusting for several days. The best way to dust is grab a pinch, then rub your fingers together for about two seconds to release -some- and then sprinkle it on the crix you are feeding him. I know this sounds a little OCD, but it works.

If I offer ten crickets, then I dust about four of them. On the 30th of every month I use dust with d3. Make sure you are either gutloading crix with essential vitamins or are using a vitamin supplement every so often. A good way to gutload is feed crickets carrots about 24 hours before feeding them. Beta k is a good way of Vitamin A ingestion without the worry of toxicity in high amounts.

Since you've only had your cham for two weeks I might assume this was related to the petstore, but there is a chance it was because you were dusting them white. Hold on on the dusting for several days and then continue with the advice given by the people here. Your cham's conditions should improve.

Unless this was a shed, of course.

 

[kinyonga]

I'm still unable to find anything about lizards expelling CALCIUM from their noses...its always sodium or potassium chloride. I can't find any proof for chameleons...but I would hate to see anyone cut down the calcium dusting so it is so low that the chameleon develops MBD thinking that this is going to correct the "white stuff" problem. This is just my own opinion and I have no way at the moment to prove it.

It would be very interesting if someone could take some of the "white stuff" that is around the chameleon's nostril sometimes and test it to see what it really contains.

This is a quote from one of my posts in one of the links that blackbetty provided...
Here are some of those sites...not about chameleons....but still about nasal salt excretion...
http://bio.research.ucsc.edu/~barryl.../research.html
"The salt glands of lizards, unlike those of marine birds, sea turtles, or sea snakes, are unique in their ability to vary the composition of the secreted fluid, secreting potassium chloride as well as sodium chloride depending on dietary ion content."

https://ritdml.rit.edu/dspace/handle/1850/2517
"The teiid lizardAmeiva quadrilineata has a nasal salt gland that responds to NaCl loading by increasing excretion of Na+ (from 1.12 to 2.63 uM/100 gh), K+ (from 0.14 to 2.43 uM/100 gh), and Cl– (from 1.10 to 5.47 uM/100 gh). "

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14074841?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez. Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.P ubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=1&log$=relatedarticles& logdbfrom=pubmed

http://www.sdnhm.org/research/symposia/herpsym98ab.html

 

[kinyonga]

"The encrustation you’re seeing is merely the salt from your lizard’s body and nothing to worry about. Chameleons cannot sweat or eliminate salt as mammals do so they have developed this way as a means to do so."...
http://www.chameleonnews.com/?page=article&id=132