washfamily02
New Member
Please look this photo over carefully and help me if you can. My veiled chameleon (The Pope) was fine as of yesterday. I was out of town this morning and when I got back this evening I noticed that he was black on part of his underside, and completely on one leg (but not the other) as well as part of his tail. So the first thought that runs through my head is "crap, thermal burn!" but the more I have examined him the less I'm thinking thermal burn.
If he was hanging from the top of this cage under the heat lamp and got a thermal burn I'm thinking that there shouldn't be any black on the top side of his body because he was upside down. Also, the bright white stripe that runs down the underside of his body should also look burnt. However, the bright white stripe isn't darkened at all, it looks fine. Also he will let me touch/rub the black areas without running or hissing or showing any signs of discomfort. Also he has never had black spots on his lip or on his tail before. Those showed up today as well. Based on those observations it doesn't make sense that it would be thermal burn.
Also, it kind of appears to me that the all black leg is swollen? That could just be an optical illusion due to the fact that it’s a darker color perhaps.
As far as husbandry goes I keep the overall cage temp around 80 degrees and the basking spot is about 93 degrees. I don't handle him often, maybe once or twice a week for a few seconds and I'm keeping him in a screened enclosure with plenty of UVB 5.0 lighting. His humidity varies from 35% (while I'm at work) to 60% (right after I finish misting down the enclosure. His enclosure drops in temps to about 70 degrees at night. He is still very active and has no problem running away from me in his enclosure.
Extra information that probably doesn't help: I recently ran out of crickets and the crickets I got back in were too small to feed. I attempted to feed mealworms, wax worms, and butter worms but he does not seem interested in worms at ALL. So he hasn't had the chance to eat in a few days but I have still been finding poo in the cage. I got some crickets today at Repticon but now he doesn't seem interested in them…. My female gobbles them right up (she is in a separate enclosure out of view from my male.)
Any have thoughts on this? Is there any information I should have provided and missed? I’m very concerned at this point but The nearest herpetologist is over 160 miles away. I hate to make a 3 hour trip if I’m just over reacting. He is probably due for a shed very soon as well as it has been a while since I’ve seen him shed.
If he was hanging from the top of this cage under the heat lamp and got a thermal burn I'm thinking that there shouldn't be any black on the top side of his body because he was upside down. Also, the bright white stripe that runs down the underside of his body should also look burnt. However, the bright white stripe isn't darkened at all, it looks fine. Also he will let me touch/rub the black areas without running or hissing or showing any signs of discomfort. Also he has never had black spots on his lip or on his tail before. Those showed up today as well. Based on those observations it doesn't make sense that it would be thermal burn.
Also, it kind of appears to me that the all black leg is swollen? That could just be an optical illusion due to the fact that it’s a darker color perhaps.
As far as husbandry goes I keep the overall cage temp around 80 degrees and the basking spot is about 93 degrees. I don't handle him often, maybe once or twice a week for a few seconds and I'm keeping him in a screened enclosure with plenty of UVB 5.0 lighting. His humidity varies from 35% (while I'm at work) to 60% (right after I finish misting down the enclosure. His enclosure drops in temps to about 70 degrees at night. He is still very active and has no problem running away from me in his enclosure.
Extra information that probably doesn't help: I recently ran out of crickets and the crickets I got back in were too small to feed. I attempted to feed mealworms, wax worms, and butter worms but he does not seem interested in worms at ALL. So he hasn't had the chance to eat in a few days but I have still been finding poo in the cage. I got some crickets today at Repticon but now he doesn't seem interested in them…. My female gobbles them right up (she is in a separate enclosure out of view from my male.)
Any have thoughts on this? Is there any information I should have provided and missed? I’m very concerned at this point but The nearest herpetologist is over 160 miles away. I hate to make a 3 hour trip if I’m just over reacting. He is probably due for a shed very soon as well as it has been a while since I’ve seen him shed.
