Baby female chameleon 5 mos - one eye closed / slit - should I be worried?

S

ssc97

Member
Hi, I have a baby female veiled chameleon, 5mos old. We brought her home from the pet shop last Saturday evening so she's only been with us a short while.
She seems to be ok generally, but her right eye is at a slit (she can open it, however is choosing to keep it closed for the most part). Left eye is completely open.

She slept on the floor of the enclosure yesterday evening which was a bit concerning however this morning when she woke up she chased some crickets (ate 4-5) and then is now back in a bush toward the top of the enclosure. She also had a poo which looked pretty healthy, and I've misted her 2x today already (long mists to help clear her eye out).

However her eye still seems to be shut so I'm wondering when I should get concerned enough to take her to the vet. No problems yesterday although I was worried about her on the enclosure floor.

Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Veiled, Female. 5 months old. Been in our care since this past Saturday.
  • Handling - They handled her in the pet shop and we haven't touched her since we put her in her enclosure on Saturday. We were planning to leave her 2 weeks before handling but migth need to sooner than that if we have to take her to the vet.
  • Feeding - Feeding her locusts and crickets from the pet shop. We haven't gut loaded the feeders yet but am planning on doing fruits and veg. We feed her in the mornings and she had 2x locusts and 2x crickets yesterday, today she's had 2x locusts and 4-5x crickets.
  • Supplements - We have a calcuium + vitamin A supplement powder recommended by the pet shop and we've been dusting all the insects before feeding her. Might start adding fruit and veg to her diet if that could help?
  • Watering - We've been misting her 2-3x a day and misting for 2-3 minutes at a time (trying not to do for longer otherwise the enclosure temp seems to drop rapidly). We use a spray bottle. I can see her drinking.
  • Fecal Description - Black and white at the end, firm poo with shape. To my knowledge, don't think she's been tested for parasites.
  • History - Am concerned she was sleeping at the bottom of the enclosure yesterday evening. I didn't want to handle / move her as she is new to us so I left her. Also saw a locust walking on her yesterday which she didn't do anything about so i dont know if it ended up kicking something in to her eye / if it is normal they let insects walk over them? She eventually ate it but took her a bit of time...
Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - Mix of mesh and glass enclosure. I'd say 2 ft by 4ft. More than substantial.
  • Lighting - Reptile UVB 15W. We keep it on 12h off 12h.
  • Temperature - Temp range is 22-28Celcius. 22 lowest at night. We have a thermometer beneath the heat lamp measuring constant temp.
  • Humidity - We are misting her but will need to get a humidity gauge.
  • Plants - We put in a live plant yesterday (ordering more but haven't come in yet).
  • Placement - Not near any high traffic areas / air vents etc. Enclosure is about 2ft off the ground.
  • Location - UK (it is cold here right now as winter time)
 
Hi and welcome! :) Your husbandry doesn’t look bad except for 2 things that pop out...supplements and uvb.
What brand of supplements are you using? Vitamin A is fat soluble and builds up which can lead to toxicity. It usually isn’t given more than twice per month. The same is true for vitamin D3, which you don’t mention.
Is your uvb a coil bulb or a long fluorescent tube?
Can you post some pics of your chameleon and entire enclosure please?
 
H
MissSkittles said:
Hi and welcome! :) Your husbandry doesn’t look bad except for 2 things that pop out...supplements and uvb.
What brand of supplements are you using? Vitamin A is fat soluble and builds up which can lead to toxicity. It usually isn’t given more than twice per month. The same is true for vitamin D3, which you don’t mention.
Is your uvb a coil bulb or a long fluorescent tube?
Can you post some pics of your chameleon and entire enclosure please?
Click to expand...

Hi, thanks so much for your reply.
Supplements - Nutrobal 208mg (Calcium, A, C, E, D3, K3 and Group B). Should we be putting no more supplements on her food? We've only fed it to her 1-2x given she didn't eat at all the first 2 days she was with us. I can stop giving her any supplements
UVB is a long fluorescent tube.

Have posted the pic of the full enclosure and picture of her - as you can see, left eye is normal but right is still closed.
The top of the enclosure is mesh for air flow

Thanks again! I've been so worried about her all day :)
 

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I’m going to have to check on the nutrobal, but I’m thinking it would be given twice per month. I’ll have to get back to you in a bit on that.
It looks like you have the wrong uvb from the pic. It needs to be a T5 fixture with either a Repti Sun 5.0 or Arcadia 6% uvb bulb. However, usually the bulbs are kept outside on the top of the enclosure, so the screen does filter some uvb out. You don’t by any chance have a solarmeter or access to one, do you?
Yes, more plants! Also more branches and vines to travel upon. You want to try to recreate a little tree for her with lots of little roads to travel and plant cover to take shade and hide in. Looks like wood chips on the floor. There is always a risk she could ingest one and get impacted. Bare floor (or bioactive) is best. While I’m checking on the nutrobal, do check this out. Very informative and educational. :) https://chameleonacademy.com/veiled-chameleon-care/
 
Hi and welcome I'm also in the uk. What light exactly are you using for uvb type. I usually only use a feeder cup for my girl as I hate it when locust b on her. This is the supplements I use arcadia have a program on their website.
20201201_171906.jpg
 
MissSkittles said:
I’m going to have to check on the nutrobal, but I’m thinking it would be given twice per month. I’ll have to get back to you in a bit on that.
It looks like you have the wrong uvb from the pic. It needs to be a T5 fixture with either a Repti Sun 5.0 or Arcadia 6% uvb bulb. However, usually the bulbs are kept outside on the top of the enclosure, so the screen does filter some uvb out. You don’t by any chance have a solarmeter or access to one, do you?
Yes, more plants! Also more branches and vines to travel upon. You want to try to recreate a little tree for her with lots of little roads to travel and plant cover to take shade and hide in. Looks like wood chips on the floor. There is always a risk she could ingest one and get impacted. Bare floor (or bioactive) is best. While I’m checking on the nutrobal, do check this out. Very informative and educational. :) https://chameleonacademy.com/veiled-chameleon-care/
Click to expand...

Thank you!

For the bulb - is it too bright / strong for her then? In the interim, should I keep it off?
Unfortunately I don't have a solarmeter.

Whould you be able to elaborate what's wrong with the light? Don't think I can put the light over the mesh as the cage set up won't probably work it that way.
Can we get another light and just put it in still? Is the light too much for her because she's small (i.e. is it worth us keeping it and putting it back into her enclosure when she's older)?

I've got things coming in the mail for branches / vines. I've ordered quite a few so hopefully they're helpful.
The pet shop told us wood chips (I know, horrible), and I put them in before reading. As you can see I've taken out most of the wood chips but it really freaked her out so I took out the majority of them and am waiting until she calms down a bit (or I will put a bioactive floor in over them - looking to do that in a couple days) and praying in the interim she will be ok.

Just checking then, do you think she needs a vet visit?
 
Flick boy said:
Hi and welcome I'm also in the uk. What light exactly are you using for uvb type. I usually only use a feeder cup for my girl as I hate it when locust b on her. This is the supplements I use arcadia have a program on their website. View attachment 284015
Click to expand...
Thank you for your advice . These look awesome. I will get them for her.

For the locusts, yeah I was really nervous when it sat on her (and am wondering maybe if it hurt her eye that way...). I've ordered a feeder cup but until it comes next week I don't know if there's anything else I can do
 
Ok can you post a picture of the top of the enclosure. The type of tube should b printed on it.
 
It doesn't have to be anything sophisticated. Main purpose keep feeders in but in a good location where your baby can reach
20201124_144135.jpg
 
I have had lots vivexotic tanks and really wouldn't be suitable for bioactive. Has your viv been sealed. I wouldn't worry to much at the minute just focus on the main things.
 
Flick boy said:
I have had lots vivexotic tanks and really wouldn't be suitable for bioactive. Has your viv been sealed. I wouldn't worry to much at the minute just focus on the main things.
Click to expand...

Ok, that is helpful to know. No it hasn't been sealed yet, we were planning to do that and take her out after she has calmed down a bit.

With the more pressing eye issue, is that something I should take her to the vet for? Is it a light issue?
 
@Flick boy are you able to help op with the particulars of enclosure set up and lighting since you are more familiar than I with the type of enclosure?
From just looking at the various levels of vitamins/minerals in nutrobal, I do believe it would be given once every other week. Then at every feeding you’d use a calcium without D3. Arcadia are great supplements though and you may want to switch over to them and use their regimen.
 
MissSkittles said:
@Flick boy are you able to help op with the particulars of enclosure set up and lighting since you are more familiar than I with the type of enclosure?
From just looking at the various levels of vitamins/minerals in nutrobal, I do believe it would be given once every other week. Then at every feeding you’d use a calcium without D3. Arcadia are great supplements though and you may want to switch over to them and use their regimen.
Click to expand...

Thank you. That makes sense. Will get some from Arcadia and start that.
 
I really can't comment on the eye as their could be different issues. what size of locusts are you feeding . Was her eye like that when you got her or when did you notice
 
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