Bump on chameleons eye

[chamegizzy]

There is a bump developing on my chameleon's eye. I noticed it 4 days ago and it has remained the same size, however, I cannot say I have seen it shrink or increase in size, perhaps I need to give it more time. Additional information and pictures below, I would really appreciate any and all feedback to keep our baby healthy!

We have maintained conditions as pristine as possible, dusting the crickets appropriately and gut loading them. What could be causing this? Is it a vitamin deficiency? Has anyone dealth with this before?


Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Nosy Be Panther, Male, 7 months old
• Handling - Once a week
• Feeding - Crickets are the mainstay of his diet (10-12 medium-sized crickets per day), twice a week we give him hornworms as a snack (1 for each feeding along with the crickets), along with butter worms (one for each feeding along with the crickets). We gut load our crickets every night by pulling them out of the main cricket bin, and putting them in a seperate bin to eat our hommeade "sauce" of bee pollen, collard greens, mustard greens +more, and we allow them to eat this for 12 hours before feeding them off to our chameleon.
• Supplements - We use rep-cal w/d3, rep-cal without d3, and herptivite multivitamin. We dust the crickets with plain calcium Monday - Friday, and we dust with the multivitamin and calcium w/D3 once every other week.
• Watering - He gets misted 5 times a day for 6 minutes at a time with our Mist King system. I see him shooting his tongue at water droplets from time to time, though I am not sure if he is drinking enough water? I have not seen him sitting near a leaf and sipping water.
• Fecal Description - Dark brown/gray color, not runny, solid form, white tip --- which means he is being hydrated. Otherwise it would be orange?
• History - We received him about 1 month ago

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Dragonstrand 2' x '2 x 4', Large clear side enclosure, the top and one side is mesh screen only, rest are solid and clear.
• Lighting - Quad fixture from Light your Reptiles: the fixture has Arcadia 6% Bulb & 3x Daylight Bulbs - BUILT IN TIMER. See here
  
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? 88 degrees basking spot, 75 degrees middle of cage, 72 degrees bottom of cage. Measured with temperature sensors inside the cage. Lowest temp at night can reach around 60 degrees
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? 50-70% They drop to 50% right before the misters turn on. Using a hydrometer inside cage to measure levels
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? Pothos and Prayer plant
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? Entry door of our apartment, we go in/out about 15-20 times per day, nothing too crazy. We do watch TV at nights so his bedtime is around 8pm, but TV light will flicker until about 12am. The cage is directly behind two windows, we do keep them open when cooking and/or turn on the living room fan in the daytime if it is hot and stuffy. The top of the cage is about 6.5 feet from the ground.
• Location - Where are you geographically located? We are located in Santa Monica, on the west Coast of Los Angeles. Temperature is usually 70-85 degrees with moderate humidity.

Current Problem - Bump/growth forming around chameleons right eye

 

[serenaj25]

hmm, I haven't seen anything like this on any of my chams. I live in Santa Monica as well. It could be a bug bite because sometimes if you free range the bugs they can get on your Cham and bite him. is there any discharge coming from The eye? does he seem to have trouble using his eye?

 

[serenaj25]

also, his basking spot should be warmer, around 80-90 F although I can't see why this would cause a bump on his eye....

 

[jajeanpierre]

@chamegizzy I've seen that kind of fluid filling in a lot of pictures here on the Health section. I've never seen it in one of my own chamleons so have no experience with it.

I do think this needs to be treated by a vet.

It could be an eye infection. I believe it could be a sinus infection draining into the eye socket. I also think that there is a duct that can get blocked that needs a vet to unblock.

He needs a good reptile vet.

 

[chamegizzy]

Is it just fluid? Have other with similar issues seen this disappear? Any idea what causes it? I'm thinking of waiting 1 week to see if it settles down, is that a bad idea?

 

[jajeanpierre]

Is it just fluid? Have other with similar issues seen this disappear? Any idea what causes it? I'm thinking of waiting 1 week to see if it settles down, is that a bad idea?

If you are asking me, I say waiting is a bad idea.

Would you really want to wait if the eye socket were filling up with infectious debris draining from a sinus infection? Do you understand how closely connected the eye is to the brain? Or fluid was building from some kind of a duct blockage? Or do you really think it a good idea to wait on an eye infection? I'm big on allowing a chameleon to heal themselves. I am not afraid to wait and watch for all kinds of injuries but this isn't an injury that I would say wait and watch.

 

[chamegizzy]

We just came back from a highly recommended vet, Dr. Greek and associates in Yorba Linda, they are exotic pet specialists. She didn't give us the best news after taking a look at his eye.

Essentially, the vet probed and cleaned his eye with saline to no avail, the bump which is typically fluid, is a hard (mass) that is growing at the corner of his eye. She was pushing it around (quite unnerving watching her do it) and it was not liquid, she also tried to bring it to the center of the eye by nudging it around, but she was not able to determine what it was.

The vet told us the only way to determine what's in his eye would be surgery... to cut his eyelid and get in there. She said even if she does the surgery, it is a very sensitive area and if the growth is connected to other tissues in the sinus cavity or near the brain, it may be difficult to remove. She told us to hold off for now and watch it, and that if he does not show signs of discomfort, then we should not proceed unless it continues to grow.

But here is my question: at what point do we decide to put him under a knife? I can only imagine how sensitive their tiny little eyes are, and I certainly would not be hopeful that he would have 100% functionality of his eye after ripping it open in surgery and sitching it back up. Does anyone have experience with this or have heard of any other eye surgery cases with chameleons to remove a growing mass?

My thinking is the following: unless it grows to the point where it is so large that he cannot see out of the eye, I don't feel comfortable cutting him open thinking it may fix the issue, it may just make matters worse. Stitching such a sensitive area on a tiny creature does not sound like a flawless surgery.

We've only had our little guy for 1 month and he's grown this bump, really disheartening and I hope it's not 6 years of misery and discomfort for him. I would appreciate any and all suggestions. We have not seen him trying to scratch or touch his eye, but if it continues to grow I can only imagine that he would.

Thanks for all the help