chameleon eye problems

[bekki5]

I took my panther chameleon to the vet concerning his eyes and the vet told me it was most likely a sinus infection. So he was on medication and eye drops for a few weeks and it didn't make much of a difference. He keeps his eyes shut much more than normal. Sometimes he does this weird thing where it looks like he blows his eyelids up like balloons, he itches them against anything they can and then they go back to normal. But this really seems to be bothering him and he's not eating as much. has anyone else experienced this problem?

 

[bekki5]

info

Chameleon Info:
Panther Chameleon, almost 2 yrs old
Handling - not very often, sometimes when feeding
Feeding - 12 Lg gutloaded crickets every other day, usually dust with calcium every now and then an all around vitamin supplement. mealworms and wax worms, 5 each every other day.
Watering - I have a waterfall and a dripper, I mist him every day but he hates it. I syringe drink him every 3 days.
Fecal Description - he doesn't go often but when he does it's a lot. brownish with white.
History - hes been tested for parasites before and had blood tests, everything came back normal. he's had dehyration problems thats why I've started syringe drinking

Cage Info:
Cage Type - screen cage, 24x36x36
Lighting - I have 2 day lights 150 watts, one night 100 watts and a .5 UVB light.
Temperature - 85-90 degrees
Plants- five live plants
Placement - I do have it near a space heater.. Im not sure if that effects anything
Location - Delaware, East coast.

 

[jojackson]

Space heater may be making its eyes dry. It might also be shedding around the eyes and drying is making it difficult. Either way, the not eating is probly symptomatic.
You need to determin the cause of dehydration, not just try to treat it.
Gutloading feeder insects with fresh veg/fruit adds moisture to the lizards diet.
More info about why you syringe feed it water?

why do you feel 300watts of heating is nessesary? Sounds excessive.
what kind of UV light, coil or tube?
Im betting your humidity is way too low due all the heating. Dry eyes is very uncomfortable.

 

[bekki5]

It's not that he's lost interest in eating it's that his eyes bother them so much he doesn't keep them open long enough to focus on the insects; he sees them, goes for them but then closes his eyes. and it's freezing in my house and thats how many lamps it takes to get it up to 85 degrees. He's still cold to the touch sometimes even with them all on. I use a tube UVB light, and the vet suggested syringe drinking when he was having dehydration problems due to his lack of drinking by himself. His phosphorous levels are normal though now since I started doing that. Thanks for the input though, I'm definitely going to start spraying him more and I'm gonna go get vegetables for the crickets.

 

[jojackson]

he doesn't keep them open long enough to focus on the insects; he sees them, goes for them but then closes his eyes.
Thats what I meant by symptomatic.

it's freezing in my house and thats how many lamps it takes to get it up to 85 degrees. He's still cold to the touch sometimes even with them all on.

How do you measure that? Eitherway, it still drys the air, along with the space heater.
If its basking, it will reach 85f under one 150watt, it will simply bask longer.
The reason its probly not basking long enough to warm up ,is because three hundred watts of heat/light is too intense.

 

[kinyonga]

Are you using a compact or spiral or long linear tuge UVB light?
What are the brands/types of the other lights on your cage?
If you take him out of the cage for a while do his eyes seem better?

 

[reptoman]

i have a male ambilobe that has the exact same symptoms. I have increased mistings and started feeding silkworms and it helped a lot. He drinks but not enough i think so if you have feeders that provide more hydration it may help. The scratching stopped altogether after a month of regular feedings with silkworms but came back about a week after i ran out.

 

[bekki5]

His eyes dont seem that much better when he's out of the cage, he does keep them open more though because he's curious and wants to walk around. But I use a Zoo med basking spot light and a Zilla heat bulb for night. The UVB light is Zilla as well and it's just a long tube.

I've been told to get silk worms, I'm going to have to order them on the internet thought because no where around here sells them. I did try to feed him packaged dead ones before and he just spit them out.. I'll try live though. I also heard that phenox worms are good as well?

Does anyone know if regular eye drops or contact drops are ok for chameleons?

 

[imcurt]

I have had this exact same problem,My Vet had my up the humidity,eye drop, and A daily mist shower. You might consider A cool air humidifier close to his cage That helps my guy alot

 

[pssh]

Some people use a saline solution, not contact solution, to help clean the chameleons eye when they think something is in it. A gentle stream of saline solution squirted all around under the turrets usually does the trick of any debris is involved.

 

[bekki5]

for anyone who is having the same problems, I got in touch with a couple reptile specialists who all told me the same thing; the reason he has been keeping his eyes shut more and doing the balloon-blow-up thing is because he’s dehydrated and has a vitamin deficiency. The most important thing to do is bath him in warm water, you can add vitamins to the water, I got mineral oil from the drug store, put it on his eyes and he opened them, and I’m giving him pedialyte to get his electrolytes back to normal. I was also told that feeding the worms and crickets oranges about a half an hr before feeding is good due to the moisture, vitamin A and C. and of course dusting them.

 

[pssh]

Don't soak him in water. Shower him. Don't let him sit in a pool of water, if that's what you meant by bath. They drown easily.

 

[bekki5]

oh I don't leave him there I hold him. He hates the spray bottle, it stresses him out but seems to like a warm bath much better.

 

[pssh]

Stick a plant in the shower put him on it. Turn the water to just above room temp and aim it at the wall. Have the spray from the wall land in his direction. With a plant he can hide but he can also drink and feel the warm water if he wants. Baths are still not recomended...

 

[bekki5]

that sounds like a really good idea but I have chlorine in my water

 

[bimac6]

that sounds like a really good idea but I have chlorine in my water

Then where are you "bathing" him?
Also, night lights aren't recommended and are often useless.
Chams need full darkness to sleep!

 

[bekki5]

I just use natural spring water.. and the night bulb I use doesn't give off hardly any light. It's like a purple light but it isn't bright at all. plus my house is only 60 somethin degrees

 

[pssh]

Ceramic heat emmiters are better, and space heaters are even better than that. Also, unless it drops below 60 or night lights aren't recomended at all. You can buy a filter to filter out chlorine.