closed eyes/eye infection

[Reptor]

i have a male veiled chameleon and he has both of his eyes closed, before it was just one eye but now its both. it has been about a week now and it seems like he cant open them anymore both eyes seem to have a sticky discharge coming from inside the eyelids. since he cant see he isn't eating or drinking, i have been giving him a few drops of water a day with a syringe to prevent dehydration but i don't want to stress him out much. i have made an appointment with the vet for tomorrow to see what the problem is. i hope he will be alright. any comments and questions will be much appreciated thank you

 

[Hoj]

good job on the vet app, i would start buy filling this out
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

and a warm misting of water or afew drops of saline solution in his eyes may help till you see the vet.

 

[Dawniegirl]

I'm sure once you fill out the how to get help form you will get lots of advise. For now it seems like he could be dehydrated since not eating & drinking so first off get some clear pedialyte that is used for babies & give him a few drops of that but keep up w/ the water til you have the pedialyte. Can you crush up some of his food & feed him some? Also have you tried a shower to maybe help clean up his eyes. Just in case you don't know what I mean by shower... you place a plant or something he can stand on in the shower at bottom & aim the "warm" water at the shower wall so that the mist will bounce from wall & he will get well misted this will help also for dehydration if he drinks & maybe clean up some gunk from his eyes. Do the shower for 20-30 minutes as long as he's not too stressed & be sure to watch him the whole time. I'm giving you advised based on what I've learned here on this forum that I have seen but I also am new at this. It's great that he has a vet appt tomorrow. Keep us posted. Hope this helps some for now.

 

[DaceMUFC]

i have experienced this problem before, i just misted the chameleon and tryed to mist the eye alot to try to release it and i got some feeding tongues and placed a waxworm in front of its mouth sometimes could take 5 minutes for him to take it but eventually he took it. but because they can't see, they can become abit aggressive but if it opens its mouth when its angry just place the worm in its mouth. You shouldn't provoke the chameleon only if he gets aggressive towards u putting the worm near its mouth. because if you get it in his mouth slightly he'll taste it and get use to the feeding of you.
my chameleons eye took around 2-3 weeks to clear up but he started opening them in the first 1-2 weeks but only slighty and u could see some redness.

Hope this helps at all.

 

[Julirs]

If there is discharge there is an infection and you need to go to the vet. It is a good thing that you made the appointment, but you should have done it sooner. If you catch eye infections early enough you can often cure them with a topical antibiotic ointment, but if you let them go you are often going to need to use an oral or injectable antibiotic on top of the eye ointment. Let us know what the vet says.

 

[Reptor]

* Your Chameleon - Male Veiled Chameleon, about 2 and a half years old i have had him for 2 years now
* Handling - about once a month to clean out cage
* Feeding - i feed him about 3-5 times a week usually mega worms or crickets and waxworms about once a week
* Supplements - reptocal calcium and vitamin D3 powder
* Watering - i have a little dripper, a waterfall on the ground level of the cage and mist his habitat 1-3 times a day
* Fecal Description - regular color i guess more brown then white
* History - don't remember him being this sick before ever he is usually active roaming around

Cage Info:

* Cage Type - screen cage, 30x16x36 i plan on moving him to a much bigger one when he gets better
* Lighting - reptisun 5.0 uvb tropical and zoomed 75w basking lamp
* Temperature - ranges from 75(ground level) - 90(basking spot) i use a thermometer
* Humidity - humidity is usually in the 30-40's since i forget to mist often sometimes (that could be my problem)
* Plants - plastic plants/vines/tree branch
* Placement - it is located about 4 feet off the ground, 5 feet from the nearest window in my room on top of a table
* Location - located in new york city

Thank you all for your time

 

[Dawniegirl]

* Your Chameleon - Male Veiled Chameleon, about 2 and a half years old i have had him for 2 years now
* Handling - about once a month to clean out cage
* Feeding - i feed him about 3-5 times a week usually mega worms or crickets and waxworms about once a week
* Supplements - reptocal calcium and vitamin D3 powder
* Watering - i have a little dripper, a waterfall on the ground level of the cage and mist his habitat 1-3 times a day
* Fecal Description - regular color i guess more brown then white
* History - don't remember him being this sick before ever he is usually active roaming around

Cage Info:

* Cage Type - screen cage, 30x16x36 i plan on moving him to a much bigger one when he gets better
* Lighting - reptisun 5.0 uvb tropical and zoomed 75w basking lamp
* Temperature - ranges from 75(ground level) - 90(basking spot) i use a thermometer
* Humidity - humidity is usually in the 30-40's since i forget to mist often sometimes (that could be my problem)
* Plants - plastic plants/vines/tree branch
* Placement - it is located about 4 feet off the ground, 5 feet from the nearest window in my room on top of a table
* Location - located in new york city

Thank you all for your time

Definitely need to keep up on your misting, once a day is definitely not enough. Many people on the forum are totally against having the waterfalls due to bacteria that can build in them. I actually asked the breeder I bought my guy from about getting a waterfall, they do look pretty cool, & was told definitely do NOT get it. By now you guys have probably already been to the vet. Hope they helped. Keep us updated.

 

[Reptor]

hey Thank you all for responding i appreciate it greatly, the visit at the vet went well i guess the doc said he was lacking calcium and vitamins sumtimes i didnt gutload his food enough and the uvb bulb needed to be replaced i realized it says to replace it every 12 months after 10-12 hours of use daily, i use it close to 15 hours a day and its been about 11 months since i have bought the first bulb so i bought a new one today. the eyes were not infected just that his immune system has dropped so i have to take extra care of him since hes still not opening his eyes i have to pour down the calcionate syrup the doc sent me to give to him twice a day and some Ensure to keep calories in him. his strong grip was a good sign of nothing too serious and we think he will pull through i will keep u guys posted thanks again

 

[Reptor]

Definitely need to keep up on your misting, once a day is definitely not enough. Many people on the forum are totally against having the waterfalls due to bacteria that can build in them. I actually asked the breeder I bought my guy from about getting a waterfall, they do look pretty cool, & was told definitely do NOT get it. By now you guys have probably already been to the vet. Hope they helped. Keep us updated.

hmmm i will consider taking the waterfall out i can see how bacteria can become a problem plus cleaning that thing sucks it does seem to get dirty quickly thank you for pointing that out to me

 

[x13xSPAD3x13x]

Wow I'm very happy to hear your cham is ok.. I know how you feel though. My Cham is starting to have the same prob, but unfortunately I am still looking for a vet. I feel so bad, and don't know what to do and hearing how well your situation turned out sorta gave me a little confidence.. Thank you and I hope your Cham gets well

 

[carol5208]

So you were not given anything for the gunk coming out of his eyes? how is that supposed to clear up? You cannot "forget" to mist. That is part of your chameleons care. You should be doing that about 3 times a day for about 3-5 minutes. If that is a problem for you, if you work or something then you should look into getting an automatic mister. Your humidity should be ideally at about 50-60% and then spike after the cage is misted. I understand that is hard to keep in the location you are during the winter. Good luck and I hope he gets better!

 

[fowlers]

if you dont keep the humidity up for the cham he is going to develop gout, dehydrate slowly and eventually if left untreated die...

 

[Julirs]

Did this Vet know anything about chameleons? If his eyes are still closed you have something serious going on. By your own admittance here your chameleon has had sub-par care leading to the issues at hand. How did he determine that there was a calcium deficiency? Does he have MBD? Strong grip does not mean that much, they almost always have a strong grip. You need to make some changes and be very careful to not aspirate him with the liquids you are giving.

 

[brandychams]

i didnt see anyone else point it out but he should have multivits 1-2 x a month and the 5.0 bulb is only good for 6 months

 

[carol5208]

i didnt see anyone else point it out but he should have multivits 1-2 x a month and the 5.0 bulb is only good for 6 months

Not necessarily. It doesn't mean they all "go bad" after 6 months. It is what many recommend. I changed mine out at nine. When my chameleon is outside in the sun I turn the cage light off so there is many hours during the day the light does not even get used. Everyon'es situations is different.

 

[toyotatech1]

My veiled was doing the same thing and i took her to the vet. The vet gave her a vitamin A shot and with in three days she had both eyes open, moving around her cage again and eating crickets like crazy.