AllFallDown
New Member
Hmmmm... witnessed the weirdest thing today. I walked into the plant room to turn on the chameleon cage lighting. Took a peek to see how L.B. was doing. Noticed that his left eye looked slightly sunken. This seemed weird to me, particularly since I know he has been drinking (I make a point of trying to catch him eat and drink at least once each day. I have physically witnessed him drinking water from the drip line at least once each day over the last 3 days, I did not see him eat any crickets yesterday but I did watch him eat a butterworm. I also caught him munching on a ficus leaf last night before bed). After a moment I noticed that his eye appeared to be popping out of the socket. His eye was still closed but was moving around. It kind of popped out, weirdest thing. Looked like a small ballon inflating under his eyelid.
I feel like I read somewhere that chameleons sometimes do this. His eye did appear to return to normal. Given that he has not really displayed any other symptoms recently that caused me concern, I left the house a little concerned but not particularly worried. I did feel I should ask here just in case.
Without further ado, the famous list:
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Male veiled, I have had him since February 6th of this year I believe. Not sure on the age but I would guess he was 2-3 months old when I adopted him.
Handling - He is usually handed briefly everynight unless he expresses strong resistance (which he did last night). I generally hold him for about 10-15 minutes at a time, let him walk around on me. This is the time I check him over- look at his thermal burn wound for infections/progress (see below), check his eyes, joints, etc... for signs of dehydration, etc... as I understand them.
Feeding - Crickets gutloaded with commercial gutload and vegetables. Quite a few carrots lately. I have read carrots are not the best so I will be backing off on that. I also give him at least one worm a day- butters, silkies, try phoenix but he does not seem to care for them. All are from commercial sources.
Supplements - Zoomed calcium with D3 (yes, I know, ditch the D3), and Reptivite (again with D3). Crickets/worms are fed to the cham twice a day, dusted only once. Reptivite is given about once a week to once every 2 weeks.
Watering - Watering with an overpriced little dripper. I have witnessed him drink from the dripper every night for at least the past 3 nights. I have been misting at least 3 times a day for the last 4 or 5 days, prior to that about twice a day (once in morning, once in afternoon). At first he seemed uncomfortable with misting, since then he does not run from it. I have been using room temperature water, based on other comments I have seen I will try warming it from now on.
Fecal Description - Not been tested for parasites yet. Last fecal depost I noticed looked normal to me. Brown with urates. I did not specifically check/notice this morning. Will check again tonight as it is time to clean his cage out tonight.
History - Nothing particular comes up besides a case of thermal burn which occurred about a month or so ago. The wound has been healing since and I have adjusted the lights to prevent this from happening again. (Unfortunately, I misread a recommendation on this one...)
Cage Info:
Cage Type - 16x18x24 Zoo-med repti-breeze I believe
Lighting -
Temperature - Basking spot- about 90F, although since adding the pothos, he has been hanging out on the pothos instead of the log where I measure the temperature. I will measure this temperature later. Bottom of the cage is usually around room temperature which is about 70'sF. I have yet to see him go down there in the time I have had him. I monitor the temperatures with crappy petco dial thermometers (Both basking area and bottom of the cage have a set of thermometers and hygrometers). I also periodically check these against a digital probe thermometer (Zoo-Med brand I believe). I have not checked the temps with the digital in a few days. Last few times I have checked, both thermometers lined up.
Humidity - Ambient local humidity- 20%, Running a cool mist humidifier in the room which raises it to around 35-40%, I have also been spraying with room temperature mist a few times a day(Recently started this, before I was relying on the humidifier and spraying about once a day but noticed some shedding problems- I suspect this may be related, that or perhaps something in his eye). I am using a crappy petco hygrometer to measure the humidity levels. I do not trust these readings but currently do not have another. Will replace with a digital flukers hygrometer when able.
Plants - I currently have a Benjamin ficus and a pothos in there. The soil is currently covered by wash cloths and inaccessible to the chameleon although I plan to replace those with large (too large to swallow) glass beads as I am concerned about potential bacteria in the cloths. They have been there for about 4 or 5 days. Plants were wash thoroughly. the pothos was allowed to sit out as a house plant for about 2 months before it was placed in there. The ficus went in pretty quick but was washed thoroughly including rinsing the soil, etc... It has been in there for 3 months.
Placement - Located in my carnivorous plant room/library. About 4 feet up from the floor but I am the only one that goes in there about twice a day- basically just to feed him.
Location - California, USA
Current Problem - This morning, eye appeared to be popping out of socket, see long story above. I have only witnessed this once and thought I should check into it. I should note as well, I have noticed him leaving crickets uneatten in his cage. I cannot say with confidence that it is appetite. Could be that I am overfeeding. I am not sure but will be monitoring this. I may remove the pothos for now as I think it might be giving crickets a place to hide. Other than this I have not noticed a significant change in energy, etc... I do not have a recent photo on me right now
Thank you in advance for your suggestions, I do very much appreciate you taking the time to read and consider this
I feel like I read somewhere that chameleons sometimes do this. His eye did appear to return to normal. Given that he has not really displayed any other symptoms recently that caused me concern, I left the house a little concerned but not particularly worried. I did feel I should ask here just in case.
Without further ado, the famous list:
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Male veiled, I have had him since February 6th of this year I believe. Not sure on the age but I would guess he was 2-3 months old when I adopted him.
Handling - He is usually handed briefly everynight unless he expresses strong resistance (which he did last night). I generally hold him for about 10-15 minutes at a time, let him walk around on me. This is the time I check him over- look at his thermal burn wound for infections/progress (see below), check his eyes, joints, etc... for signs of dehydration, etc... as I understand them.
Feeding - Crickets gutloaded with commercial gutload and vegetables. Quite a few carrots lately. I have read carrots are not the best so I will be backing off on that. I also give him at least one worm a day- butters, silkies, try phoenix but he does not seem to care for them. All are from commercial sources.
Supplements - Zoomed calcium with D3 (yes, I know, ditch the D3), and Reptivite (again with D3). Crickets/worms are fed to the cham twice a day, dusted only once. Reptivite is given about once a week to once every 2 weeks.
Watering - Watering with an overpriced little dripper. I have witnessed him drink from the dripper every night for at least the past 3 nights. I have been misting at least 3 times a day for the last 4 or 5 days, prior to that about twice a day (once in morning, once in afternoon). At first he seemed uncomfortable with misting, since then he does not run from it. I have been using room temperature water, based on other comments I have seen I will try warming it from now on.
Fecal Description - Not been tested for parasites yet. Last fecal depost I noticed looked normal to me. Brown with urates. I did not specifically check/notice this morning. Will check again tonight as it is time to clean his cage out tonight.
History - Nothing particular comes up besides a case of thermal burn which occurred about a month or so ago. The wound has been healing since and I have adjusted the lights to prevent this from happening again. (Unfortunately, I misread a recommendation on this one...)
Cage Info:
Cage Type - 16x18x24 Zoo-med repti-breeze I believe
Lighting -
Temperature - Basking spot- about 90F, although since adding the pothos, he has been hanging out on the pothos instead of the log where I measure the temperature. I will measure this temperature later. Bottom of the cage is usually around room temperature which is about 70'sF. I have yet to see him go down there in the time I have had him. I monitor the temperatures with crappy petco dial thermometers (Both basking area and bottom of the cage have a set of thermometers and hygrometers). I also periodically check these against a digital probe thermometer (Zoo-Med brand I believe). I have not checked the temps with the digital in a few days. Last few times I have checked, both thermometers lined up.
Humidity - Ambient local humidity- 20%, Running a cool mist humidifier in the room which raises it to around 35-40%, I have also been spraying with room temperature mist a few times a day(Recently started this, before I was relying on the humidifier and spraying about once a day but noticed some shedding problems- I suspect this may be related, that or perhaps something in his eye). I am using a crappy petco hygrometer to measure the humidity levels. I do not trust these readings but currently do not have another. Will replace with a digital flukers hygrometer when able.
Plants - I currently have a Benjamin ficus and a pothos in there. The soil is currently covered by wash cloths and inaccessible to the chameleon although I plan to replace those with large (too large to swallow) glass beads as I am concerned about potential bacteria in the cloths. They have been there for about 4 or 5 days. Plants were wash thoroughly. the pothos was allowed to sit out as a house plant for about 2 months before it was placed in there. The ficus went in pretty quick but was washed thoroughly including rinsing the soil, etc... It has been in there for 3 months.
Placement - Located in my carnivorous plant room/library. About 4 feet up from the floor but I am the only one that goes in there about twice a day- basically just to feed him.
Location - California, USA
Current Problem - This morning, eye appeared to be popping out of socket, see long story above. I have only witnessed this once and thought I should check into it. I should note as well, I have noticed him leaving crickets uneatten in his cage. I cannot say with confidence that it is appetite. Could be that I am overfeeding. I am not sure but will be monitoring this. I may remove the pothos for now as I think it might be giving crickets a place to hide. Other than this I have not noticed a significant change in energy, etc... I do not have a recent photo on me right now
Thank you in advance for your suggestions, I do very much appreciate you taking the time to read and consider this
