Eye problem

[NFP]

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Exo terra flexarium, 43x43x76 cm
Lighting - Namiba terra UV-Replux, 12-12, 10-12 (winter)
Temperature - From 23 - 29 c, Basking 35c, 25c at night,
Humidity - Now about 70-75%, Live pants and misting
Plants - Scindapsus x 2
Location - Low traffic area in our living room

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Panther ambanja blue, 10 months old, male.
Feeding - zophobas, crickets, silkworms..... every day - every other day
Supplements - Nekton MSA 1xweek
Watering - He drinks from infusator
Fecal Description - Normal.
History - Young healthy cham till now.
Current Problem - probem is that he has eye problem, left eye is dry from outside and he keeps him closed and puffs him every five-ten minutes. Other eye is ok. We went to vet and did not find anything in his eye, but he still rub his eye on branches. It helps only when i drop 1-2 drop isopto tear drops in his eye and outside. He was also on antibiotic drops Gentax for about 3 weeks and was the same. He's acting normal, eats and drinks well but keep his eye closed... do you have any sugestions what should i do to help him. I started do showerd him for 10 - 15 minutes 3 times in week and droping his eye. I would like to hear if anybody has similar case and how was this problem resolved.

PS: Sorry on my bad english

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy Nikola,

The single biggest issue may be the plant. Although we see some of our favorite plants listed with some toxicity, your plant falls into a category that might make it the culprit for this eye problem.

One internet link example of your class of plant hints at a possible link to your problem: http://gardeningfromthegroundup.us/Poisonous house plants.htm

"Epipremnum syn.Scindapsus Devil's Ivy, Pothos aureus Poisonous parts All plant parts Toxins calcium oxalate. Intense irritation of the mucous membranes produces swelling of the tongue, lips and palate"

I can't be sure of the link to your chameleon's eye problem but a big part of chameleon keeping is eliminating POTENTIAL and real problem sources. Not all chameleons respond the same way to these potential sources of illness so you try to eliminate or at least minimize all of the things that could possibly lead to trouble.

At one time the Namibia UVB fixture had a plastic cover over the tube. I'm assuming that you don't have that cover in place otherwise you'd be asking why your chameleon died .

If you can do it, look into a larger screened enclosure. He's getting close to his adult size. If he is a typical sized adult, he'll benefit from a 60cm x 60cm x 120cm (24x24x48). Stress of a small enclosure may result in illness.

Another possible source of stress could be the lighting hours. IF you have the lights on from 12pm to 12am and he also get clues to the different sunshine hours, he may be stressed by it.

Gentax is Gentamicin. Good for certain kinds of eye infections.

I like the idea of continuing to try to rinse the eye. There may still be something stuck in there. I would try squirting the proper liquid directly at the eye to try to help flush it out.

If your enclosure drainage is compatible, I'd be directly misting him with warm water twice a day for 20 minutes in an attempt to clean the eye as well as pump-up his hydration levels to maximum.

Go for replacing the plant with something safer first. I like Schefflera .

 

[NFP]

Howdy Nikola,

The single biggest issue may be the plant. Although we see some of our favorite plants listed with some toxicity, your plant falls into a category that might make it the culprit for this eye problem.

One internet link example of your class of plant hints at a possible link to your problem: http://gardeningfromthegroundup.us/Poisonous house plants.htm

"Epipremnum syn.Scindapsus Devil's Ivy, Pothos aureus Poisonous parts All plant parts Toxins calcium oxalate. Intense irritation of the mucous membranes produces swelling of the tongue, lips and palate"

I can't be sure of the link to your chameleon's eye problem but a big part of chameleon keeping is eliminating POTENTIAL and real problem sources. Not all chameleons respond the same way to these potential sources of illness so you try to eliminate or at least minimize all of the things that could possibly lead to trouble.

I didnt know that Epipremnum is toxic plant... till today until i didnt break a leaf and see that sticky stuff are gonig from broken parts... it looks like silk, very thin

In many terariums scindapsus are main plant and on this site http://exoticpets.about.com/gi/dyna...http://www.anapsid.org/resources/plants2.html
is placed in non toxic plants.... We remove scindapsus from his enclosure and now he has only silken plants.

At one time the Namibia UVB fixture had a plastic cover over the tube. I'm assuming that you don't have that cover in place otherwise you'd be asking why your chameleon died .

No, Namiba doesn't have any covers now

If you can do it, look into a larger screened enclosure. He's getting close to his adult size. If he is a typical sized adult, he'll benefit from a 60cm x 60cm x 120cm (24x24x48). Stress of a small enclosure may result in illness.

We keept our adult panthers in 76x43x122 cm screened enclosures... and our jungster is moving in larger enclosure in monday.

Another possible source of stress could be the lighting hours. IF you have the lights on from 12pm to 12am and he also get clues to the different sunshine hours, he may be stressed by it.

In winter days there is 10 hours of light and 14 of night. The lights are turning on in 7 at the morning and turn downs in 5:30 afternoon.
Gentax is Gentamicin. Good for certain kinds of eye infections.

I like the idea of continuing to try to rinse the eye. There may still be something stuck in there. I would try squirting the proper liquid directly at the eye to try to help flush it out.

I will continue with showering him and droping his eyes and then we will see

Go for replacing the plant with something safer first. I like Schefflera .

And which climbing plant would be the best and non toxic?

Thnx you very much on your help

 

[dodolah]

wait.. the Epipremnum syn.Scindapsus is a golden pothos right?
if it is, i think that's fine...
everybody in here seems using it too, no?

I accidentally snap the stem during a cage cleaning, i don't see any sticky stuff oozing out.
I do use ficus benjamina (that one for sure has an irritating sap if the stem is broken).

I say if you want to be safe, use hibiscus and schefflera.

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy,

I too, am partially skeptical about some plants being labeled toxic to chameleons but when things are going wrong it sometimes becomes a process of elimination .