The past month or two my vieled chameleon has had eye problems. He keeps them closed almost all day, I rarely see them open and usually to get them open I have to tap on the glass or get his attention. I have taken him to the vet twice, once I got eye drops that didn't seem to help. We took him back and were given ointment that seems to be helping a little more. The eyes are not swollen so I don't think its an infection. Occasionally I see crusty stuff in the slits of his eyes and I carefully remove it. I was force feeding him fish food mixed with peanut butter and water with a siringe but it was starting to hurt him so now I've stopped and he hasn't eaten in 3 days and I can't do anything about it.
Eye problems in Chameleons.
- Thread starter kinyonga
- Start date
The past month or two he has had eye problems. He keeps them closed almost all day, I rarely see them open and usually to get them open I have to tap on the glass or get his attention. I have taken him to the vet twice, once I got eye drops that didn't seem to help. We took him back and were given ointment that seems to be helping a little more. The eyes are not swollen so I don't think its an infection. Occasionally I see crusty stuff in the slits of his eyes and I carefully remove it. I was force feeding him fish food mixed with peanut butter and water with a siringe but it was starting to hurt him so now I've stopped and he hasn't eaten in 3 days and I can't do anything about it.
reptoman
Avid Member
I have had continuing eye problems with my male panther. I have tried the vitamin A treatment that was recommended on an earlier post (retinal palmitate 1/20th of a drop every day for 5 days). It did not resolve the eye issue. I tried turning off the UVB light and then raising it to see if that would help. It did seem to help but only for a week or so. My male panther is continuing to scratch his eyes on branches and will frequently keep one closed most of the time. Both eyes are affected but not usually at the same time and there is no discharge or crustiness. The eye itself looks clear when he has it open. He has no problem with his aim while getting food and his sight is very good as indicated by the way he clammers to the cage door when I enter the room.
He has had these issues since shortly after getting him in Feb 2009 off and on. I have increased humidity in his cage and started feeding hormworms and silkworms on a regular basis. I never see him drink anymore and I have a drip going almost constantly througout the day in addition to several heavy mistings. I will occasionally squirt water from the misting bottle into the side of his mouth while he is chewing so I know he has had some straight water for that day at least. I posted a thread nearly a year ago about a scaly eye turret and the problem persists to this day although not quite as severe.
I have recently started applying a small amount of neosporin to his eye while he is sleeping and dripping sterile saline cut with RO water when he is awake it seems to have helped.
In all other aspects he is healthy and eats well. A vet visit yeilded nothing but a lot of oohs and aahs from the staff since they dont get to see ambilobes very often. The vet said he was good weight and his fecal came back negative for parasites. The eye problem comes and goes but is still there regardless of the changes I have made. Here is my first post on this subject.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/scaly-eye-turret-27072/
He has had these issues since shortly after getting him in Feb 2009 off and on. I have increased humidity in his cage and started feeding hormworms and silkworms on a regular basis. I never see him drink anymore and I have a drip going almost constantly througout the day in addition to several heavy mistings. I will occasionally squirt water from the misting bottle into the side of his mouth while he is chewing so I know he has had some straight water for that day at least. I posted a thread nearly a year ago about a scaly eye turret and the problem persists to this day although not quite as severe.
I have recently started applying a small amount of neosporin to his eye while he is sleeping and dripping sterile saline cut with RO water when he is awake it seems to have helped.
In all other aspects he is healthy and eats well. A vet visit yeilded nothing but a lot of oohs and aahs from the staff since they dont get to see ambilobes very often. The vet said he was good weight and his fecal came back negative for parasites. The eye problem comes and goes but is still there regardless of the changes I have made. Here is my first post on this subject.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/scaly-eye-turret-27072/
Syn
Avid Member
Why do you say this? A chameleon can make itself look bigger.
How do you know for sure that the chameleon isn't losing weight?
Do you check the fat pads? The hips to see if the bones are showing?
I'd really like to know your method.
CNorton
Avid Member
The eyelid will stay closed if the chameleon is alarmed or anything is close to the eye. If you're using a saline solution, squeeze the tube(container) to create a jet that you can shoot into the eye. This will inflate the eye and hopefully flush it. Repeat several times and hope for the best.
Dgood
Established Member
My female jacksons eyes looked a little red/sore and after a misting I watched bulge out her eye and rub It on a wet branch, I've heard that they do this to help clean them out or if the eye irritates them. But she has only done this once and her eyes aren't getting any worse So I'm assuming that it is starting to heal. If anyone knows what leads to sore/pink eyes or any way to help it any info would be gladly accepted 
liberty
Member
Can you explain this vitamin a thing more? I think I'm having the same problem. What brand of vitamin did you use? Is it something from a pet store I can pick up?
Matt Vanilla Gorilla
Chameleon Enthusiast
This is a very old thread from 2010. I started a new thread recently. Your question about Vitamin A is answered in there. Check it out!
https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...nced-keepers-please-share-your-wisdom.152159/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...nced-keepers-please-share-your-wisdom.152159/
Extensionofgreen
Chameleon Enthusiast
10 years ago, I had CB melleri that suffered eye issues and general malady. This was echoed in a large number of the breeder's own animals and the common thread was that we were avoiding preformed A in our supplementation. Our gutloads contained large amounts of Vitamin A precursors, but the animals still suffered.
The eyes would close, there would be yellowish, solidified, exudate, that resembled corn grits. Advanced stages included enlarged and fixed pupils with irregular margins.
Veterinarian intervention and gentamicin treatments did not solve the issues.
Vitamin A was implemented in the supplementation and 2 out of 3 babies were too far going to recover, though they did seem to halt in the progression of further problems, the stress of blindness and not being able to feed, coupled with general dibility led to them being humanely euthanized. One of those animals fully recover and went on to lay her own clutch, which hatched, 4 months later with 100% success.
I have never had eye issues with any reptiles that have had appropriate Vitamin A supplementation and that spans experience with iguanas, tortoises, bearded dragons, uromastyx, sailfin dragons, several chameleon species, geckos, anoles, turtles, and amphibians.
The eyes would close, there would be yellowish, solidified, exudate, that resembled corn grits. Advanced stages included enlarged and fixed pupils with irregular margins.
Veterinarian intervention and gentamicin treatments did not solve the issues.
Vitamin A was implemented in the supplementation and 2 out of 3 babies were too far going to recover, though they did seem to halt in the progression of further problems, the stress of blindness and not being able to feed, coupled with general dibility led to them being humanely euthanized. One of those animals fully recover and went on to lay her own clutch, which hatched, 4 months later with 100% success.
I have never had eye issues with any reptiles that have had appropriate Vitamin A supplementation and that spans experience with iguanas, tortoises, bearded dragons, uromastyx, sailfin dragons, several chameleon species, geckos, anoles, turtles, and amphibians.
Extensionofgreen
Chameleon Enthusiast
One thing to note is that once problems set in, treating with A doesn't always cure the animal, but it still might stop other catastrophic effects going on inside the body. Vitamin A should only be suspected if you aren't utilizing a preformed source in your supplementation. Data shows that under supplementation of A is far more likely than overdosing it. The key is small, consistent doses, through the life of the animal, not whopping doses once there's a problem or every so often. Light, weekly supplementation is a good start.
Matt Vanilla Gorilla
Chameleon Enthusiast
Ficus sap is a irritant! I had it in my eyes once! Not good! Hurts like hell for a long time! No ficus in my chameleon enclosures, ever! Not worth it!
Matt Vanilla Gorilla
Chameleon Enthusiast
By 4 to 6 months of age, depending on how fast they grow, all the Vitamin A that chameleons got from their egg sack is depleted! This is when eye problems kicks in! Please look at the following thread!
https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...nced-keepers-please-share-your-wisdom.152159/
Matt Vanilla Gorilla
Chameleon Enthusiast
Eye infections often starts after a long difficult shed. One of the secrets is to make sure your chameleon does not have probems sheding! Please read the info in the following thread:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...enace-that-causes-many-other-problems.153693/
BJ Vynz
Member
Is it a sure thing that beta carotene doesn't work?
My cham Kammy some weeks back had been shutting her right eye too much for about 3 days. I decided to give her Herptivite with every feeding to see if it helped and sure enough the problem disappeared. I hadn't done anything else to help. Could it have been a fluke?
It is possible her eye issue was just a late effect of something else that may have happened at the time.
I'll go ahead and get some better Vitamin A sometime though.
My cham Kammy some weeks back had been shutting her right eye too much for about 3 days. I decided to give her Herptivite with every feeding to see if it helped and sure enough the problem disappeared. I hadn't done anything else to help. Could it have been a fluke?
It is possible her eye issue was just a late effect of something else that may have happened at the time.
I'll go ahead and get some better Vitamin A sometime though.
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Whatascene
Member
I'm dealing with my little guy who can't work shedding and debris out of his eyeball. He gets extremely frail and ill every time he sheds and I worry about his ability to make it into adulthood. I'm working on getting the diagnosis name I forget it now, my reptile vet has a lot of experience and said my little guy has a genetic disease where he physically can shed his eyeballs so stuff gets trapped. We have tried everything, I even have to get the shedding cap out of his eyes manually or he is blind and can't get it out himself. I did pet store instead of reptile show, and unfortunately my little guy probably wasn't bred well. My vet is involved in our reptile community heavily here, and told me the local pet stores are getting really poorly bred and cared for chams, resulting in these unfortunately genetic diseases.
