Eye problems !? please help

liberty

Member
My about 2 year old female veiled has been having eyes issues for a while. she gets the normal amount of crickets each day with calcium every other day and calcium with d3 every two weeks one sunday and the vitamins and minerals dust every 2 weeks the other sundays. she doesnt drink from her dripper (that i see. maybe when i am gone?) and i dont know how to make her do that. i try to even spray or drop water directly on her mouth but she doesn't want it. it's getting colder because we live in maine and winter has hit. with the low humidity (i have a humidifier but its always tougher in the winter to keep it up) and the colder weather, i dont want her to get worse.
it started as one eye wanting to always be closed so I started giving her drops of vitamin a and it has not worked. now it is both eyes and i am really worried. I want to give her a shower but she really hates water and always has. misting her cage and straying her is something that makes her so upset.
i've read about beta carotene. should that be what am dropping on her cricket?
 
Update: i just gave her a shower and for about 10 minutes she was sitting on my hand drinking on and off. after that she was very antsy and had enough, but her colors were bright and she seemed fine the whole time. it went much better than i anticipated, so im happy with that. probably going to try another shower tomorrow!
 
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - 2 years old, female veiled
  • Handling - at least 2-3 times a week just holding her for a few minutes. i often take her out to sit in a plant on the window sill
  • Feeding - Crickets, meal worms, horn worms, occasionally blueberry or apple bits. 6-10 crickets a day, 1-2 meal worms every day or 2, berries or apples or veges for treats. crickets everyday, others for treats throughout the week. crickets get apple or potato or carrot slices with cricket grain as well
  • Supplements - Calcium with no d3 every other day. calcium with d3 every other sunday. vitamin mix every other sunday. currently once a month using vitamin a. Reti calcium, fluckers
  • Watering - small dropper in cage. misting a few times a day but i also hate to because my cham gets very upset when i do. i dont see her drinking but the shower today was a success
  • Fecal Description - never been tested but her dropping look good. have had dehydration concerns in the past
  • History - she was in the care of someone else for a few months while i was away at school. she was not getting calcium with d3 while i was away and her tongue was the indicator (not shooting and just not looking right). i will take the blame because i should have left her with someone who knew exactly what was to be done, but i had little choice. that was months ago and she has had proper care since.
  • Also, she has "successfully" laid 3 clutches of eggs every 3-4 months. averages about 40-45 eggs. she should be soon and i have her laying bin in her cage, which she dug in for a minute or two a week ago but has not touched since .

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type -screen
  • Lighting - all zoo med i believe. the boxes are not with me at the moment. lights on around 6am, off around 5 or 6 pm.
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
  • Humidity - humidity is low, around 30% at low, to 60%. the humidifier is on but the winter months here make it hard
  • Plants - pathos plant she sits on outside her cage
  • Placement - located next to the window. top if about 5 feet off the ground
  • Location - northern Maine, US
her last shed was just a few weeks ago, maybe 2. the last bulb was changed in june (or july? i have it written but not with me) of this year. i use a spray bottle to mist down the cage a few times a day but sometimes not very much if someone is not home for a while or if she is distressed. humidifier runs very often next to he cage.
 
  • Your Chameleon - 2 years old, female veiled
  • Handling - at least 2-3 times a week just holding her for a few minutes. i often take her out to sit in a plant on the window sill could she be cold there which might be part of her eye problem?
  • Feeding - Crickets, meal worms, horn worms, occasionally blueberry or apple bits. 6-10 crickets a day, 1-2 meal worms every day or 2, berries or apples or veges for treats. crickets everyday, others for treats throughout the week. crickets get apple or potato or carrot slices with cricket grain as well this seems like a lot to be feeding her...contributes to large clutches...can push her towards MBD and other issues..I..please post some recent photos of her.
  • Supplements - Calcium with no d3 every other day. calcium with d3 every other sunday. vitamin mix every other sunday. currently once a month using vitamin a. Reti calcium, fluckers be more specific...is the calcium phosphorus-free? What's the vitamin powder? Does it have D3 or prEformed vitamin A in it?
  • Watering - small dropper in cage. misting a few times a day but i also hate to because my cham gets very upset when i do. i dont see her drinking but the shower today was a success how long are the misters on for each time? How long does the dripper drip for? How fast does the dripper drip...one drip per second??? Two drips per second??
  • Fecal Description - never been tested but her dropping look good. have had dehydration concerns in the past urate (white part) is white? Feces is brown and like a sausage or a sloppy mess or????
  • History - she was in the care of someone else for a few months while i was away at school. she was not getting calcium with d3 while i was away and her tongue was the indicator (not shooting and just not looking right). i will take the blame because i should have left her with someone who knew exactly what was to be done, but i had little choice. that was months ago and she has had proper care since. Did it get corredcted by giving her extra calcium?
  • Also, she has "successfully" laid 3 clutches of eggs every 3-4 months. averages about 40-45 eggs. she should be soon and i have her laying bin in her cage, which she dug in for a minute or two a week ago but has not touched since . Those clutches are quite big. You might want to try to slow he down a bit.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type -screen
  • Lighting - all zoo med i believe. the boxes are not with me at the moment. lights on around 6am, off around 5 or 6 pm. UVB? Spiral? Linear? White basking light?
  • Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Basking temperature is important....plays a part in digestion and nutrient absorption.
  • Humidity - humidity is low, around 30% at low, to 60%. the humidifier is on but the winter months here make it hard as long as she's well hydrated she can take a lower humidity up to a point.
  • Plants - pathos plant she sits on outside her cage what's inside the cage? Does she get UVB outside the cage? Proper temperatures?
  • Placement - located next to the window. top if about 5 feet off the ground draft from the window especially at night could be part of the eye issue.
  • Location - northern Maine, US
her last shed was just a few weeks ago, maybe 2. the last bulb was changed in june (or july? i have it written but not with me) of this year. i use a spray bottle to mist down the cage a few times a day but sometimes not very much if someone is not home for a while or if she is distressed. humidifier runs very often next to he cage.
 
Thanks for you reply!
I will cut down on the feeding. i have written that her first two clutches were 32 and 35 and i dont have the last one. so I was a little off.
the urate is usually white but has been an orange color before, which i mentioned. and the feces looks good.
I have been really trying to hydrate her so she had another shower today and drank a good amount and i also was able to just take the spray bottle and gently spray her head and let the water drip down into her mouth, which she just sat and drank. so that was good.
the cage has fake plants, some vines and branches, and usually has a live pothos plant, but right now it is taken out for her bin to be in there. she also has a larger pothos that she comes out of the cage to sit on which she really enjoys. sitting in that plant gets her out of the cage and into some real sunlight as well.
the dripper goes at around 1 drop a second i suppose.
The calcium is phosphorus free. the calcium with d3 is also. the vitamin mix says it has beta carotene and vitamin a. does not specifically say it is preformed vitamin a. normal temperatures are around room temperature, around 75. the basking bulb gets up to around 91. the UVB is short and coiled and fit into regular light sockets. the basking light is a white incandescent bulb.
Yes, her lack of care was corrected as much as I thought I could. she started getting calcium with d3 more and then i backed off the amount after a while to normal amoutns. i was really upset because i was so worried she would go down a road of big problems. her tongue still doesn't necessarily shoot across the cage at lightning speed like when she was younger, but she can still use it and shoot it and get her food. her arms and legs show no sign of MBD either.

I am going to see if moving her cage would help, as a draft may be something messing with her. she has been near the window since that is where a lot of natural sunlight comes but maybe during the winter she should move. would colder temps affect her eyes like this?
 

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She's beautiful colors! It's nice that she's not grossly overweight too.....just plump.
BTW the light through the glass will not provide any UVB just in case you think it will.
 
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