Help, baby veiled won’t open his eyeball!

[Jayden Rice]

This is Comma. My boyfriend and I bought him from a Petco about 3 weeks ago, and we think he is about 2 and a half months old. When we purchased him, they said he was a girl, but after some research, we decided he was actually a boy because of the bumps on his hind feet. For the past week he has been holding one of his eyes closed. He also had symptoms of an URI, so we took him to the vet, and they prescribed us anti-biotics. They had to order them in, so we still have not received them. We increased the temperature and amount of times we mist his cage per recommendation of the vet. We've also been using saline and antibiotic ointment on the eye nightly, but it doesn't seem to be fixing the problem. All other symptoms of the infection have cleared besides the one eye. We use a 150 watt ceramic heat emitter in his cage, because it is quite cold in our house, and a 100 watt did not keep his temps high enough. Ambient is 80-85 and basking temp is 95, but he rarely basks. We also use a 5.0 UVB bulb. He offer him calcium dusted, gut loaded crickets and a single meal worm a day, but typically he only eats the mealworm. We also hand water him because we rarely see him drink and his cage seems to dry quickly. His other eye also seemed slightly sunken in one day, so we decided hand watering him was a must. Is there any advice someone on here can recommend we try to fix his poor eyeball? The pictures I've attached are of both of his eyes. The one closed is the concerning one.

 

[erin.rf]

Based on the open eye, he appears to be pretty dehydrated (you can tell this by the sunken in eye) you should try the shower method to help hydrate him and hopefully let him clean out his eyes. You can do this by spraying the shower head against the wall and holding your cham next to it so the mist will hit him. Hopefully this helps and i’m sure others will chime in as well!

 

[Leiv]

You could try flushing his eye out with bottled water. Also i would use a zoo med fogger at night to help with humidity and make sure you mist him at least four times a day . dehydration is a problem with chameleons , i use a mist king mister and that should solve the problem.

 

[erin.rf]

Another thing to add is that the basking temp is way too hot for a baby which is probably why he doesn’t bask much. the basking spot should be around 85 until he’s a little older

 

[Brodybreaux25]

Many possible causes, Petco is famous for selling chams that are already dead but just don’t know it yet.

We need to review everything, please fill this out especially the supplements and gutload.

Please fill out the “how to ask for help” form and post your answers back here. Quality pictures will help us help you.

Chameleon Info:
◦Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
◦Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
◦Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
◦Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
◦Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
◦Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
◦History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
◦Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
◦Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
◦Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
◦Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
◦Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
◦Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
◦Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

--------------

Please Note:
1The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
2Photos can be very helpful.

 

[Jayden Rice]

Based on the open eye, he appears to be pretty dehydrated (you can tell this by the sunken in eye) you should try the shower method to help hydrate him and hopefully let him clean out his eyes. You can do this by spraying the shower head against the wall and holding your cham next to it so the mist will hit him. Hopefully this helps and i’m sure others will chime in as well!

Thanks! I tried taking him in the shower, but he didn't actually drink while he was in there. Hopefully the humidity at least helped

 

[Jayden Rice]

Another thing to add is that the basking temp is way too hot for a baby which is probably why he doesn’t bask much. the basking spot should be around 85 until he’s a little older

Okay, thanks! I'll lower the branch below his heater.

 

[Beman]

Did you see this caresheet https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/ It has a lot of really good info. Do you have something that drips consistently to trigger his response to drink like a little dripper? Hope he gets better soon.

 

[Jayden Rice]

Chameleon - Comma is a 2 and a half month old male veiled that we have had for nearly 3 weeks.
◦Handling - We hold him every day, sometimes twice, for 30 minutes or more.
◦Feeding - He is fed crickets and meal worms. Most days he only eats the worm, but occasionally he also eats the cricket. He’s offered multiple of each, but he only ever eats one. They are gut loaded with tropical fish food and vegetables.
◦Supplements - We dust with a Zoo Med calcium powder once every other day and an Exo Terra vitamin supplement once a week.
◦Watering - We hand mist along with using a slow drip system. We mist 4 times daily for 2 or more minutes at a time.
◦Fecal Description - Stool is dark with a white sack attached. He has never been tested for parasites.
◦History - We purchased him from a Petco. He was previously diagnosed with a URI, but is under treatment and showing signs of recovery.
◦Cage Type - The cage is a 2.5x1.5x3.5 ish foot wooden cage with a screen front and top.
◦Lighting - We use a 5.0 Zoo Med UVB bulb along with a 150 watt heat emitter, because 100 watt didn't produce enough heat.
◦Temperature and humidity - The ambient air temp is 80-85, and the humidity is around 50. We heavily mist 4 times daily. These are both measured using a Zoo Med wall thermometer/hygrometer.
◦Plants - Fius and pathos plants ate located in the bottom of the cage, along with plastic vines surrounding the walls.
◦Placement - The cage is placed on a 2 pedestal, and the top of the cage is about 3 feet from the ceiling. No air vents or heaters are near it.
◦Location - We live in Eastern Oregon, USA.
Current Problem - Our cham is struggling to open one of his eyes.

 

[Jayden Rice]

Many possible causes, Petco is famous for selling chams that are already dead but just don’t know it yet.

We need to review everything, please fill this out especially the supplements and gutload.

Please fill out the “how to ask for help” form and post your answers back here. Quality pictures will help us help you.

Chameleon Info:
◦Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
◦Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
◦Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
◦Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
◦Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
◦Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
◦History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
◦Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
◦Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
◦Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
◦Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
◦Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
◦Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
◦Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

--------------

Please Note:
1The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
2Photos can be very helpful.

Chameleon - Comma is a 2 and a half month old male veiled that we have had for nearly 3 weeks.
◦Handling - We hold him every day, sometimes twice, for 30 minutes or more.
◦Feeding - He is fed crickets and meal worms. Most days he only eats the worm, but occasionally he also eats the cricket. He’s offered multiple of each, but he only ever eats one. They are gut loaded with tropical fish food and vegetables.
◦Supplements - We dust with a Zoo Med calcium powder once every other day and an Exo Terra vitamin supplement once a week.
◦Watering - We hand mist along with using a slow drip system. We mist 4 times daily for 2 or more minutes at a time.
◦Fecal Description - Stool is dark with a white sack attached. He has never been tested for parasites.
◦History - We purchased him from a Petco. He was previously diagnosed with a URI, but is under treatment and showing signs of recovery.
◦Cage Type - The cage is a 2.5x1.5x3.5 ish foot wooden cage with a screen front and top.
◦Lighting - We use a 5.0 Zoo Med UVB bulb along with a 150 watt heat emitter, because 100 watt didn't produce enough heat.
◦Temperature and humidity - The ambient air temp is 80-85, and the humidity is around 50. We heavily mist 4 times daily. These are both measured using a Zoo Med wall thermometer/hygrometer.
◦Plants - Fius and pathos plants ate located in the bottom of the cage, along with plastic vines surrounding the walls.
◦Placement - The cage is placed on a 2 pedestal, and the top of the cage is about 3 feet from the ceiling. No air vents or heaters are near it.
◦Location - We live in Eastern Oregon, USA.
Current Problem - Our cham is struggling to open one of his eyes.

 

[salty dog]

If you could post a picture of his cage we could help you give him optimum living conditions

 

[Lennoncham]

Don’t feed fish food to the crickets.
Don’t feed meal worms they have a hard exoskeleton that is hard for chameleons to digest.

You should be using a calcium powder without d3 at every feeding a calcium powder with d3 twice a month and a multivitamin twice a month.

 

[Brodybreaux25]

It’s critical that you are gutloading your crickets with a high quality gutload especially at this age. I recommend Cricket Crack or Bug Burger, both available on Amazon. Fish food is a death sentence.

The UVB you have is worthless, not your fault. You need a 24” T5HO bulb and fixture. The one you have can cause eye problems.

Can you post a pic of the exact supplements your using? Vitamin A deficiencies can also cause eye issues.

 

[mBuxx]

Excuse me if I'm wrong, I'm new here. Isn't 95 too hot for a cham that young?

 

[Beman]

Excuse me if I'm wrong, I'm new here. Isn't 95 too hot for a cham that young?

Yes , you are correct it is too hot for basking. Basking should be 85 and ambient temps being 72-80.

 

[mBuxx]

What’s the update on this little guy?

 

[Jayden Rice]

What’s the update on this little guy?

No progress. I've been showering him every night which he doesn't enjoy, I've increased the number of times I mist, I've continued the saline rinse and ointment process, and he has began his antibiotics. He just won't open the eye very often. He's still energetic and eating though, and he's been eating more and more crickets than mealworms.

 

[mBuxx]

For what it’s worth. I got a very young Cham as well, started out with a T5 5.0 reptisun.

My Cham closed his one eye a lot as well. I switched to an Arcadia 6% (which I burned in for 10 days first) and never seen his eye ever shut again.

Now, during that time I really started improving on my gutload and spending a lot of time making sure he was eating and drinking as well. So I’m not entirely sure it was the light or not. I do always include carrots in my gutload though haha.

 

[Jayden Rice]

It’s critical that you are gutloading your crickets with a high quality gutload especially at this age. I recommend Cricket Crack or Bug Burger, both available on Amazon. Fish food is a death sentence.

The UVB you have is worthless, not your fault. You need a 24” T5HO bulb and fixture. The one you have can cause eye problems.

Can you post a pic of the exact supplements your using? Vitamin A deficiencies can also cause eye issues.

It’s critical that you are gutloading your crickets with a high quality gutload especially at this age. I recommend Cricket Crack or Bug Burger, both available on Amazon. Fish food is a death sentence.

The UVB you have is worthless, not your fault. You need a 24” T5HO bulb and fixture. The one you have can cause eye problems.

Can you post a pic of the exact supplements your using? Vitamin A deficiencies can also cause eye issues.

I was concerned about it being a vitamin A deficiency, but the vitamin supplement I have includes beta carotene and I gut load the crickets with carrots as well, so I feel like that shouldn't be the case. I recently purchased a T8 ReptiSun 5.0 linear bulb to replace the compact one I'm using now. Do you think this will help?

 

[Brodybreaux25]

I was concerned about it being a vitamin A deficiency, but the vitamin supplement I have includes beta carotene and I gut load the crickets with carrots as well, so I feel like that shouldn't be the case. I recently purchased a T8 ReptiSun 5.0 linear bulb to replace the compact one I'm using now. Do you think this will help?

It will help but I won’t save your Cham. Your Cham is starving to death, right now your top priority should be to get a proper gutload and some carnivore care from your vet.