HELP - possible eye infection??

scary bug.jpg
This is just an update on our situation with Yoshi that I wanted to share. His eye is still bothering him and once off the metacam he began to close it again and it appeared somewhat sunken. The area where the agitation and crust-like stuff is still on his right eye as in the most recent photo. The vet said to do another 5 days of the antibiotic drop and gave us another 5 days of metacam. As I said above, last time she also flushed the eye to make sure that if it was a clogged tear duct we had resolved that.

Yesterday when observing him I noticed these two tiny strange bugs on him. Immediately I removed them. I am totally freaked out by this and plan on calling the vet today. I removed them and manage to get one into a pill bottle. There is a photo below – my question I guess is what should I think about this and has anyone ever seen something like it?? Is it possibly related to his eye issue?! Any guidance here would be great and for reference I think that freaky little thing was like the size of a couple grains of sand - I can’t believe I even noticed them.

Again everyone thanks for your input.
 
I don't have a hibiscus BUT there is a hibiscus outside that he hangs out on. I'm freaking out as to whether they bite and if this is the case then that might explain the eye issue. I noticed them on him when he was outside on the hibiscus I guess the big question is whether they are in the enclosure. My fiancé has checked (he's at home) and he didn't see anything. In the enclosure there are pothos.
 
My advice do the shower technique on your cham. Put them on a new plant in the shower, aim the shower head at the wall so a gentle warm water falls on them, and sit with your cham monitoring him hopefully it'll clean out whatever may be on him. Also I'd just clean out his entire enclosure and get some new plants if you want to be super careful.
 
Yoshi13 said:
I don't have a hibiscus BUT there is a hibiscus outside that he hangs out on. I'm freaking out as to whether they bite and if this is the case then that might explain the eye issue. I noticed them on him when he was outside on the hibiscus I guess the big question is whether they are in the enclosure. My fiancé has checked (he's at home) and he didn't see anything. In the enclosure there are pothos.
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Hi Yosh
jajeanpierre and I were really curious as to why your vet had a problem with using Turtle Drops? Could you elaborate?
 
image.png

I am concerned about a possible eye infection in your left eye they look very similar if it's AT ALL possible, please let me know what's going on with your Cham as my nearest exotic vet is 3-4 hours away.
 
My apologies for not replying earlier about the turtle drops. She said that giving the eye a cleaning with pure saline was more advisable then the turtle drops because it can be unpredictable what exactly is in the turtle drops depending on what brand and where you got them from.

Also, in this case we believe now that what caused the eye problem was a long tail mealybug infestation . We took his entire tank apart last night and scrubbed the hell out of it. There were mites buried in the farthest reaches of his pothos. We believe at this point that one of those things probably made a home in his eye socket which is what caused all the agitation. Cleaning with saline and lots of showers, combined with topical antibiotic eye drops has been working and his eye seems to be healing.

The biggest difference here is whether your cham has anything you can see in the socket. Yoshi had crusting in addition to keeping the eye closed and sunken. Also, the vet reasoned if it was just one eye and his behavior is the same (i.e. not lethargic or grouchy) it's less likely to be a nutrition/supplement issue - is Lizzie behaving normally?

This is just me, but if I were you I would get some pure saline and a foam makeup sponge (we used the wedge shaped ones) and give the eye a wipe with saline. Do not use Q tips because they can leave residue behind. Hopefully this helps. You might also consider trying to obtain a topical antibiotic drop in case of emergencies if your vet is far away - the one Yoshi was prescribed is Tobrex - I don't think it would be too hard to purchase online judging by the basic Google search I did. Mercifully our vet is literally across the street from us. Hopefully this helps.
 
Yoshi13 said:
My apologies for not replying earlier about the turtle drops. She said that giving the eye a cleaning with pure saline was more advisable then the turtle drops because it can be unpredictable what exactly is in the turtle drops depending on what brand and where you got them from.

Also, in this case we believe now that what caused the eye problem was a long tail mealybug infestation . We took his entire tank apart last night and scrubbed the hell out of it. There were mites buried in the farthest reaches of his pothos. We believe at this point that one of those things probably made a home in his eye socket which is what caused all the agitation. Cleaning with saline and lots of showers, combined with topical antibiotic eye drops has been working and his eye seems to be healing.

The biggest difference here is whether your cham has anything you can see in the socket. Yoshi had crusting in addition to keeping the eye closed and sunken. Also, the vet reasoned if it was just one eye and his behavior is the same (i.e. not lethargic or grouchy) it's less likely to be a nutrition/supplement issue - is Lizzie behaving normally?

This is just me, but if I were you I would get some pure saline and a foam makeup sponge (we used the wedge shaped ones) and give the eye a wipe with saline. Do not use Q tips because they can leave residue behind. Hopefully this helps. You might also consider trying to obtain a topical antibiotic drop in case of emergencies if your vet is far away - the one Yoshi was prescribed is Tobrex - I don't think it would be too hard to purchase online judging by the basic Google search I did. Mercifully our vet is literally across the street from us. Hopefully this helps.
Click to expand...
She seems to be normal. I can't see anything in the eye, but I will DEFINITELY do the shower and saline thank you so much!!!
 
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