Help! Seems blind and is not eating

[DLPX2]

Dragon, my male ambilobe Panther chameleon is 5 months old. A few weeks ago, I noticed he seemed somewhat lethargic and he kept puffing his eyes out and trying to rub them. Soon afterwards, he started keeping his eyes shut most of the day and stopped eating. Took him to reptile vet and he gave me antibiotic ointment for eyes but didn't seem to help. In the meantime, he became extremely dehydrated bc he stopped eating and drinking. Took him back to vet and we've been force feeding him since. He opens his eyes now but he moves around as if he's blind. Sometimes he flinches when my hand approaches him, but usually he doesn't move. Also his color is always dark now. He used to be much brighter. Vet is out of town until Momday. Has anyone had a similar experience? Did your chameleon get better?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm really trying to help my little guy!
Thank you!

 

[sharp229]

Welcome to the forums. Sorry to hear your little guy is not doing well. Could you post pictures of him and his cage and copy and paste the following form?

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

This information is critical to helping diagnose what is wrong. Closing his eyes could be caused by an infection, vitamin deficiency, foreign objects, etc. Does he have any other symptoms, like holding his head up, making popping noises, or holding his mouth open?

 

[DLPX2]

Help! My Chameleon seems blind and is not eating

Hi,

My little guy is an almost 6 month old male ambilobe panther chameleon. A few weeks ago he started becoming more and more lethargic and kept his eyes closed most of the day and stopped eating. His color became very dark and he drastically lost weight. I took him to reptile specialist vet and he thought he might have an issue with his eyes and prescribed NeoPolyBac ointment. Despite that treatment, he seemed to get worse so I brought him back and they had to force feed him a specially formulated reptile diet via syringe. He thought perhaps he has some kind of virus in addition to eye issue. He gained some weight back but still seemed very lethargic and completely not interested in crickets. The vet kept him at his animal hosp for about 2 wks (he got lots of privacy and he was in his cage with all of his things since I brought all of his stuff from home). He received antibiotics, critical care diet, fluids, etc. and moderately improved. Since he's been home, I've noticed his eyes are def open much more now, but he seems blind when he moves around. Sometimes, he flinches if I approach him, but many times he doesn't. I am still feeding him the critical care supplement via syringe bc I haven't seen him eat any crickets at all. He seems to have something in his eyes because he's constantly bulging them out and rubbing them against the screen. I started giving him showers 3 days ago and he really seems to enjoy those. I also started putting him in the sun for a little bit every day. His color has definitely brightened, he's no longer dark and he started molting yesterday. My concern is that I don't think he is sick, I think he has something in his eyes causing irritation and inflammation, which is why he can't see very well and why he is not eating, but I don't know how to get it out. I take him back to the vet this Monday.
Has anyone had a similar issue and how did it resolve itself?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Chameleon Info:
Chameleon - almost 6 month old male ambilobe panther. I've had his since April.
Handling - a little bit daily since I have to feed him
Feeding - when healthy, he was eating approx 15-20 1/4in crickets daily. I dusted them every other day with Herptivite multivitamins and Rep-Cal calcium with vit D. I also gut load crickets with fresh fruits and veggies
Watering - I have monsoon mister that goes off every 4 hrs for 30 sec
Fecal Description - brown with white tip...never tested for parasites

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Reptibreeze small screen enclosure 16x16x20
Lighting - lights 13 hrs/day...ReptiSun 5.0 and dome with bulb for heat
Temperature - temp ranges from 75 - 90 degrees depending on where he is in cage and how close to heat source
Humidity - it stays at a constant 40%
Plants - not using live plants
Placement - He is on a counter top by a window in corner of kitchen. moderate traffic flow
Location - Boca Raton, FL

 

[DLPX2]

@sharp229 Thank you!

 

[sharp229]

Oh, wow, that looks like a serious eye infection. If he has been treated and the infection is receding, he may have white cells built up in his eyes that need to be removed by a vet.

Based on the provided info, the main problems I see are with supplementation and lighting, but mainly supplementation. You should provide plain (NO D3) calcium at every feeding, calcium with D3 twice a month, and multivitamin twice a month. Lights should be on 12 hours, or based on actual sunrise and sunset times.

Having too many vitamins can be toxic and cause edema among other things.

 

[Lazy Boy]

I think supplements and humidity are a problem. calcium without d3 every feeding calcium with D3 twice a month and multivitamins twice a month. Humidity can drop to the 40% range but then go back up to the 70% range when misted and then slowly work its way back down as it dries. 13hrs of light is how my lights are run as I need the lights on before I leave for work and after he settled in has had no problems with that. I'm sure they don't get 12 full hours of darkness in the wild, just when the lights go off make sire its dark and not lights shining in his cage.

 

[DLPX2]

Thank you very much!
I will make those changes! And I will ask vet about eyes!
Where do you recommend I buy the supplements?

 

[sharp229]

I get them on Amazon, but some of them can be found at local petstores.

Rep-Cal plain calcium:
http://www.amazon.com/Rep-Cal-SRP00...id=1403933059&sr=8-2&keywords=rep-cal+calcium

Rep-Cal calcium with D3:
http://www.amazon.com/Rep-Cal-Repti...1403933316&sr=8-1&keywords=rep-cal+calcium+d3

Rep-Cal Herptivite multivitamin:
http://www.amazon.com/HERPTIVITE-Mu...1403933196&sr=8-1&keywords=rep-cal+herptivite

Repashy Calcium Plus D3+multivitamin:
http://www.amazon.com/Repashy-Super...03933264&sr=8-1&keywords=repashy+calcium+plus


I like the Calcium Plus because it has preformed vitamin A, but it is technically both D3 and multivitamin.

 

[DLPX2]

Thank you very much for taking the time to post links for me!
I ordered the Rep-Cal plain calcium and the Repashy Calcium plus D3 + multivitamin. I will administer as you suggested.

 

[raven1139]

I don't understand how vets don't correct the husbandry first. I guess they would rather make money with meds. I also see countless people giving the wrong supplements/regiment and is frustrating to see the animals suffer. The info is all over this site! Research before you spend the money/time and end up at the vet.