Help?

[Alondra]

Hello, my name is Alondra and I have an almost 2 year old veiled male chameleon. I started college a few months ago and was not able to bring him with me, so my parents were taking care of him. This week I decided to bring him to live to college with me because well why not. I used to visit him every weekend, but the day I was bring him to college with me I noticed his left eye was inflated. I got super scared, but when I looked again it was back to normal so I didn't really think much of it. The next day he was already established in my room he wanted to come out of his cage so I took him out. He was being super sweet and was cuddling on my chest when I saw his eye inflate again and noticed that the inside of his eye looked red almost like blood. I panicked and didn't know what to do and he started rubbing his eye on my shirt and it went back to normal. I decided to put him back in his cage and about an hour later the same thing happened again. Since then it's been two days and I haven't seen it happen again. I'm planning to take him to the vet, but mean while I wanted to know if anyone one knew what is causing this????

 

[Lizzie The Chameleon]

hey there! sorry to hear your chameleon isn't doing very well. please fill this out so we could determine the cause of why your chameleon isn't feeling well!

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

 

[MedicMan1]

While I cannot say for sure that it is nothing, I have noticed that my Panther Cham does some funny stuff with his eyes when cleaning them. He puffs them out and pulls them in, and I have caught a glimpse of what looks like red (blood red) ocular muscle inside of the hole that his pupil is visible through usually. He does this from time to time and it looks really weird.

My thoughts would be that he may be trying to clean his eye out. He could have some debris or junk in there and be trying extra hard to get it out. It never hurts to add some more hydration to the formula. I would stick him in the shower for a bit and let him soak. Water is great for irrigating cham eyes.

I hope that helps! I also wish that my cham was sweet like yours. Mine isn't super fond of me, however I feel like he's slowly coming around. He certainly doesn't cuddle. I had a veiled many years ago that loved attention.

 

[Alondra]

thank you so much!! Makes me feel a little better.

 

[MedicMan1]

No problemo, did what I describe look like what he was doing? The good thing is that it isn't a constant issue. The part about him doing it, then it going back to normal, and the whole red thing that looked like blood, really makes me think that's the dealio. If the problem is persistent and he continues to do it, then I would for sure get him seen at a vet. No hesitation.

 

[Alondra]

My chameleon: male veiled chameleon, I got him when he was around 2-3 months and I've had him for 1 year 9 months so I'm guessing he's about 2?
Handling: I handle him very often whenever he wants to come with me I never force him out of his cage or forcefully grab him he just comes
Feeding: when he was smaller I would feed him crickets, but after I introduced super worms he wouldn't eat crickets anymore he would eat up to 8 worms a day but now I noticed he's lost his appetite and will only eat up to 5 every other day sometimes when I'm eating fruit I'll give him a peice his favorite are oranges
Watering: I have a spray and when he was younger he would drink from the leafs now I spray water directly into his mouth he drinks 1-2 times a day ...he also has a rock and when he's thirsty he just drinks out of there
Cage: he has a screen cage i don't know the dimensions exactly inside he has a fake tree with vines and I just got him a piece of wood. The cage is in my dorm on the floor but there's a lot of ventilation. He also has a real ficus tree back home about my size so it's like 5'3 and that is right next to a window and gives him a lot of sunlight and he freely roams around my room
Location: I am from San Diego, California

 

[Alondra]

Yea it honestly sounded very similar.

 

[Remkon]

indeed sounds a lot like cleaning... He probably has something bothering his eye so you best put him in a lukewarm shower for around half an hour to 45mins so he can clean it out. Make sure the water the water does not go directly on him but aim it at the wall and let it bounce on him from there.

 

[Alondra]

Okay thank you so much!!!

 

[alphakenc]

when he was smaller I would feed him crickets, but after I introduced super worms he wouldn't eat crickets anymore he would eat up to 8 worms a day but now I noticed he's lost his appetite

Superworm can be very addictive,that is the reason ur cham stop eating the crickets,if I were u ,I will try offer him some type of the roaches,silkworm...things like staple feeder instead of "candy treats"