mckaylakortes
New Member
I woke up my Chameleon and he won't open up his eye. I can't tell if he is in pain or not.
HELPPP
- Thread starter mckaylakortes
- Start date
Serbianchameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
Thats not good they need to have opened eyes all the time if the lights are on. Post some pictures of your enclosure and your chameleon. You should fill out how to ask for help form too and post it here.
mckaylakortes
New Member
Can you fill out the help form below for us with detail and take a picture of the enclosure lights down so we can see what your working with. Looks like baby either has something stuck in it or hydration/misting may be off.
Here is some recommended information to include when asking for help in the health clinic forum. By providing this information you will receive more accurate and beneficial responses. It might not be necessary to answer all these questions, but the more you provide the better. Please remember that even the most knowledgeable person can only guess at what your problem may be. Only an experienced reptile veterinarian who can directly examine your animal can give a true diagnosis of your chameleon's health.
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.
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Please Note:
- The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
- Photos can be very helpful.
mckaylakortes
New Member
Chameleon Info:
Cage Info:
Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
The current problem is that I woke him up and noticed only one of his eyes was opened.
- Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
- I have a veiled chameleon, male, and he's between 2-3 months. He's been in my care for 1 week.
- Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
- I haven't handled him much because I just got him.
- Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
- I have been feeding him crickets and 3-4 a day. I feed him everyday. I gut load with oranges.
- Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
- Calcium form zoomed, Calcium with D3 from Rep-Cal, and Multivitamin from Rep-Cal. I do calcium every day and every Saturday I switch between multivitamin and calcium with D3.
- Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
- I have a ReptiRain mister that mists every 3 hours for 45 seconds. I don't really watch him all the time because I want to let him be, but his pee is white.
- Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
- His poop is brown and pretty soft. He has never been tested for parasites.
- History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
- I have no previous information on him.
Cage Info:
- Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
- 18",18", 36", and its a screen.
- Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
- For the UVB I have a zoomed T8 5.0 and the lights go on when I wake up for school at 9 and they go off at 10.
- Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
- Temps drop to 65-68 at night; daytime is usually~70°F. Basking is at 83°
- Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels?
- Humidity stays pretty much the same it usually stays 70-80% during the day. I maintain by having a humidifier always running.
- Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
- I don't use live plants yet but I am getting some very soon.
- Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas?
- Its located at the highest point that it can fit in my room. Its not near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas,
- Location - Where are you geographically located?
- New Hampshire, USA
Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
The current problem is that I woke him up and noticed only one of his eyes was opened.
mckaylakortes
New Member
Heres the enclosure.
Prince of Duval
Avid Member
Has he shed recently in your care?
mckaylakortes
New Member
@mckaylakortes See my feedback in red bold. 
Chameleon Info:
The current problem is that I woke him up and noticed only one of his eyes was opened. When you say you woke him up??? Did you wake him up prior to lights on? Or was he sleeping with lights on? Do you have a manual misting bottle?
The metal dish should be removed. It is reflective and can cause stress.
Links I like:
www.dragonstrand.com
https://chameleonacademy.com/
https://www.chameleonbreeder.com/
https://www.youtube.com/c/NeptunetheChameleon?sub_confirmation=1
Chameleon Info:
- Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
- I have a veiled chameleon, male, and he's between 2-3 months. He's been in my care for 1 week. Does he have tarsal spurs on the back feet?
- Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
- I haven't handled him much because I just got him.
- Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
- I have been feeding him crickets and 3-4 a day. I feed him everyday. I gut load with oranges. He should be eating 12 crickets a day at this age. Orange is not enough for gutload. Your wanting variety in leafy greens with a bit of fruit. See image below.
- Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
- Calcium form zoomed, Calcium with D3 from Rep-Cal, and Multivitamin from Rep-Cal. I do calcium every day and every Saturday I switch between multivitamin and calcium with D3. If you are using herptivite from zoomed it is not a good multivitamin because it lacks Vitamin A for their eye health. I would switch to reptivite without d3, it would be used two times a month as well in rotation with your calcium with D3. OR you can get reptivite with D3 and use this 2 times a month say on the 1st and 15th then drop the calcium with D3 out of the weekly rotation. All other feedings would get calcium without D3.
- Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
- I have a ReptiRain mister that mists every 3 hours for 45 seconds. I don't really watch him all the time because I want to let him be, but his pee is white. Your limited in your duration for misting with this one and your length. If it gives you the option to do a longer misting every 3 hours that would be better then the 45 seconds. You want it spraying down on the plants for him to drink off of. Longer misting duration's trigger them to clean their eyes as well.
- Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
- His poop is brown and pretty soft. He has never been tested for parasites. I recommend to everyone to get a fecal done on their cham to make sure it does not have parasites.
- History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.
- I have no previous information on him.
- Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
- 18",18", 36", and its a screen. You will need to upgrade to a 2x2x4foot cage by the time he is 3 months old.
- Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
- For the UVB I have a zoomed T8 5.0 and the lights go on when I wake up for school at 9 and they go off at 10. The T8 will be an issue if the basking distance is not correct. You really want to get a T5HO with a 5.0 bulb, with this fixture basking level would be 9 inches below the top screen. With the T8 5.0 bulb you have to have basking very close 2-3 inches below the top. If you went with the 10.0 bulb this would give you a little more distance to basking. but still would need to be 5-6 inches below top screen. Then you have the risk of thermal burns from the basking lamp since the basking level would be really close to it. So basking lamp has to be lifted up off the cage quite a bit. You really want to reduce how long you have lights on if possible. 13 hours is a lot for them IMO.
- Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
- Temps drop to 65-68 at night; daytime is usually~70°F. Basking is at 83° These are perfect temps. How are you measuring temps at basking level?
- Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels?
- Humidity stays pretty much the same it usually stays 70-80% during the day. I maintain by having a humidifier always running. This is too high for a veiled during the day. You want 30-50% max during the day. Then when lights are off and the cage is at its coolest it can be up to 100%. If you are running a fogger into the cage with lights on this creates wet hot air and they can develop a respiratory infection.
- Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
- I don't use live plants yet but I am getting some very soon. Perfect this is a good link that shows Veiled tested safe plants. https://chameleonacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Chameleon-Plants-122819.pdf
- Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas?
- Its located at the highest point that it can fit in my room. Its not near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas,
- Location - Where are you geographically located?
- New Hampshire, USA
The current problem is that I woke him up and noticed only one of his eyes was opened. When you say you woke him up??? Did you wake him up prior to lights on? Or was he sleeping with lights on? Do you have a manual misting bottle?
The metal dish should be removed. It is reflective and can cause stress.
Links I like:
www.dragonstrand.com
https://chameleonacademy.com/
https://www.chameleonbreeder.com/
https://www.youtube.com/c/NeptunetheChameleon?sub_confirmation=1
mckaylakortes
New Member
Thanks for the feed back! To answer your question on the problem, I wake him up by turning his lights on and then 5 minutes later I turn mine on. I have an automatic mister and I took the bowl out.
Your welcome. Ok but this morning... Was he sleeping well after you turned the lights on?
How is the eye now? Can you trigger your mister to go off? Do you have a hand held misting bottle? To see if it is just an issue of needing to clean the eye... you would give him an additional misting and see if it helps.
mckaylakortes
New Member
No he woke up as I turned them on.
The eye is still shut but his a bright green.
I can trigger the mister right now but it just went off a couple of minutes ago.
No I do not have a hand held mister.
The eye is still shut but his a bright green.
I can trigger the mister right now but it just went off a couple of minutes ago.
No I do not have a hand held mister.
Trigger the mister again... He needs to clean the eye... Nothing in your husbandry is so far off to cause eye issues in a week. I am guessing since looking at your cage there is nothing that he could have gotten stuck in there that it is simply the fact that he needs to clean it. It will look weird when he does. He will rotate and puff out the eye. Bright green is fine... He has only been in your care a week. Stress is heightened for them in the first few weeks. They have to get used to everything.
mckaylakortes
New Member
You were absolutely right i tried to mist right on him and his eye just started to get all puffy and kind of look weird but I saw that he just opened it. Thank you sooo much.
I will make sure to update you!
I will make sure to update you!
Your very welcome.
He may close that eye off and on the next 24 hours. Just watch him. You may need to trigger the misting again manually if he tries to close it back down. Now if he does not keep it open even after repeated cleaning over the next few days then it is possible he got something stuck it it. That would require a qualified reptile vet to flush the eye.Start making the changes to your husbandry... Let us know if you have any questions on the feedback I gave you. Also you can download the guload image so you can take it shopping with you.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/images/
