I'm a sucker for sick animals...

[ReqRep]

So, while stopping by a local pet store to pick up some stuff for Charlie I noticed this little lady. She's a female Jackson's Chameleon, not sure how old. She was being kept in a very small glass enclosure with nothing but a single vine for her to climb on. The temperature was about 60 under the basking light, and the humidity was around 30%. I'm almost positive she had no UVB bulb, and she was being fed nothing but worms. I spoke with their animal manager and he informed me that she was special ordered for a customer recently. Turns out the customer only wanted a male, and opted to leave her there. I'm not sure if the store is just inexperence with Chameleons, but it was clear that she was fairly neglected. The employee I spoke with definitly gave off a "we just want her gone" vibe. It broke my heart, and I just couldn't bring myself to leave her behind. Maybe some of you will give me flak for taking on a second animal despite being new to Chameleon husbandry, but I just couldn't leave here there in those conditions. She seems fairly healthy. Her color has been vibrant for the most part (she's much darker than normal in the pictures, I think she was just stressed with me trying to get a good shot of her eye), she seems strong in limb and jaw, and she's quite sociable (or so it seems). The only thing that is bothering me is the fact that her right eye is swollen. It's very dark, and quite swollen as you can see in the pictures below. She can still open it, but seems to keep it closed most of the time. When climbing she really looks as if she's just blindly feeling (more like flailing) for something to grab onto when moving towards her right. I'm concerned she won't be able to eat if it's imparing her vision (which I am almost certain it is). I've got her in a nice, big vivarium with a lot of plants for her to climb on. Basking spot is around 80 degrees and she's got a Reptisun 5.0. I've been keeping the humidity very high, and spraying her more frequently than Charlie incase this is some how related to her last shed (she has a few bits of skin on her spines so I assume she shed recently). I've reached out to a local herp vet, but they won't be free to see her until next week. I'm curious if this is something that warrants traveling to get her to a vet sooner? Is there something I can do here at home to help her heal? Like I said, I'm just worried she will be unable to eat. I've given her some crickets, but I can't tell if she's eaten any. I tried to entice her with a worm as well, but she didn't even seem to notice. Any help is appreciated. I do know she's drinking at least.

 

[Theveiled]

https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/jacksons/ this will give you all the care information you need. Keep her hydrated and the humidity up. @Remkon

 

[JacksJill]

You are keeping her too warm for a Jacksons especially a young one. Max is 80˚F at the basking spot. You may have already caught that on the care sheet Remkon linked for you.
Frequent spraying and showers may help until you get the vet check.

 

[ReqRep]

You are keeping her too warm for a Jacksons especially a young one. Max is 80˚F at the basking spot. You may have already caught that on the care sheet Remkon linked for you.
Frequent spraying and showers may help until you get the vet check.

Her basking spot is 80, the ambient temperature is around 70.

 

[Remkon]

I'd mist her for minutes on end, the longer the better basically and see if she will clean out her eye(s).
Give her plenty of opportunities to do this and see if she starts to open em up more.
If you have a large plant you can put her in you could place her in the shower for 45mins or so, use lukewarm and aim the showerhead towards the wall so the water bounces off the wall onto the plant.

If the eyes don't improve I'd definitely take her to the vet, not sure if you want to wait it out until the vets appointment.

 

[JacksJill]

Sorry "Theveiled linked for you"
Oh good the 80-90˚ thing scared me not everyone knows that their requirements are different from panthers and veiled. They also need less supplements and higher humidity.
Can you hear any noises when she is breathing? Any popping clicking or gurgling would make the vet trip more urgent.

 

[Remkon]

Her basking spot is 80, the ambient temperature is around 70.

That's about right, you may want to lower it a tiny bit to 75.
Normally you would keep females cooler to decrease clutch size but Jax don't lay eggs.

Night temp would ideally be around 60F but up to 65F should be okay too.

 

[Andee]

I would definitely mist as long as possible at the moment. Do a nice long misting for at least 30 minutes and so a fine mist if possible. She would do best with that. She may need a bit of vitamin A in her diet. I am not sure. Usually from what I have noticed my Jacksons tend to do best with a regular addition of a small amount of preformed vitamin A. If you don't already have repashy LoD I would get it. There is a way to get her food even if she isn't eating on her own, but I would mist and hydrate her as much as possible at the moment. I have a strong feeling she needs her eyes flushed at least. Especially since she was in a place that didn't have a ton of chameleon experience. So if you can travel to a vet that would see her sooner I would do it after... like a couple days of good hydration.

 

[ReqRep]

Turns out the vet actually ended up with an opening this afternoon, so we just got back. They said she has some kind of minor infection, likely conjuctivitis, and gave us an antibiotic for her. They said she appeared somewhat dehydrated, but otherwise realtivly healthy. At this point the main concern is if she'll start eating. I'm not sure how long she was at the store, and I am therefore unsure of how long it might have been since she last ate. Her stomach seems very flat and empty, and she's quite skinny in general. The vet reccomended I give her two more days to settle in, let the antibiotic start it's course and see if she starts to eat. If she doesn't by Saturday it was reccomended I start force feeding. They indicated that she would likely be dead very soon if left in the state she was in at the store; however, as long as we can get her hydrated and get her eating she'll be a healthy girl.

 

[Andee]

Did they try to clean out her eyes at all? Since she is drinking that is really great. As far as force feeding, I have found an oral liquid diet is the easiest to do for sure. I grind my own bugs, add some warm water, add a few veggies and fruit (very small amount) and then add the LoD repashy I have. I then suck it up in an oral syringe. For her I would do no more than .5 cc at a time. Be careful when oral feeding. Always go into the far back of the mouth/beginning of through so they don't aspirate. Hopefully she will come out of it and won't need force feeding <3

 

[ReqRep]

They did not flush or attempt the clean the eye in anyway. They said that her pupil looked fine, and that there isn't any kind of obvious discharge so we're likely catching it early. Hopefully after a couple days of settling in she'll start to eat naturally. If she doesn't she said I could also try physically putting food around her mouth, and almost aggrivating her with it (I think she called it slap feeding) to see if she'd eat that way. I'm hoping for the best, but we'll do what we can for the little girl. Just got her a nice Rubber Plant, which is what I have in Charlie's enclousure, so hopefully she'll settle in on that.

 

[Andee]

I have never had huge success with feeding whole prey items by hand when a chameleon has just come under my care and has not learned to do it on their own, and they can't see.

 

[ReqRep]

Quick update: Even thought it's only been one day Charlize's eye already looks better! Some of the green coloration has returned to it and she seems to be able to consitently keep it open now. Her energy level seems to have raised a bit as well. She still hasn't noticably eaten, but she's definitely drinking more. Small steps, but anything is good news in my book.

 

[Andee]

YAY ^^

 

[ReqRep]

Another update: Her eye continues to look better by the day, it's almost back to normal size and only slightly darker than her normal apperance. Her appetite still concerns me greatly. She has yet to shows interest in food, and at this point I am physically putting food into her mouth. I typically hold her in one hand and very gently pull on her lower jaw which usually gets her to open the mouth. I'm feeding her small crickets and small super worms, and have to physically insert them into the back of her mouth. She doesn't seem to object much, but she doesn't even willingly open her mouth of take the food. Her tongue also often makes it difficult to get food in as it often starts to stick out during the process. She chews and swallows whatever i put in, but it's still a bit of a struggle. I know this is not ideal, would it be better for me to just go about the liquid method Andee mentioned above? She also seems to be quite lethargic. She sleeps a fair bit during the day, or at least I'm pretty sure she's sleeping. Often out of the basking area, eyes closed, tail curled up. I'm still quite concerned about her.

 

[Andee]

I would definitely recommend the liquid method just to get her going. It would be easier to get food and supplements into her, and I am pretty sure at the moment she is too low on energy and necessary supplements etc, to be interested in food. Is she still drinking on her own? Her eye may also be causing issues still with seeing her own food source at the moment. I expect when she gets some good nutrition into her she will start being able to hunt again. Once she starts showing more energy etc after the liquid diet you can easily wean her off and then get her more interested in hunting for herself. The lethargy is classic signs of not feeling well and could easily be remedied just by getting more food into her. It's either that or she's sick with something else, but from the sounds of it her actual illnesses are getting better, she's just running low on steam?

What does everyone else think?

 

[ReqRep]

I'll definitly switch over to the liquid diet then. Is there any trick for getting their mouths open though? I outlined my method above, and while it works and I'm very gentle I can't help by worry about hurting her in the process.

 

[Andee]

What I do for my guys is I work a bit on make them agitated. Not the nicest thing but it makes it much easier. Use a 1 CC syringe for sure. And if you can get crop needle attachments (have learned this amazing attachment from @jpowell86, they would help a lot especially because she's so tiny). Don't feed her more than .5 cc at a time, and I would do at least 1.5 cc in a day. I place my fingers (thumb and forefinger) on either side of the chameleon's head, usually near the eyes or just behind them. Then I kind of rub it in between their lips and then on their gums. (she may likely bruise a bit from this, but trust me it doesn't matter as much as getting food into her as long as you don't actually cut her) When she opens her mouth, likely from gaping, just wedge it in, and the tip in the back and press the plunger down, hold her head just a bit longer so she doesn't spit it out right away, after a few seconds you can let her go and walk away. Don't do anything afterward. Give her at least 45 minutes of alone time, to relax and destress. I don't usually do another feeding for at least 1 hours to 2 hours. Depending on when you are home you can do it in the morning once, and then a couple times before lights out, or if you are home all day (like me) space it out.

Remember to add vitamins to your insect blend, not everytime since she is a jackson, but definitely do it. Rinse the syringe well after every feeding.