Jacksons wont open eyes fully

[Meghan]

Chameleon Info:
• Your Chameleon - Jacksons, male, Atleast 7 months old
• Handling - very rarley
• Feeding - Crickets, I have a plastic cup that I put three or four in everyday, he may eat them they may just be jumping out and hiding not sure, added meal worms latley.
• Supplements - Reptivite once a week and calcium without d3 once a week
• Watering - Have a litter dripper, which is a pain in the butt, and I spray the tank down twice a day until its soaking. I used to see him drink daily but he seems more shy latley and I only seem him hanging out near the dripper cant tell if he drinks or not.
• Fecal Description - Never been tested, dont see alot of fecal matter, its usually white and brown
• History - He had to be flown from downsouth to Alaska, so that may or may not cause a little stress

Cage Info:
• Cage Type - Screen 30x16x16
• Lighting - I have a double dome light, everyday 65 watt bulb? also R zilla tropical 25 t8 15watt
• Humidity - temp is between 80 and 72, down to 68 at night. humidity is around 50% at the bottom of tank and 45% at the top, probably far to low so we will be buying a humidifier.
• Plants - pothos
• Placement - top of the cage is around 4 or 5 ft off the ground
• Location - Alaska, panhandle, cold and soggy.
Current Problem - Woke up this morning and the cham was squinting its been a fully day and he has not fully opened his eyes, hes grasping blindly at stuff not sure what to do!

 

[Jbujarski]

Chameleon Info:
• Your Chameleon - Jacksons, male, Atleast 7 months old
• Handling - very rarley
• Feeding - Crickets, I have a plastic cup that I put three or four in everyday, he may eat them they may just be jumping out and hiding not sure, added meal worms latley.
• Supplements - Reptivite once a week and calcium without d3 once a week
• Watering - Have a litter dripper, which is a pain in the butt, and I spray the tank down twice a day until its soaking. I used to see him drink daily but he seems more shy latley and I only seem him hanging out near the dripper cant tell if he drinks or not.
• Fecal Description - Never been tested, dont see alot of fecal matter, its usually white and brown
• History - He had to be flown from downsouth to Alaska, so that may or may not cause a little stress

Cage Info:
• Cage Type - Screen 30x16x16
• Lighting - I have a double dome light, everyday 65 watt bulb? also R zilla tropical 25 t8 15watt
• Humidity - temp is between 80 and 72, down to 68 at night. humidity is around 50% at the bottom of tank and 45% at the top, probably far to low so we will be buying a humidifier.
• Plants - pothos
• Placement - top of the cage is around 4 or 5 ft off the ground
• Location - Alaska, panhandle, cold and soggy.
Current Problem - Woke up this morning and the cham was squinting its been a fully day and he has not fully opened his eyes, hes grasping blindly at stuff not sure what to do!

Are the crickets guloaded at all?
Are his eyes swollen? Are your lights placed directly on your cage?
Sorry for all the questions just need more details

 

[Meghan]

Ive been slacking on gut loading since we have been moving, but normally we feed them potatoes, greens, carrots. the lights are on top of the cage. His eyes dont look swollen, just pinched shut with little slits hes looking through

 

[Solid Snake]

Chameleon Info:
• Your Chameleon - Jacksons, male, Atleast 7 months old

How long have you had him?

• Handling - very rarley
• Feeding - Crickets, I have a plastic cup that I put three or four in everyday, he may eat them they may just be jumping out and hiding not sure, added meal worms latley.
• Supplements - Reptivite once a week and calcium without d3 once a week

That is too much reptivite IMO.
This may be causing the issue. I would stop giving it for a month and a half, then give it once every 6 weeks after. I would also give him calcium 2-3 times a week instead.
How long has he been on this schedule?

• Watering - Have a litter dripper, which is a pain in the butt, and I spray the tank down twice a day until its soaking. I used to see him drink daily but he seems more shy latley and I only seem him hanging out near the dripper cant tell if he drinks or not.

I would recommend at least 3 mistings, but 4-5 would be better IMO.

• Fecal Description - Never been tested, dont see alot of fecal matter, its usually white and brown
• History - He had to be flown from downsouth to Alaska, so that may or may not cause a little stress

Cage Info:
• Cage Type - Screen 30x16x16
• Lighting - I have a double dome light, everyday 65 watt bulb? also R zilla tropical 25 t8 15watt

I dont know anything about that UVB bulb, but if a bulb is putting off too high of an intensity of UVB, it can hurt their eyes. Maybe someone else can comment on the bulb?

• Humidity - temp is between 80 and 72, down to 68 at night. humidity is around 50% at the bottom of tank and 45% at the top, probably far to low so we will be buying a humidifier.

They definitely like it cooler, but I would recommend checking his basking area, and making sure he can get to 84-85F.

• Plants - pothos
• Placement - top of the cage is around 4 or 5 ft off the ground
• Location - Alaska, panhandle, cold and soggy.
Current Problem - Woke up this morning and the cham was squinting its been a fully day and he has not fully opened his eyes, hes grasping blindly at stuff not sure what to do!

Could you post a picture please?

 

[Meghan]

I just copy and pasted my info from a problem awhile ago I guess I should have updated it a little better. He has had calcium on his crickets but no reptivite recently, Id say a couple of weeks without it. Like I said we moved, so our new house is pretty cold so he maybe just to cold even with his lights? Ill put his temp meter back in his cage and see what comes up. On another problem they thought the uvb bulb was fine, should I leave it off for a few days to see what happens? I can put a red bulb in the tank for heat? Im really scared this is something bad, what if he cant eat or drink without being able to see? Opps also Ive had him for atleast 7 months now

 

[Elizadolots]

Don't put any sort of light on him at night. He will see it, he will not appreciate it. Dark is his friend at night.

I suspect at least some of the problem is that he's been moved and he's readjusting to that.

You basking temperature should be around 83F. The temperature at the bottom should be 60-75 degrees. Where you are, I don't know what you need to do to make that happen but getting a temp gun and checking temperatures seems like it should be high on your list of things to do.

I would definitely NOT leave the UVB light off...he needs that at least 4 hours a day.

I'm a bit frightened by the word "tank"...can you post a picture of the enclosure? I know that where you are you will almost certainly be using glass but there are different types of glass....

 

[Meghan]

Ok now that I see him tonight he looks dehydrated, how quickly does it take for there eyes to sink like that? Has he been dehydrated for awhile? Short term how do I fix this quickly? Long term I obviously need to invest in a better drip/mist system. Im trying not to panic but I feel like a horrible horrible cham owner. Also even though his eyes appear to be closed, hes moving them around like he can see, but Im pretty sure he cant because hes still grabbing randomly at things

 

[Meghan]

I cant figure out how to repost that picture it so heres a link to my other post, the picture and a pic of the cham as a baby is on there, thanks for the help already https://www.chameleonforums.com/weird-new-jacksons-73095/ its a full mesh tank, with cork bark background and live pothos

 

[Solid Snake]

Don't put any sort of light on him at night. He will see it, he will not appreciate it. Dark is his friend at night.

I suspect at least some of the problem is that he's been moved and he's readjusting to that.

You basking temperature should be around 83F. The temperature at the bottom should be 60-75 degrees. Where you are, I don't know what you need to do to make that happen but getting a temp gun and checking temperatures seems like it should be high on your list of things to do.

I would definitely NOT leave the UVB light off...he needs that at least 4 hours a day.

This/\

Ok now that I see him tonight he looks dehydrated, how quickly does it take for there eyes to sink like that? Has he been dehydrated for awhile? Short term how do I fix this quickly? Long term I obviously need to invest in a better drip/mist system. Im trying not to panic but I feel like a horrible horrible cham owner. Also even though his eyes appear to be closed, hes moving them around like he can see, but Im pretty sure he cant because hes still grabbing randomly at things

He does seem a tad dehydrated, but it does not appear to be bad IMO.

Dont feel horrible, you are wanting to get it right, so you must care about him.

I read through your other post. All the info given there is good.

Water is really important to his species. A dripper should be going, if the lights are on. Definitely get at least one more mist session in a day.


I would give him a long shower (20-30min) and see if that helps his eyes. You can do this by setting him on a plant, or branch, in the shower.
Then bounce SLIGHTLY warm water (not cold, not hot, not warm) off a wall, and let the little splashes hit him.

You could also just use whatever you mist him with.

What is the daytime/nighttime ambient temp in the room he is kept in?
If you are not sure, start taking readings, and find out.

What are you using to measure temps/RH? The analog ones can be very inaccurate IME.

A temp gun is an awesome tool to have, and they arent really anymore expensive than a decent probe style device (which is also a good tool).
http://www.joshsfrogs.com/temphumdity-monitoring/temp-gun-pe-2.html

 

[Solid Snake]

Also...


He looks fairly healthy.

Can you post a picture of his current setup?

 

[Meghan]

This is from when we first got him, the pothos has gotten a lot fuller since then, so its a much leafier? Denser plant setup now. At work now so I cant check temps but I will tonight. Im using a zoomed digital thermometer now, but I was using a cheap walmart digital one that measured two temp spots and humidity. Is a temp gun something I can find at walmart? I dont have a lot of shopping options in such a small town, and Im afraid this is something I cant wait on to order right now

 

[Meghan]

Update, he still has his eyes closed, he isnt drinking at all, I imagine because he cant see. This is two days without water and Im stressing out, spraying the tank down isnt going to rehydrate him so whats my next option for getting him to drink? Ive tried dripping on his lip but its not working

 

[Meghan]

Anyone anyone? Bueller Bueller?

Well I havent heard anything from anyone on here so Im getting worried that no one has any answers. But I thought Id post the temps just in case anyone is still listening. This morning one of his eyes looks a little bit more open, I spent all afternoon trying to get him to drink from a dropper with no luck. I dripped on his lip, rubbed a bead of water back and forth, even tried to gently open his lip to get a taste of water in but nothing. Its now been three days without food or water. Although he looks no more dehydrated then he did yesterday. Im spraying the tank down at least 5 times a day now just to keep it wet in case he tries to drink. Im really losing hope now. He was gaping a few minutes ago and I did get two little drops of water in before he ran away. The temp, with my cheap walmart indoor/outdoor digital reader and my cheap zoomed digital reader, is 75F with 50% humidity in the middle of the cage and 94F to 99F directly under the basking light, thats when I leave the temp reader there to warm up. I switched the light from a blue day light to a 60w soft white bulb last night. Ive also turned a heater on in the room just to keep it warm at night, I know the temp is supposed to drop and Im sure it does a little bit but I thought if hes sick he might benefit from keeping warm at night instead of cooling down to much. Thanks to anyone if your still listening

 

[Solid Snake]

No.

Keep him cool at nite.

A heater dries the air out, a lot.

I would try taking him out from under his current lighting for a while, and see if he opens them.

I honestly have no idea why he cant open his eyes.

Dont loose hope though!

Anything above 85F is bad for him, so make sure he does not go over that temp!

Does he move around at all?

Can you post more pictures of what hes doing at the moment please?

 

[Meghan]

OK I will turn the heater off tonight. He finally opened one of his eyes today after I disturbed him to try and get him to drink, he moved around a bit and I sprayed the tank hoping he would drink but he didnt. We live in a very very wet climate so Im not to worried about him drying out but I will keep a close eye on humidity, It rains something like 300 days a year here? Anyways, I put his dripper back in, it puddles in a dish on the bottom of the tank so that should help humidity also. I removed the blue day light and replaced with a 60w which maybe the blue light was to bright? The basking spot may be to hot if its between 94 and 99, should I switch to a lower watt? He moves when I touch him but mostly hes just laying on a branch with his head down and eyes closed like hes sleeping, his grip is still firm and he has been sleeping in odd positions with his legs spread really far apart or just general awkward places. In this picture he looks really boney but when hes moving around he doesnt look like that, not to justify him being skinny for any reason, also I dont know why hes hanging upside down

 

[Meghan]

Well, the last two days his eyes opened up but mostly hes sleeping almost all day or laying with his eyes closed he does open them and move when I disturb him. He now runs away with his eyes closed when I spray the tank with water, even warm water. He is not drinking or eating still. Ive managed to get a few drops of water in his mouth while hes gaping but he wont open his mouth to drink voluntarily. Hes sleeping in odd positions still, mostly with is head laying down on a leaf or sleeping hanging upside down. Not sure what else to do, was going to build him a new larger cage but Im afraid to add anymore stress to him. Not sure how long he will survive without food and water