Hey all,
I posted a while back about a young Machakos hills Jackson I got back in December. He's around 8-9 months old now (they gave me a really rough date on his exact age when i got him), and still has a persisting eye issue that Im working with a local vet to try and fix. Lets run through the timeline:
I acquired Abe in December and noticed the eye issue pretty early. This issue is that during the day he would keep his right eye shut completely or squinted. I posted to this forum around a week or so later asking advice on next steps, as I was unsure of how long I should wait to let him adjust to his new surroundings. Most responses were pretty much the same: get him in to the vet and also check his fecal matter for any parasites'. I ended up taking him to a local vet that has some experience with reptiles (Actually the same vet thats located just next the Reptarium, just a different location closer). They ran the tests and flushed his eye and said that everything appeared ok, so they sent me home with drops. I applied these drops two times a day for roughly 3 weeks and saw no real results from this, so I took him back for another checkup. They flushed the eye again and this time sent me home with more drops, an oral antibiotic, and one to inject just to insure this wasn't an infection that they weren't seeing. He reacted very negatively to the injections (not sure if it was the meds or stress from injections, I did my best to follow the exact procedure they showed me at the vet). I took him back the next week and they decided to give me a second oral antibiotic. My instructions were to use the new antibiotic and drops for a week, and if there were no reactions add in the old antibiotic as well and go till all meds were empty. I did this for probably another few weeks or so until I ran out of the drops and old antibiotic. In my most recent trip they basically just told me the same thing while also giving me a standard husbandry guide for a Jackson chameleon (funny enough it was for a xanth), and recommended turning the humidity up higher (I agreed with them reluctantly mainly because he was currently shedding). I know I made it clear to them that Abe was not a xanth, but they still recommended turning the humidity up so for now I have it a bit higher and I'm just monitoring him as best I can. They also recommended using a multivitamin more as he may have not had a multivitamin at the breeder before he came to me. I've tried to mitigate this problem by using a feeder cup as well, but hes got pretty much no interest in any bugs unless they are on the ground for some reason. Even if i offer him superworms as a treat in a little glass bowl he wont eat them, and i think at this point he should be over that initial phase of not eating due to being uncomfortable with his surroundings (yes I leave the room after I offer the bugs to give him privacy, its just what i noticed from counting the bugs over a few days). I know hes eating based on his poops, but it seems like hes not eating as much as he should for his age. I guess im just wondering if theres anything I could try that could help this poor guys whos been blind it seems like for the majority of the day, every day for now at least 4 months. Im hoping that fixing his eye issue will help resolve the eating issue as well since im sure that the closed eye messes with depth perception severly. Below Ive listed all of my enclosure and supplement info.
Thanks!
Chameleon Info:
Cage Info:
Most Recent:
One time ive seen him with it open in the last week:
He was a little upset here since i woke him up to take these
Enclosure:
I posted a while back about a young Machakos hills Jackson I got back in December. He's around 8-9 months old now (they gave me a really rough date on his exact age when i got him), and still has a persisting eye issue that Im working with a local vet to try and fix. Lets run through the timeline:
I acquired Abe in December and noticed the eye issue pretty early. This issue is that during the day he would keep his right eye shut completely or squinted. I posted to this forum around a week or so later asking advice on next steps, as I was unsure of how long I should wait to let him adjust to his new surroundings. Most responses were pretty much the same: get him in to the vet and also check his fecal matter for any parasites'. I ended up taking him to a local vet that has some experience with reptiles (Actually the same vet thats located just next the Reptarium, just a different location closer). They ran the tests and flushed his eye and said that everything appeared ok, so they sent me home with drops. I applied these drops two times a day for roughly 3 weeks and saw no real results from this, so I took him back for another checkup. They flushed the eye again and this time sent me home with more drops, an oral antibiotic, and one to inject just to insure this wasn't an infection that they weren't seeing. He reacted very negatively to the injections (not sure if it was the meds or stress from injections, I did my best to follow the exact procedure they showed me at the vet). I took him back the next week and they decided to give me a second oral antibiotic. My instructions were to use the new antibiotic and drops for a week, and if there were no reactions add in the old antibiotic as well and go till all meds were empty. I did this for probably another few weeks or so until I ran out of the drops and old antibiotic. In my most recent trip they basically just told me the same thing while also giving me a standard husbandry guide for a Jackson chameleon (funny enough it was for a xanth), and recommended turning the humidity up higher (I agreed with them reluctantly mainly because he was currently shedding). I know I made it clear to them that Abe was not a xanth, but they still recommended turning the humidity up so for now I have it a bit higher and I'm just monitoring him as best I can. They also recommended using a multivitamin more as he may have not had a multivitamin at the breeder before he came to me. I've tried to mitigate this problem by using a feeder cup as well, but hes got pretty much no interest in any bugs unless they are on the ground for some reason. Even if i offer him superworms as a treat in a little glass bowl he wont eat them, and i think at this point he should be over that initial phase of not eating due to being uncomfortable with his surroundings (yes I leave the room after I offer the bugs to give him privacy, its just what i noticed from counting the bugs over a few days). I know hes eating based on his poops, but it seems like hes not eating as much as he should for his age. I guess im just wondering if theres anything I could try that could help this poor guys whos been blind it seems like for the majority of the day, every day for now at least 4 months. Im hoping that fixing his eye issue will help resolve the eating issue as well since im sure that the closed eye messes with depth perception severly. Below Ive listed all of my enclosure and supplement info.
Thanks!
Chameleon Info:
- Your Chameleon - Male Rainbow Jackson chameleon, have had him since sun December 12
- Handling - Usually just for a few min everyday to give his meds
- Feeding - Currently I've been putting crickets in Mon and wednesday dusted with Arcadia EarthproA. Friday i do superworms (same dusting). I also have repashy multivitamin that I use once a month. Both feeders are gut loaded with bio dude bug grub, carrots, or cantaloupe.
- Supplements - See above
- Watering - I use a mistking that goes off for 1:45 every morning and night. One goes off in the afternoon for 45 seconds. I recently added another two in between per the docs orders for 20s just to keep humidity up through the day
- Fecal Description - Poops seem fine, very solid and apears to be gettign enough water
- History - Nothing to note. I got him from a reptile store ive been going to for a while. I asked if they could put me in touch with the breeder but so far i havent heard anything still.
Cage Info:
- Cage Type - Reptibreeze 2 x 2 x 4 screen cage (bioactive). Using bio dudes bag so it the bottom foot is a substrate bag.
- Lighting - Arcadia t5 6% shade dweller, Jungle dawn led, Arcadia basking bulb on a thermostat. Lights are on a 12 hour cycle using timers.
- Temperature - Basking gets to 83 with a thermostat (turned down after first post because it was reccomeded by another user from the forums), normal temp is around 68-71, night temps get between 58-65. Been using the thermostat to check temps
- Humidity - Was averaging 50% before, but per docs orders now averaging 70ish. I also have a fogger that i run on for a half an hour and then off through the night starting at 1:30 to around 6am to try and spike humidity at night.
- Plants - Umbrella plant, ficus, pothos
- Placement - In my room, but I work so I'm usually out of my room most of the day
- Location - Southwest Michigan
Most Recent:
One time ive seen him with it open in the last week:
He was a little upset here since i woke him up to take these
Enclosure:
