Male Veiled Eye Issues?

[Clamps]

Chameleon Info
Chameleon: Veiled Male about 4-5mo. old. He has been in my care since October 13th
Handling: Roughly once a day to once every other day, usually for a shower.
Feeding: Crickets are his staple, he eats 10 - 12 daily. Within the last few days we've increased it to either 15 crickets or 10 crickets with two super worms alternating day by day. I've attempted to gut load the crickets but with no success so the crickets are fed a commercial diet.
Supplements: Calcium daily (not on days the feeders are dusted with other supplements) Multi-Vitamin every other Monday and Nekton-Rep (recommended by the vet on his first visit for eye issue) on alternating Mondays. I also use a calcium with d3 once ever other Wednesday (only twice a month).
Watering: I mist him twice daily for roughly 20 seconds each time. I've only ever caught him drinking three times outside of a shower.
Fecal Description: His stool is a healthy color and firm but not hard, his urine however seems to be closer to a creamy color then a white with orange spots here or there. He has not been tested for parasites as I was not aware on my first visit that I should of brought a fecal sample.
History: Nothing.. I got him from a breeder at a recent reptile expo. in Tinley Park.

Cage Info
Cage Type: Screened cage 16x16x20
Lighting: All Living Things UVB 75 watt bulb(This is also a compact coil bulb). We try to keep his lighting consistent around 8am to 8pm
Temperature: Basking spot is around 90 degrees, the gradient is all the way down to 70 degrees at the bottom. His overnight temperature is roughly 70-65 degrees. I use a thermometer and humidity gauge in one, it has velcro so I move it all around to check temperatures.
Humidity: Near the basking spot the humidity is significantly lower around 20%-30%, all other areas are 50%-60%. Again his humidity gauge is an all in one with the thermometer.
Plants: Live plants were not readily available in my area when I purchased him so to substitute I'm currently using fake plants. Just this Friday I managed to find an indoor nursery and purchased him a pothos plant that I've yet to clean of pesticides and replace soil.
Placement: He is partially tucked into a corner where there is no pet traffic, no vents and no window to shed light that I cannot regulate.
Location: Illinois, DuPage county close to Chicago.

Current Problem: Initially in my first week of owning him he began to close his right eye and puff it out in attempts to clean it. It went from what seemed to be irritating to bad within two days and I scheduled him a vet appointment as close as was available. The vet's first diagnosis(and only) was a tumor.. which was frustrating, he spent no more then a few moments to look at him and didn't even wait long enough to see him close his eye. I told the vet how he was acting and when it had happened and asked if they would flush his eye. They agreed of coarse and left the room only to return with a $40 persecution.. they did NOT flush his eye and sent me on my way with a $120 bill. I followed the prescription for the 9 days and everything seemed well but I assume this was only because his eye was lubricated?

He was fine for a while but now(since Saturday) he is keeping it completely closed again and it seems dis-formed now.. It doesn't look round anymore, it looks like he has it "sucked" into his eye socket. He also started showing discoloration of a darker orange-brown around the edges of his turrets. Just outside of his turret towards the bottom he started to show darker spots? His head and veil have also turned a very strange pale color the looks almost purple? His appetite is completely fine.. he is hungry as always lol

Does anyone know how to help me? Can anyone suggest a herp vet in the DuPage area? Heck even in Chicago.. I don't care, I just want him healthy!!!

 

[sassyboots]

In the Dupage Area- Danada Vet Hospital in Wheaton, Dr. Wallach sees the exotics. She was great with my ferrets and is knowledgable with the reptiles having treated my brothers iguana and my box turtle.
The best ones are in Chicago at Animal House of Chicago. I had a very sick Cham last year that was in and out of there. Started with an eye infection and ended with a bone infections that he fought but eventually did not survive.
They are really knowledgable, have been heads of herpetological societies etc. They are expensive though, so be prepared for that.
Good Luck

 

[fluxlizard]

You didn't mention the brand of your multivitamin. Does it have vit a or only beta carotene? Nekton- don't know what it is like nowadays, but an old issue of the vivarium had an article where a sample was sent off to the lab and the label was very innacurate as far as it's analysis went.

 

[ChameleonMom]

There is no point in treating an eye problem without first clarifying one thing and that is lighting.

You mention an "All Living Things" UVB 75w bulb. So right off this sounds to me like a basking bulb, which if it is the case will not be providing any UVB to your chameleon. If you use the coil bulbs, I have used the coil Exo Terra 26W/5.0 UVB bulb with great success for the past 7 years. You need to purchase a UVB bulb because without the UVB you will be throwing money to your vet for no reason and of course, no UVB can be the cause of your current problem.

I am fairly experienced with eye problems in chams so I would suggest you do the following at home first and see if it helps. You will need to purchase some sterile saline solution, the type used for contact lenses. It cannot be the protein fortified calcium deposit cleaner. It can ONLY be plain, sterile saline solution. Also see if you can purchase some Polysporin for Red Eye Antibiotic eye drops. This is an over the counter antibiotic eye drop that MAY help in the absence of any other antibiotic. You will need to sit your cham down and spray the saline solution directly into the slit of the eye turret. If you squeeze the bottle hard the spray comes out quite quickly and forcefully. You should see the eye turret fill up with liquid. When this happens stop spraying and just let the liquid spill out. Don't be surprised to see some liquid come out of your chams mouth or nose as all these organs are connected. If required, do this twice and see what he does. If he opens his eye up afterward, then take the red eye drops and drop 2 drops into his eye socket. Don't swish around, or manipulate in any way. I would do this twice a day until Monday. If he won't open his eye after the flushing then use two q-tips to gently manipulate the eye slit open. When you can get it open just a little bit try and drop some eye drops inside and then leave alone. If you do not see any improvements by Monday morning you will have to take him to the vet for another look. Tell your vet that you believe your cham has an eye infection and insist on some oral antibiotic eye drops. If your vet doesn't believe its required, insist upon it as you are your chams advocate and if you don't fight for him, nobody will.

It sounds to me that the eye closing is NOT an indication of illness in other parts of the body but a problem with the eye itself. However I am not an expert, I can only offer my opinion based on my own experiences. Please know that closing their eyes usually indicates that a cham is unwell and since they hide illness very well, if you are seeing signs by way of closed eyes, it means the illness is becoming worse. However your discoloration description around the eye indicates to me that this is an isolated problem with the eye.

Try my suggestions for today and tomorrow and see if this helps. If not, get on the phone early Monday and get him in to the vet. Good luck and I'll keep him in my thoughts over the next few days. Keep me updated!

Cheers, Lisa