My Jacksons eye is swollen and almost translucent
- Thread starter OramKiori
- Start date
Elizadolots
New Member
You should give us the information in the "how to ask for help" thread.
I strongly suggest pictures.
In the meantime, maybe you should a) increase general misting because that's always good and b) get some saline solution (for contact lenses, look for the one with the fewest ingredients) and try to wash that eye out a bit.
If it's at all stressful, I'll back off until someone with experience with the problem chimes in.
You might also contact a vet and see what sort of payment plan can be arranged. Just because you can't afford a visit now, doesn't mean you can't afford one now that's spread out over 4 or 5 months.
I strongly suggest pictures.
In the meantime, maybe you should a) increase general misting because that's always good and b) get some saline solution (for contact lenses, look for the one with the fewest ingredients) and try to wash that eye out a bit.
If it's at all stressful, I'll back off until someone with experience with the problem chimes in.
You might also contact a vet and see what sort of payment plan can be arranged. Just because you can't afford a visit now, doesn't mean you can't afford one now that's spread out over 4 or 5 months.
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
Yes please complete the questionaire, and post pictures.
If indeed it is an infection, there is not cheap quick fix cure - you may have to consider giving up the chameleon to someone who can afford to care for it.
If indeed it is an infection, there is not cheap quick fix cure - you may have to consider giving up the chameleon to someone who can afford to care for it.
Elizadolots
New Member
OramKiori, while Sandra is correct that you might have to consider that possibility, in my experience, Vets are quite wiling to work out payment plans. Please do ask about that before you take out a Craig's list ad or such.
ataraxia
Avid Member
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?
PICTURES ARE VERY HELPFUL! chameleon and set up.
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?
PICTURES ARE VERY HELPFUL! chameleon and set up.
ataraxia
Avid Member
jacksonii, male, 4 years old, I've had him for 3 years
I rarely handle him.
crickets once or twice a week loaded with flukers high calcium cricket food, giant mealworms and the beetle the morph into every day, moths six times a month.
four to five crickets, five mealworms, four beetles, six to seven moths depending on size.
reptocal (calcium and vitamin D3) three times a month.
reptile xtra (anti-bacteria meal) once every couple of months
a dripper with purified water, i used a fountain till it broke.
i do see him drinking, i mist once a week for only a few minutes, he doesn't seem to like it. dark with orangey-white clumps at the ends and clear liquid with a mucousy consistency.
he used to share a cage with two girls,it is a larger cage, so he has mated and made beautiful offspring that died. he was too aggressive with the girls and the results of mating gave them infections from his scratches that were too severe. i suspect that it was a mistake of mine, i found out too late.
screen cage, 36" X 24" X 24"
zoo med UV lamp, zoo med day heat light, zoo med night heat light
82 basking 78 top 67 on bottom. heat lamps. spring thermometers
25 humidity i like to keep it higher but its hard in summer. misting
plastic plants attached to top of cage, he loves to drink water off of them just like in the wild.
it is nearish to a fan on a window upstairs. 62" above the floor (it's on a table)
Frazier Park, CA. elev. 4200'
I rarely handle him.
crickets once or twice a week loaded with flukers high calcium cricket food, giant mealworms and the beetle the morph into every day, moths six times a month.
four to five crickets, five mealworms, four beetles, six to seven moths depending on size.
reptocal (calcium and vitamin D3) three times a month.
reptile xtra (anti-bacteria meal) once every couple of months
a dripper with purified water, i used a fountain till it broke.
i do see him drinking, i mist once a week for only a few minutes, he doesn't seem to like it. dark with orangey-white clumps at the ends and clear liquid with a mucousy consistency.
he used to share a cage with two girls,it is a larger cage, so he has mated and made beautiful offspring that died. he was too aggressive with the girls and the results of mating gave them infections from his scratches that were too severe. i suspect that it was a mistake of mine, i found out too late.
screen cage, 36" X 24" X 24"
zoo med UV lamp, zoo med day heat light, zoo med night heat light
82 basking 78 top 67 on bottom. heat lamps. spring thermometers
25 humidity i like to keep it higher but its hard in summer. misting
plastic plants attached to top of cage, he loves to drink water off of them just like in the wild.
it is nearish to a fan on a window upstairs. 62" above the floor (it's on a table)
Frazier Park, CA. elev. 4200'
AZJ0SH
New Member
xanthoman
Avid Member
hate to say it but if you want to save him, its probably time to bite the bullet and borrow the $ to see a vet, any hesitation will likely be fatal, waiting may make it impossible for even a keeper with vet$ to save him
you wanted him, he was a good pet to you for 3 years, the onice is sort of on you to do whatever you need to do to take care of him.
that being said, if both eyes are affected, i would guess likely a supplementation/lighting issue catching up with him, what sort of lighting do you use?
also, 4 yrs isnt a bad run for a xanth, i think captive ones that live over 5 years are more the exception than the rule. given his age/ current condition, maybe its just his time, rather than put him through some treatment that isnt likely to work. diagnosing the prob would likely require blood panel and other lab,plus meds= likely more cash than just an office visit. jmo
KarmaChameleon1337
Avid Member
Why do you mist only once a week? You need to mist three times ish a day, do you use cold or warm water? Warm water they'll react less to, cold frightens them. Mealworms are not a good staple food, try Dubia Roaches, mealworms are low in nutrition and the hard shells can cause constipation. For the dusters for the feeders, use calcium without d3 every day, calcium with d3 twice a month, and multivitamins twice a month. You don't need any light at night. Fountains are usually a no no because they collect bacteria quickly. From the looks of his fecal matter he is VERY dehydrated, probably because of only misting once a week. Males should not share a cage with male or female, unless the cage is large enough to be the size of an entire room. Humidity should be alot higher than 25, keep it up by misting ALOT more and adding shower curtains to the sides of the cage, real plants help keep humidity up. That is a very small cage for an adult Jackson.
Last edited:
KarmaChameleon1337
Avid Member
You're welcome. I hope you take into consideration all the things people have said, and I hope he gets better.
It really does need to see a vet IMHO.
You said..."it is nearish to a fan on a window upstairs"...the fan is on the window? Does the fan blow onto the cage? Do you have air conditioning on in the house often?
Here's some information I hope will help you with things like supplements, gutloading, etc....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.
Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.
Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).
If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).
Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)
Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)
Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.
Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.
You said..."it is nearish to a fan on a window upstairs"...the fan is on the window? Does the fan blow onto the cage? Do you have air conditioning on in the house often?
Here's some information I hope will help you with things like supplements, gutloading, etc....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.
Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.
Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).
If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).
Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)
Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)
Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.
Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.
