My Veiled Seems Incredibly Sick

[iSliceDice]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - His name is Cosmo, he's about 4/5 months old. I've only had him cor a week
• Handling - Practically never since he's still new to me, but more now that he's sick and I've had to take him to places like the pet store.
• Feeding - I feed him 6 or 8 crickets everyday, 4 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon. I've given him a superworm or two at only one point, just to treat him to something different. I've fed them a piece of butternut squash, an orange slice, a small slice of pepper, lettuce, and pineapple slices.
• Supplements - Exo Terra Multi Vitamin and Exo Terra Calcium (no D3). I've dusted every second feeder I feed him. I've mixed the two supplements together 1:1, as that's what the instructions on them said to do.
• Watering - I spray mist once or twice a day for about a minute, or just until the plants are dripping, since it is already very humid where I live. I also have a dripper. I've never actually seen him drink before, but I've trusted that he has been.
• Fecal Description - His poos seem okay, he left one just last night before bed so I'll post a picture in case.
• History - I got him from a pet store in Hillcrest, and the owner seems very passionate about his birds and reptiles, so I doubt he's had any poor treatment or anything of the sort.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - He has a wooden cage with screen mesh along the left, right, and front sides. It's 100cm x 100cm x 40cm.
• Lighting - I use a 60w incandescent bulb for basking, and a "ReptiSunPlus UVB 10.0 Compact Lamp". I turn them on at 6AM when I wake up, then off at 6PM.
• Temperature - I haven't measured the temperature before, but it seems to be okay. It's about room temperature at the bottom of the cage, and warm at the top near the basking bulb.
• Humidity - I've taken this lightly as well since it's already super humid in Durban. I still mist, which should keep it humid enough inside the cage.
• Plants - A Hibiscus and a Ficus.
• Placement - It's on the ground across from my bed. I'm the only one in my house so it's rather low traffic in general.
• Location - Durban, South Africa

Current Problem - Cosmo keeps closing his eyes, and they seem slightly sunken at times... He keeps climbing around aimlessly looking for any nearby branches by waving his hands out in front of him, and he won't eat I'm assuming because he can't see the food. He does open his eyes though, they aren't permanently closed thank goodness, but they are closed more often than not. He usually opens only one eye at a time, sometimes both, but never to the circles that most chameleons do. He's been very lethargic as well, and since yesterday evening he's sort of just slept on his branch under his basking bulb. I checked on him this morning (it's now 6:30 AM) and he's still there. I don't even know if he's sleeping though, because he's lethargic, and his eyes are always closed .
I took him back to the pet store on Friday so they could have a look at him and monitor him. On Sunday, I went there again and they said he had been eating, and he kinda seemed better. Now it's Monday, and... Well I'm sure you read what happened.
I'm really really concerned about him, and I feel so bad having him such a short time and getting him this sick. I made this a rather long post but I wanted to give as much info as I could because I hate seeing him like this...

 

[Fireborn]

Without knowing the colour of the urate or the exact humidity and temperature readings it's very hard to say what the issue is. He could be dehydrated, have parasites, or other issues. Eyes closed is never a good sign so your best bet would be to take it to a veterinarian.

 

[iSliceDice]

Without knowing the colour of the urate or the exact humidity and temperature readings it's very hard to say what the issue is. He could be dehydrated, have parasites, or other issues. Eyes closed is never a good sign so your best bet would be to take it to a veterinarian.

Thanks so much for the response. I'm trying to upload a picture of his faeces and urates, as well as Cosmo, and his cage, but it's difficult on my phone so I'm going to try and get them here ASAP.

 

[Remkon]

Watering - I spray mist once or twice a day for about a minute, or just until the plants are dripping, since it is already very humid where I live. I also have a dripper. I've never actually seen him drink before, but I've trusted that he has been.

I can see this being a hugle flaw in your husbandy.
They need sufficient misting to drink and clean out their eyes. 2-3 minutes 3-4x a day is mire like what you should aim for.

Temperature - I haven't measured the temperature before, but it seems to be okay. It's about room temperature at the bottom of the cage, and warm at the top near the basking bulb.

Why don't you know? There are caresheets that tell you what the temperature range should be, it's not that difficult, you risk your chameleon getting burned.

Placement - It's on the ground across from my bed. I'm the only one in my house so it's rather low traffic in general.

Never place your enclosure on the floor.
Not only do they like to be up high but down low its moreikely that he will be in cold air/draft.

Supplements - Exo Terra Multi Vitamin and Exo Terra Calcium (no D3). I've dusted every second feeder I feed him. I've mixed the two supplements together 1:1, as that's what the instructions on them said to do.

Calcium every day and multivitamin once every 2 weeks isnt 1:1 and why mix the supplements? This isn't a recommended way to apply supplements.

Right now I'd get him to a vet asap, then you should read a caresheet so you can improve husbandry.

 

[iSliceDice]

I can see this being a hugle flaw in your husbandy.
They need sufficient misting to drink and clean out their eyes. 2-3 minutes 3-4x a day is mire like what you should aim for.

I used to do that because that's what the caresheets said, but after talking to the man I got him from, he said I was doing it too often, because it's too humid in Durban. He recommended I do it once or twice a day for a few minutes. I took his advice over the caresheets because not only are those typically aimed at owners in places like the US, but he has also been breeding healthy Veileds for years. I'm quite confused about how frequently I should do this, I definitely wouldn't want to do it too often...

Why don't you know? There are caresheets that tell you what the temperature range should be, it's not that difficult, you risk your chameleon getting burned.

Well according to the caresheets I had read on keeping chameleons in Durban, because the temperature here is very steady and already in the range for chams, the heat lamp is primarily for basking. Durban even has indigenous chameleons that live here, I've often come across them in the backyard and had to get rid of them before the dog found them. Simply put, I hadn't got a thermometer because to be honest I didn't think I'd need one. If it's in his best interest to get one, then I'll get one immediately.

Never place your enclosure on the floor.
Not only do they like to be up high but down low its moreikely that he will be in cold air/draft.

I'll move his cage to a better location as soon as I get home. I didn't see anything about this anywhere, and I researched all over for weeks before getting him because I knew how much special care they need. Thanks for letting me know.

Calcium every day and multivitamin once every 2 weeks isnt 1:1 and why mix the supplements? This isn't a recommended way to apply supplements.

As I said, I was just reading the instructions on the supplements themselves, but I'll definitely be making changes to that. I wouldn't have guessed I was doing this part so wrong, especially since I was trying so hard to get it right for him.

I feel so bad about this. He's such a friendly little chameleon, and I really really care about him. I've been trying hard to get everything right.

I really appreciate the criticisms on my husbandry, and I'm going to take every word of it to mind.

 

[iSliceDice]

Eye open (you can see how it isn't normal):

Faeces:

His eye:

 

[iSliceDice]

His urate shows that he isn't getting enough water, but I don't know how to get him to drink. I never see him drink after misting, or from the dripper's little drip stream on the leaves.

 

[kinyonga]

Do you feed/gutload the insects?
For crickets, roaches, superworms I feed/gutload them with greens such as dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, etc and veggies such as carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc and a bit of fruit such as berries, melon, apples, pears, etc. All of these things can be fed to the chameleon too. I don't use pineapple or orange or spinach or lettuce or cruciferous veggies.

Re getting him to drink...try dripping water on the end of his nose at the rate of one or two drips per second. It might help. It takes patience to get them started.

Thus is still not solving the eye issue. It's possible that a bit of prEformed vitamin A (retinol, etc) might help if there is none in the vitamins but I'm not sure. You have to be careful with it because it can build up in the system and lead to health issues.
Image eye issues because there are too many reasons/causes for them. It can be an infection, something in them, low humidity, some other sickness that is making him not feel well, respiratory infection, etc. I hope you can figure it out.

 

[iSliceDice]

Do you feed/gutload the insects?

I've been following this page as a guideline:

http://www.completecritter.com/veiled-chameleon.html

It looks to be really well researched.

Re getting him to drink...try dripping water on the end of his nose at the rate of one or two drips per second. It might help. It takes patience to get them started.

I'll try and get him to do this today.

 

[Graves923]

Check out these articles: https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/
And here is the caresheet that pretty much all of us go too for care information: https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

A simple supplementation schedule to use, which I've been using successfully, is :
Tuesday- Sunday Calcium with NO D3
Every Monday Calcium with D3 every other week and Multi- vitamin on the Mondays I do not use D3.

Dust all feeders lightly with the supplements before feeding. This along with good gutloading of the feeders should eliminate any nutritional related issues.

As for hydration, definitely increase the amount of misting. In my experience, chameleons can be shy and wont drink while being watched.

 

[iSliceDice]

I tried applying the dripper to his face gently, and he loved it. Hopefully he'll recognize it as a source if water from now on. As for the misting, I'll increase it. I've been paranoid about things like bacterial infections from excess humidity, but I suppose that just means I should go out and get something to measure the humidity levels. I've moved his cage to the highest place I can, so that the top is 2m above ground. Thank you so much everyone for the advice, I appreciate and welcome everything you can give me.

 

[iSliceDice]

So great news! I took him in to a vet on Monday, who does work frequently with chams, and in fact has some of her own. She gave me eye drops to give him twice a day, and he's already doing much much better! His eyes were closed because they were very sensitive to light from over exposure to the UV (which I have now prevented from happening again). He is active and eyes open

 

[Andee]

His uvb is a compact and a 10.0 it should be switched out for a 5.0 uvb linear or natural UVB several times a week if you can. Only give my chams natural UVB anymore after having to deal with eye issues caused by UVB for years with my panther Ryker. Honestly the amount of screen you have should make it fine for you to increase mistings without an issue. All that is needed is non-stagnant airflow which is what a screen or largely partial screen enclosure provides.

 

[kinyonga]

Good to hear! Hope things will soon be back to normal.