New veiled chameleon loaded with issues

[Alan12013]

I am writing this on my phone so I will have to post the pictures when I get home later tonight, but I will post at least 2 for each issue. I'll also fill out that form. I'm just worried and want to get started helping soon.

I just bought a supposed 1 year old male veiled chameleon from some one in Eastern Oregon which is a desert climate for the most part. They housed the fellow in a 55gal or larger tank with the normal eco soil you get anywhere. He was obviously not being watered properly as there was a bowl of water in his cage with dirt and cricket remains. The had a heat lamp on him so I'm sure his cage was at least 90 with zero humidity at all times. They fed him crickets only and would dump a bag in his tank once every couple weeks.

His skin is very dry, I think I can fix this.
His eyes are very swollen and I saw him press one up against the glass and it looked very sick! I think he can still see out of both eyes with one questionable.
He has that bump on his head indicating a sinus infection. He has white yellow crust around his nostrils.

He is active and seems friendly. I will put him in a new home and make sure he is good tonight but I need advice on the rest of his issues as I want to bring him back to health no matter what even if it requires surgery. Thanks for any help!

 

[SaintJimmy]

Every time I see an eye issue posted here (swollen weird looking eyes) it's usually vitamin A deficiency, but I would just get him a reptile vet visit to be sure what it is and to be prescribed something useful.

Get the poor boy into a nice large enclosure with some live plants and a misting system, I'm sure he'll love the water

I am glad someone who cares about him took him away from that bad situation.

You will need to read this as well if you're new to chams.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

 

[carol5208]

Post some better pics if you can. Seeing that he has the bump on his nose which most likely is a sinus infection, that can lead to swollen eyes. They seem to go hand in hand. I believe the sinuses drain into the eyes and cause them to swell. You could do a search on here. There have been many threads about it. Also, did they have a uvb light?

 

[Alan12013]

a couple pics

These are taken with my phone in my van so not too good, better quality to come tonight. His eyes look like the skin has been permanently stretched. One eye is giant still. I will be sure to load him up with all the right nutrients and I'll notify a vet and ask about cost on Monday. I'm starting to worry his neck might be swollen but he's the only chameleon I've ever seen. He seems active and friendly.

 

[carol5208]

Oh wow his eye looks terrible. He really needs to be seen by a vet. That bump on his nose can be an abcess which needs to be lanced and cleaned out and they he will most likely be put on an antibiotic. His eye could very well be effected by the abcess, which could be part of a sinus problem. His neck looks fine. They will swell their necks up as a sign of aggression.

 

[Alan12013]

first update

His eyes got cleaned with a qtip using saline and vetericyn wound and infection care stuff. Then I put him into a temporary ten gallon holding tank with a live plant, uv light and several distant heat lamps. The old giant tank had very bad ventilation and reeked up my entire two story condo. His eyes gained color back and look slightly less puffy once I removed a good amount of what appeared to be soil. He continues to roll his eyes back as if they are in pain or irritated. His cage is tiny at the moment but the temp and humidity are good for now. Within a couple days I'll have his new home ready which is a large 7 foot tall hutch I am converting to a terrarium. Hopefully I can get him to a vet early next week. Tomorrow I'll feed him maybe some wax worms or something other than crickets. I'm also starting to gut load a couple batches tomorrow with fruit.

 

[Cait0420]

I'm so glass you rescued him from that terrible situation and are willing to do what is necessary to help save him! He seems to be in good hands

 

[Alan12013]

update day 1

His eyes are still very swollen but have gone down a bit. They have much more color. This morning i caught him scraping his eyes on the coconut soil stuff and instantly cleaned them and rubbed them very very lightly with the qtip trick again. Now that it's clean and I can see it better there appears to be some sort of wound with a blackish scab or something on it so I'll try to get that off. I know I over fed him, he had 14 crickets that were either dusted with repcal or sprayed with water and wet. I use rounded safe tweezers to feed him individually. He loves the uvb light! His scales are still very dry looking in areas... should I continue to keep him moist?? he's now back into his 75 gallon tank that's very clean with a pothos plant, still this is temporary until my larger hutch project is finished. I also want to know of there is any way I can make him drink or watch to make sure he has water.

Thanks everyone for your kind comments. I'll continue to update until each issue is fixed and how they were cured.

 

[Alan12013]

day 3 ok i need some ones help please

I've been spraying my crickets with water in hopes that he can use it to hydrate. The crickets are eating orange stuff and fruits and getting dusted. His cage is about 60 to 85 percent humidity. I am getting another lamp as I have a hard time getting the temps high enough but average is 75 to 80. I'm worried because I think his infection is so bad and he's overly dehydrated. I actually just saw him successfully hunt food so that's good since I normally hand feed him. I took some pics of him hoping that one of you could see him and tell me what his health looks like to you. I really want him to get healthy!!! My custody battle seems to be costing a grand a week and money is tight so I'd rather not take him to the vets just yet but I will if I have to. I've only had him three days and I do use a wound and infection care spray on his eyes with saline and I think they look better but still pretty bad and one of them grows brown crust stuff on the turret. His scales are very dry as you can see in the pics. Ive also seen him take a bite out of the pothos plant after I sprayed it with water.

 

[Cait0420]

The moisture in the plant can help him hydrate so that's good, and maybe try clipping some romaine lettuce to the side of the tank. My veiled used to love this and hibiscus buds too. Wet the lettuce before putting it in so it'll hopefully have some water in it when he eats

 

[Alan12013]

lettuce

Thank you cait. I actually own a cafe and fly through romaine lettuce so I'll bring some home tomorrow for sure to give him. Can you tell from the pictures if he looks dehydrated or too thin from your experience with chameleons? It's the cracking discolored skin that worries me. In the past 3 days I've gave him probably 20 crickets and today he also ate a few meal worms. I was glad to see him hunt down the 3 or so crickets that escaped from me in his cage, he even ate the nearly dead one that wasn't moving that I injured while trying to wrangle up. Thank you again for the replies and ideas!

 

[sharp229]

He looks normal/healthy to me other than the eyes and sinus infection. I don't see the dry skin you are mentioning in the pictures, are you sure it is not just his natural color? Veileds have black and brown scales naturally.

However, the sinus infection and eye infection could become a serious problem and you will need antibiotics to treat it. So you will need to take him to a vet to get the correct antibiotic prescription as suggested previously. If he loses the ability to open even one eye he will not be able to shoot food due to loss of depth perception; chameleons are really dependent on sight since their other senses are not very strong.

He is a very beautiful veiled chameleon, I really like all the yellow and orange. Glad you have been able to improve his situation.

 

[Alan12013]

looking better already

Thank you sharp229. I have been rubbing a topical antibiotic on his eyes which combined with proper care has seriously improved his eyes just in the past few days. He is beautiful and has some interesting colors at times. I will probably take him to the vet soon to get the abcess looking thing removed but his eyes look so much better already. Last night I found out that when it's bed time he doesn't play around, it's bed time! He fell asleep with me holding him and wasn't happy when I tried getting him to get to his perch so I could turn off the lights and turn on the red one. I tried the romaine lettuce that cait0420 suggested and he doesn't seem interested unless a cricket is on it. I did start getting him to drink a good amount though by lightly misting him then using an eye dropper type thing. I don't think hos final home will be done until next weekend and u can't afford a vet visit until next month but his health seems to be getting much better. His eyes actually almost look normal finally, not sure if it's the vitamins or clean tank with antibiotics that did the trick though. There is still some brown crust that forms around his eye though that I can't remove, I just rub saline and the antibiotic wound care stuff on it. Thank you all for your suggestions and comments. Hopefully now I can start posting in some non health related threads!

 

[Alan12013]

I got the scab off!

He let me pick him up again (after holding my hand there for about 10 minutes) and while I was holding him I could see his blackish brown eye crust really well and I was able to remove the last of it. The skin underneath looked good so not sure if it was a scab or what. After only 5 days I think that he is doing much better and I can stop feeding him so much. I've been way over feeding him. He's ate almost 3 meal worms and 10 crickets every day for the past 4 days. I think now I'll lower it to 12 every 2-3 days. Should I feed him the 12 in the same day or spread it out? I definatly like him though, so much so that I want another!

 

[christineacero]

Last night I found out that when it's bed time he doesn't play around, it's bed time! He fell asleep with me holding him and wasn't happy when I tried getting him to get to his perch so I could turn off the lights and turn on the red one.

Good for you for rescuing this poor guy! He is really a beautiful veiled, and you're both lucky to have found each other. A tip though, chams should have all their lights off at night. As long as your house doesn't dip below 50 degrees (which most houses don't) then a heat source is not needed overnight. Chams need a drop of at least 10 degrees overnight in order to slow their metabolism and sleep properly.

I know that you know this, but he really needs to see a vet. I understand money is tight and cham appointments are not cheap, but that abscess looks angry! I'd get him in as soon as the money is available.

I'm no expert, but I don't think you're overfeeding him. Chams are pretty good at regulating how much they eat (males are better than females). He will stop eating when he's full. As long as he is still accepting food, I would continue to feed him that amount, or more if he still looks hungry. Also, limit the mealworms to just occasionally. They have a hard shell that are difficult for chams to break down and can cause impaction. Silkworms, pheonix worms and hornworms are wonderful snacks for chams (not to mention they're extremely hydrating!- I noticed you were worried about that). Try those instead.

Hope this information helps! And keep us updating on the little guys progress!

 

[junglefries]

Being held is a bad sign. Most veils hate human touch. That being said i have some who tolerate it, but that is just because they hope it is their turn to breed. Be wary of one allowing you to pick up so easily. You can lower his rh a little. Veils come from Yemen with higher temps and lower humidity. RH of 45-55% is ok. For alternative foods you can baby foods. Spred it on leaf. Silkworms and hornedworms are mostly water and would help really hydrate him. Silkworms have incredible vitamins over other insects. Veils are super hardy. They can rebound very well.

 

[Iluvheidi]

Such a shame that he got to the point of pick up. He is such a pretty veiled. Good luck in your journey to recovery with this guy!

 

[Cait0420]

His skin looks fine, I'd definitely get the abscess taken care of at a reptile vet before it gets any bigger. I wish you much luck with him, he's a beautiful little creature!

 

[Alan12013]

A little over a week

I'll have to post pics soon after he finishes shedding in the next day or so. He is doing much better and I think he's getting bigger. His colors are far more stable now than at first. He started to shed the other night and is still in the process but it seems to be working out. He now does not like to be held but I can coax him into it if I have to. I still hand feed and water him and plan on it for a while if not forever. I called a vet and found out it'll be about 350 at least from what I can gather because that abscess HAS TO GO! For a while I thought that he might be going blind because he grabs at the air when he moves around as if he can't see the branches and is doing trial by error to find one. He also takes a strange angle at the crickets and some times it seems like he doesn't see it until I show it to his good eye. I found a multi-vitamin with vitamin A that I just started giving him today and I am going to give that to him regularly until I can get him to the vet next month. I built a 7 foot tall, 3.5 by 3 foot cage for him with lots of safe live plants and various sized dowls that angle all over from top to bottom, he seems to love his new home. The cage is made of wood with tiny wire screens all around it. There are enough plants for him to hide if he wants but he is usually close to the top but not quite as high as he could go which I took as a good sign. I try to research all of the past posts on this forum but it is hard for some specific things to him. I really just don't want him to be in pain or disabled. I'm glad this forum is here! Thanks to you all again and I will be posting more pics of "The Dude" and his new home this week.

 

[Alan12013]

picture

Here he is in his much larger new home that I made. I was in a hurry to make it out of excitement. The next couple that I do will be much more attractive and should match my furniture I also picked up some super worms since it has been recommended and he ate a good amount today. Tomorrow thank heavens I get my check from the hospital (employees pay with a badge) so I'll take the dude to the herp vet finally. My mother, sweet as she is, bought me a new chameleon since I've been talking about them so much and it's a shame she just didn't pay for a vet visit! Yes I'm 29 and still have a mother that buys gifts for me. Well I'll be posting about her on another form later as I have lots of questions about her too! The dude finished his shedding today for the most part and he looks much bigger and brighter. He used to display a lot of light teal, yellow and orange but as he's getting into better shape his colors tend to stay the same more often with darker colored teal/green, yellow and brown(the part that I used to think was dry skin...). I'll update again once I get back from the vets. Thanks you guys!