Old Age? Or Something of Concern?

[Zensational]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Male Veiled Chemeleon, rehomed to us as an adult, approximately 4 or 5 years old. His name is Calvin.
• Handling - I handle the chameleon maybe once every couple months, but it’s a four person house and I’m at work 40hrs a week, so I’m not entirely sure.
• Feeding - Two or three feedings of 30 Lg Crickets a week, refuses to eat Butter Worms, Hornworms & Waxworms. Crickets are being gutloaded with wheat meal and cricket quencher. Dusted in Calcium + D3 for one of those three feedings.
• Supplements - Rep-Cal Calcium + Vit D3
• Watering - Mist King, programmed to go off once every hour for about 30 seconds.
• Fecal Description - No recent feces, urates come out pearly white and turn orange after a day or two.
• History - Sheds have always been back to back and fairly slow, old owner didn’t have a big enough cage for him and couldn’t properly take care of him.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Screen Cage, plastic bottom, no substrate. 24”x24”x48” dimensions. All plants are potted with river stone topping the dirt.
• Lighting - 75Watt Intense basking spot by Exoterra & 2 Tropic Blaze High output T5 tropics lights during the day. 50Watt Zoomed nocturnal infrared heat lamp.
• Temperature - 97 degree basking spot with opportunity to get closer. 70 degrees on the cage floor. Flukers digital thermometer at the bottom, Acu-Rite home thermometer & humidity reader at the top.
• Humidity - Up to 80% right after a misting, sinks down to about 55% right before the next misting.
• Plants - Plenty of live plants, my mother took on this challenge so I’m not entirely sure what species they may be, but they’ve been munched on for the last 2.5 years without problems.
• Placement - No fans or air vents nearby, in the corner two extremely large windows that span above and below the height of the cage. Top of the cage is 6 feet above the ground. In the living room, which in our home is fairly relaxed, but we do have surround sound speakers above him.
• Location - Seattle Washington.

Current Problem - Calvin seems to be fairly lethargic, and his eyes are sunken in. He isn’t eating as much as he normally does, I know he’s getting up there in age, and the lack of signs of stress is making me think the worst, but I can only hope for the best for my buddy. If this is “fixable”, I’d lock to save him. It’s gone on for about 3 or 4 days now.

 

[Kaizen]

Sunken eyes is often a sign of dehydration, but as it seems like you’re providing plenty of water, there might be a more serious condition. You don’t mention whether any of the lights you have are uvb emoting, and me being rather brand ignorant, I can’t tell from what you’ve listed whether you’re proving uvb light. Cricket quencher it ok as a water source for your bugs, but wheat meal is probably not going to give your crickets a complete nutrient profile. If you’re pressed for time, try Repashy ‘superload’. It’s a pretty solid gut load for most feeders. Yes, collards, mustards, carrots etc, are also great, but if it’s between wheat meal and a prepared gut load like superload, go with superload everytime.

I’m sure more experienced chammers will chime in with more advice here, so please stay tuned.

Important point: try to get him to a herp vet as soon as you can: lethargy, sunken eyes and loss of appetite can be symptomatic of a bigger problem. They can also be signs that your husbandry needs an easy to fix tweak, and your Cham will pull through fine, but in my humble opinion, these symptoms are vet worthy. Hopes this helps, and best of luck.

 

[Thehippie]

he looks like he's purposely holding his eye in... you need to get him to a vet

 

[Brodybreaux25]

he looks like he's purposely holding his eye in... you need to get him to a vet

Agree^ that’s not dehydration

 

[Zensational]

Sunken eyes is often a sign of dehydration, but as it seems like you’re providing plenty of water, there might be a more serious condition. You don’t mention whether any of the lights you have are uvb emoting, and me being rather brand ignorant, I can’t tell from what you’ve listed whether you’re proving uvb light. Cricket quencher it ok as a water source for your bugs, but wheat meal is probably not going to give your crickets a complete nutrient profile. If you’re pressed for time, try Repashy ‘superload’. It’s a pretty solid gut load for most feeders. Yes, collards, mustards, carrots etc, are also great, but if it’s between wheat meal and a prepared gut load like superload, go with superload everytime.

I’m sure more experienced chammers will chime in with more advice here, so please stay tuned.

Important point: try to get him to a herp vet as soon as you can: lethargy, sunken eyes and loss of appetite can be symptomatic of a bigger problem. They can also be signs that your husbandry needs an easy to fix tweak, and your Cham will pull through fine, but in my humble opinion, these symptoms are vet worthy. Hopes this helps, and best of luck.

Thank you! I pretty much just pull the crickets straight from the bin at work, and that’s what we’re feeding them there. Don’t have too much control in a corporate world. I’m trying to convince my family to take him to the vet, they are skeptical, but I’ll definitely bring this stuff up to them.

 

[Zensational]

he looks like he's purposely holding his eye in... you need to get him to a vet

My family thinks it’s just a bad shed that’s affecting his eye because he has skin hanging off his nostril. Any words of advice to hopefully change their minds?

 

[Char333p]

Oof yeah that eye. I dont like how hes keeping it closed like there is dry skin right in middle of it... maybe one of those mist showers for 10 mins? Im no expert, but couldnt hurt other then that prob vet for sure

 

[Zensational]

Oof yeah that eye. I dont like how hes keeping it closed like there is dry skin right in middle of it... maybe one of those mist showers for 10 mins? Im no expert, but couldnt hurt other then that prob vet for sure

How does one do that?

 

[Char333p]

How does one do that?

But a plant or tree, branches... something he can hang on... put it in the shower and make the water. Not hot n not cold... luke warm and spray that against the wall of shower so that only the mist bouncing off hits him to give him a thorough bath. You can look it up on youtube for other peoples methods

 

[Zensational]

But a plant or tree, branches... something he can hang on... put it in the shower and make the water. Not hot n not cold... luke warm and spray that against the wall of shower so that only the mist bouncing off hits him to give him a thorough bath. You can look it up on youtube for other peoples methods

Taking your advice!

 

[Zensational]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Male Veiled Chemeleon, rehomed to us as an adult, approximately 4 or 5 years old. His name is Calvin.
• Handling - I handle the chameleon maybe once every couple months, but it’s a four person house and I’m at work 40hrs a week, so I’m not entirely sure.
• Feeding - Two or three feedings of 30 Lg Crickets a week, refuses to eat Butter Worms, Hornworms & Waxworms. Crickets are being gutloaded with wheat meal and cricket quencher. Dusted in Calcium + D3 for one of those three feedings.
• Supplements - Rep-Cal Calcium + Vit D3
• Watering - Mist King, programmed to go off once every hour for about 30 seconds.
• Fecal Description - No recent feces, urates come out pearly white and turn orange after a day or two.
• History - Sheds have always been back to back and fairly slow, old owner didn’t have a big enough cage for him and couldn’t properly take care of him.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Screen Cage, plastic bottom, no substrate. 24”x24”x48” dimensions. All plants are potted with river stone topping the dirt.
• Lighting - 75Watt Intense basking spot by Exoterra & 2 Tropic Blaze High output T5 tropics lights during the day. 50Watt Zoomed nocturnal infrared heat lamp.
• Temperature - 97 degree basking spot with opportunity to get closer. 70 degrees on the cage floor. Flukers digital thermometer at the bottom, Acu-Rite home thermometer & humidity reader at the top.
• Humidity - Up to 80% right after a misting, sinks down to about 55% right before the next misting.
• Plants - Plenty of live plants, my mother took on this challenge so I’m not entirely sure what species they may be, but they’ve been munched on for the last 2.5 years without problems.
• Placement - No fans or air vents nearby, in the corner two extremely large windows that span above and below the height of the cage. Top of the cage is 6 feet above the ground. In the living room, which in our home is fairly relaxed, but we do have surround sound speakers above him.
• Location - Seattle Washington.

Current Problem - Calvin seems to be fairly lethargic, and his eyes are sunken in. He isn’t eating as much as he normally does, I know he’s getting up there in age, and the lack of signs of stress is making me think the worst, but I can only hope for the best for my buddy. If this is “fixable”, I’d lock to save him. It’s gone on for about 3 or 4 days now.

Edit: I did find poop, it looks like a healthy color of poop, hiding behind a leaf

 

[Zensational]

But a plant or tree, branches... something he can hang on... put it in the shower and make the water. Not hot n not cold... luke warm and spray that against the wall of shower so that only the mist bouncing off hits him to give him a thorough bath. You can look it up on youtube for other peoples methods

After the bath, he’s moving his eye and it almost looks like a convulsion, as if to push something out from underneath his eyelid. Because he’s been a happy and healthy chameleon up until this point I’m really hoping it’s just some eyelid shed

 

[Brodybreaux25]

My family thinks it’s just a bad shed that’s affecting his eye because he has skin hanging off his nostril. Any words of advice to hopefully change their minds?

That’s not skin hanging off his nostril, it’s a salt crystal.

And the “convulsion” your seeing is him trying to clear out whatever is bothering him. If he diddnt get it out during the shower he needs a vet. This is his vision we’re talking about here, kinda important...

 

[jannb]

Vet check ups and fecals are very important for chameleons especially as they age. They get allot of the same health issues that we do. I recommend a good check up, a fecal, some bloodwork and an x-ray. There’s allot that can be done these days to easy the old age issues.

 

[Char333p]

After the bath, he’s moving his eye and it almost looks like a convulsion, as if to push something out from underneath his eyelid. Because he’s been a happy and healthy chameleon up until this point I’m really hoping it’s just some eyelid shed

Yeah they usually close their eyes blink deeply sink in their eyes and roll them around when they are cleaning their eyes thats totally normal. But if whatever was keeping it closed didnt come out and its still not opening, sounds like you may need vet visit

 

[CamoChameleonsHuman]

I'd recommend some Repashy Vitamin A Plus once every 3-4 weeks dusted on his crickets as well. Vitamin A is super important to our reptiles eye health as well as other important bodily functions. Most multivitamins are lacking in this. Usually only providing vitamin A pre-cursors like beta-carotene. There has been studies showing that little to no vitamin A is actually obtained in our reptiles with these pre-cursors. Repashy Vitamin A Plus is Retinol Vitamin A meaning it's concentrated and ready to be stored in the fat cells.

 

[Char333p]

I'd recommend some Repashy Vitamin A Plus once every 3-4 weeks dusted on his crickets as well. Vitamin A is super important to our reptiles eye health as well as other important bodily functions. Most multivitamins are lacking in this. Usually only providing vitamin A pre-cursors like beta-carotene. There has been studies showing that little to no vitamin A is actually obtained in our reptiles with these pre-cursors. Repashy Vitamin A Plus is Retinol Vitamin A meaning it's concentrated and ready to be stored in the fat cells.

Is vitamin A in the multivitamin suppliment we give to them or do we need to get that seperately?.. not home atm otherwise id look at bottle. Or is a specific bottle have more vita a then a multi

 

[Kaizen]

Just my 2 cemts worth: take him to a vet...chances are that the vet will flush his eyes out with saline, and that’ll be that. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Char333p]

Just my 2 cemts worth: take him to a vet...chances are that the vet will flush his eyes out with saline, and that’ll be that. Better safe than sorry.

Indeed and then hopefully the vet can give you future advice on how to prevent or do it yourself

 

[Zensational]

Just my 2 cemts worth: take him to a vet...chances are that the vet will flush his eyes out with saline, and that’ll be that. Better safe than sorry.

I’m gonna try my best to convince my family (who are on a business trip right now) to let me make an appointment if this is still a problem tomorrow. One of the eyes is looking a little better, and is almost all the way open, but still half sunken in. But I really don’t want to see him go. I love this guy.