One eye closed, rubbing, on and off

[Vriska278]

Ive had my cham for a month and a half and she just went through her first shed 3 days ago. The day after her shed she was closing one eye and rubbing it on vines and such. I upped the misting that day and by the next day she looked fine. Eye completely open, running around her cage, eating, all normal. Now today like halfway through the day she started closing it again. This time she was puffing it out and moving it around trying to wash something out. Im not sure what this is.

New
Chameleon Info:
* Your Chameleon - Female veiled. Believed to be 3 months when purchased (from petco) i do not know. Had her for a month and a half
* Handling - Every few days i have her out on my hand for a minute or two. She doesn't stress when handled often. Hands in the cage to feed and clean daily
* Feeding - Crickets every day with calcium (no d3). Fed flukers high calcium dry food and flukers drinking gel. An occasional meal worm as a treat.
* Supplements - calcium without d3 everyday (zoo med repticalcium). Herpative Vitamins and zoo med d3 calcium twice a month.
* Watering - I spray with warm water from a hand held sprayer whenever the humidity drops to around 40-50%. I try not to spray her directly and just hit the plants in the cage.
* Fecal Description - Fecal matter is brown. Sometimes it is wetter than others but mostly constant. Urate is white with a small amount of yellow every now
*History - i haven't had her long enough to really have one. She has been fine so far with very few issues. She munches on the ficus i have in my enclosure and eats and drinks regularly.

Cage Info:
* Cage Type - 16x16x16 in aluminum mesh enclosure. 2 sides covered with a shower curtain for better humidity
* Lighting - I have a dual dome hood with a reptisun 50w basking bulb and a reptisun full spectrum compact bulb (changing this to a 5.0 uvb t8. I know now that they are way better) And just a fluorescent t8 for added lighting
* Temperature - Floor is in low 65-70s, basking is 80-82ish and the rest of the enclosure ranges from 70-80 depending on how low in the cage.
* Humidity - i keep the humidity between 40% and 80% im home a lot so i can watch it constantly. I also have a small room humidifier in my room to keep if more constant.
*Plants - small ficus center piece, small plastic plants, vines and sticks, and a few philodendron vines for extra leafy areas
* Placement - Cage is in my room usually low traffic. Top of the tank sits about 5.5 feet off the ground i usually keep the door open during the day when im around so she gets used to me being around her easier
* Location - Chicago, IL

 

[Graves923]

If she shed recently, it could be a piece of skin stuck in her eye turret. I would keep the misting up or put her on a plant and in the shower for a little bit. Aim the water at the shower wall and let the mist spray her and the plant. Luke warm water. The spray will allow her to get water in her eyes abit to help flush out water is irritating her. If that doesn't help in the next day or two a vet visit might be needed before an infection starts.

 

[Chameleon_mom]

Poor thing prob has shed in her eye. Hopefully extra misting will help!

 

[Vriska278]

Thats what i figured i just want to be thorough. As a side note could an experienced owner take a look at my cham info and see if anything needs tweaking? All help is appreciated. Thanks so much to this community for its info and lovely people!

 

[Graves923]

Everything looks on point for your care. Only thing I would change is to gutload your feeders with naturals gutloads. Oranges, apples, escarole, kale, danelion greens are all really good gutloads for crickets and other feeders.

 

[Vriska278]

Awesome thanks. I just ordered some hornworms and small butterworms to deversify the diet. And im planning on getting some kale and some fruits for her and her feeders. Thanks again for the help graves

 

[opheliaeatsbugs]

I notice the Dripper, but you didn't mention it in your care notes. Hand misting to keep the humidity up is good. So I just have a few questions about your cham drinking... do you see her drinking? It can be challenging to see them ... some can be shy when drinking. Any yellow or orange in her urates could mean that she is not hydrated enough. I have had a challenge getting the proper balance for my Ophelia and keeping her properly hydrated. So you may want to keep an eye on that

She's not ready yet, but I would suggest getting yourself ready to prepare a laying bin for her.

 

[Vriska278]

I do see her drinking. I have the drip system but no drainage set up yet so i dont use it. She drinks almost every time i mist her enclosure

 

[opheliaeatsbugs]

I do see her drinking. I have the drip system but no drainage set up yet so i dont use it. She drinks almost every time i mist her enclosure

Drainage is a challenge, that's for sure, but you gotta figure it out because that's what she needs Check out https://www.chameleonforums.com/forums/enclosures-and-supplies.14/ for ideas. Until you figure it out, or come up with a solution... you will need to up the misting sessions to at least 3-5 mins a few times a day.

 

[Vriska278]

I dont know if you can see my spray bottle in the cage pic i posted but i do that entire bottle and a half for each misting session. The towel under the cage grabs the exsess water and i change that out once a week. Thanks for the drainage idea page ill definatly look into that

 

[Vriska278]

An update on how she is doing. It seems to be every other day that she has her one same eye closed but then next day she is completely fine. Wide open eye no problems or anything. Then she is right back to it the next day. I have been misting like crazy, i got rid of my compact bulb, i built an entire drainage system, and she has been eating regularly. I am going to try doing multivitamins 2 times a week for the next 2 weeks to see if more vitamin a has anything to do with it. Tomorrow i will put her in the shower for 20 minutes. I dont have enough money to afford a vet visit. Can anyone else reccommend anything else for me to try besides vet? Attached is a picture of her closed eye. It seems more swollen on the bottom today that it usually is.

 

[Glen the Jackson's]

I am NO expert on this at all but it looks as though she also has some deposit coming out of her nose as well- this could be due to to much vitamins and the body is trying to get rid of excess vitamins. Maybe some more experienced members can chime in... @Andee @Nursemaia

 

[Vriska278]

I thought that at one point too but she has been eating the dirt from the ficus tree as well. Its organic dirt so its not harming her but ive heard that they do that sometimes to replenish vitamins

 

[Andee]

She may need some extra moisture in that eye to help her rinse it out. I have realized sometimes if they have a irritant in their eye (which is what I think this is) they won't rinse their eye well and be able to get it out on their own. Her eye doesn't look infected yet so she should be able to get it out with some extra lubrication. For my chameleon who needs manually added lube to his eyes, I use lubricant eye ointment (it's in a gel form and is the best to get) and can be easily found in a human pharmacy. You want absolutely no presertives, and if you can find it only get like 2 active ingredients. My preferred one has mineral oil and white petrolatum as active ingredients, inactive are lanolin alcohols. You may need another person to apply it while you hold her. Unless you can get it in when her eye is open. What to do when you apply it while open her eye. Is hold her on the correct side, and then just put your thumb on her eye turret, you should easily be able to open it a small crack (that's all you need) all you need is a decent drop of the gel and she should be good for the entire day. Do an application for the next like 5 days and see if it helps.

 

[Vriska278]

She may need some extra moisture in that eye to help her rinse it out. I have realized sometimes if they have a irritant in their eye (which is what I think this is) they won't rinse their eye well and be able to get it out on their own. Her eye doesn't look infected yet so she should be able to get it out with some extra lubrication. For my chameleon who needs manually added lube to his eyes, I use lubricant eye ointment (it's in a gel form and is the best to get) and can be easily found in a human pharmacy. You want absolutely no presertives, and if you can find it only get like 2 active ingredients. My preferred one has mineral oil and white petrolatum as active ingredients, inactive are lanolin alcohols. You may need another person to apply it while you hold her. Unless you can get it in when her eye is open. What to do when you apply it while open her eye. Is hold her on the correct side, and then just put your thumb on her eye turret, you should easily be able to open it a small crack (that's all you need) all you need is a decent drop of the gel and she should be good for the entire day. Do an application for the next like 5 days and see if it helps.

Do you have a specific brand of that gel that you use? Id rather get what works than play any more guess and go.

 

[Andee]

I know thera tears gel often works but my pharmacy didn't have it. I use the CVS pharmacy brand? Do you have a CVS where you live? I can add a picture if you want? If you can name a local pharmacy I can look it up and find one for you <3

 

[Vriska278]

Haha thanks so much youve been a huge help. I actually have a cvs one block from my house so i will head out there today and try and find some of those drops.

 

[Andee]

This is the one I use.

 

[Vriska278]

Could you give me a little more in depth advice on how to hold her when im applying the gel? I want to make it as little stressfull as possible. And while ive got you could you weigh in on the deposits in her nose. I use calcium daily and multivitamin and d3 twice a month. Could i be dusting too heavily? Or something else. She has those deposits most days. She will clear them out with a hefty breath every once in a while but they are usually there.

 

[Andee]

I am pretty sure the deposits on her nose are just salts she is excreteing, especially since she is clearing them with a huff. Nothing to worry about.

As far as applying the gel... it is hard not to cause stress when doing it. You will likely cause some stress. If her eye is opening on it's own that day you can try catching it open and just when she looks up at the right time, kind of move the drop of gel into her eye. (you will want to have a hefty drop ready already on the tip) You could take her outside to encourage it opening. If she closes it at the time, just make sure you get it on the crack of the eyelid so that when it opens it will automatically move into the eye. She will swirl it around herself. That is likely the least stressful way to do it.

As far as manually applying it and open her eyes, I will have to get some pictures of how I hold Ryker for you. It's hard to explain correctly.