One eye little smaller and closed sometimes

[Mikebuurskov]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Fucifer ambilobe, male, arround 7months Old, i got him 1.5month ago
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Handfeeding everyday, to try get Him used to me, so atm i dont have Him Our.
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• I feed Him mainly crickets, and then silkworms and locustus. As Much as he can eat. gut-load with repashy bug burger
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
• Pure calcium every feeding, repashy calcium plus 2 times a week. When i got him i used to dose more.
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• I mist 30mins before light Goes on fore 2mins and then 2.5hour before light go out 2 mine again.
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
• No
• 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?
• Glass cage with full screen top, alot of holes in sides and front.
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• 75w repti-zoo basking bulb and a 10.0 t5 reptisun from zoo med

• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Basking temp 84-88f
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• During the day 50-65% and when mister Goes on up to 80%
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• Umbrella tree
• 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?
• Its in the cornor of the kitchen, low trafic, and arround 100cm from floor.
• Location - Where are you geographically located?
• I live in Denmark.

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.
First light I got was a 75w hid bulb from reptech, but I got advice to change it so I got t5 now.

The problem started a while ago but sometimes it's ok but some days it's closed alot. I don't see any infection but the eye is abit smaller, it's just frustration I got like 10 meanings on this so I would try to get some advice here.

Will post some pics

 

[Syreptyon]

There are a lot of things that could be going on here, unfortunately. Your husbandry looks pretty good from what I can see, but the one thing I would suggest is to maybe downgrade your UVB from a 10.0 to a 5.0. The 10.0 models should really only be used with panthers if you have extremely dense vegetation, or else it can damage their eyes

 

[jajeanpierre]

@Mikebuurskov The eye looks smaller because he is squinting and pulling his eye into his head. When their eyes are irritated, they will pull they eye back to relieve irritation from the eye lids.

Just looking at your pictures, my gut feeling is it is just debris, possibly some stuck shed. Try giving a fairly highish dose of Vitamin A as Vitamin A is needed to for proper cell sloughing. Most chameleons are sorely deficient of Vitamin A. You can dust with Repashy Vitamin A. I've used human Vitamin A gel tabs. I'd be a little careful to not overdose it, but that is pretty rare, really. An overdose of Vitamin A looks like a blistering sunburn and skin sloughs off. It's pretty hard to do it with oral vitamins. For human grade, I use one drop of 8000IU Vitamin A and repeat in two weeks and then every month. Make sure you refrigerate your vitamins and discard after 6 months once they are opened.

 

[Mikebuurskov]

There are a lot of things that could be going on here, unfortunately. Your husbandry looks pretty good from what I can see, but the one thing I would suggest is to maybe downgrade your UVB from a 10.0 to a 5.0. The 10.0 models should really only be used with panthers if you have extremely dense vegetation, or else it can damage their eyes

My terrarium is pretty big so got recommended to get a 10.0

 

[Mikebuurskov]

@Mikebuurskov The eye looks smaller because he is squinting and pulling his eye into his head. When their eyes are irritated, they will pull they eye back to relieve irritation from the eye lids.

Just looking at your pictures, my gut feeling is it is just debris, possibly some stuck shed. Try giving a fairly highish dose of Vitamin A as Vitamin A is needed to for proper cell sloughing. Most chameleons are sorely deficient of Vitamin A. You can dust with Repashy Vitamin A. I've used human Vitamin A gel tabs. I'd be a little careful to not overdose it, but that is pretty rare, really. An overdose of Vitamin A looks like a blistering sunburn and skin sloughs off. It's pretty hard to do it with oral vitamins. For human grade, I use one drop of 8000IU Vitamin A and repeat in two weeks and then every month. Make sure you refrigerate your vitamins and discard after 6 months once they are opened.

I will try that hope he will be fine soon

 

[Mikebuurskov]

@Mikebuurskov The eye looks smaller because he is squinting and pulling his eye into his head. When their eyes are irritated, they will pull they eye back to relieve irritation from the eye lids.

Just looking at your pictures, my gut feeling is it is just debris, possibly some stuck shed. Try giving a fairly highish dose of Vitamin A as Vitamin A is needed to for proper cell sloughing. Most chameleons are sorely deficient of Vitamin A. You can dust with Repashy Vitamin A. I've used human Vitamin A gel tabs. I'd be a little careful to not overdose it, but that is pretty rare, really. An overdose of Vitamin A looks like a blistering sunburn and skin sloughs off. It's pretty hard to do it with oral vitamins. For human grade, I use one drop of 8000IU Vitamin A and repeat in two weeks and then every month. Make sure you refrigerate your vitamins and discard after 6 months once they are opened.

How much would you dose of repashy vit a?

 

[jajeanpierre]

How much would you dose of repashy vit a?

Follow the directions. I wouldn't be too worried about an overdose. It's hard to overdose with oral vitamins. Just remember there are no standards for things like reptile vitamins, so they don't always have the strength they say they do. Ditto with human vitamins.

 

[ERKleRose]

How much would you dose of repashy vit a?

Start with once a month

 

[Mikebuurskov]

The eye skin Also looks dry. Pretty White skin?

 

[Rossroams]

I would perhaps try simulating rain for the Cham, for example a pump sprayer with a fine mist would perhaps help to clean the irritated eye. I know my Jackson’s would take the opportunity to clean themselves *after* they drank, thus the mist should last up to five minutes. As for lighting... I use a UV only when my chams are kept inside, otherwise it’s the sun.

 

[ERKleRose]

I would perhaps try simulating rain for the Cham, for example a pump sprayer with a fine mist would perhaps help to clean the irritated eye. I know my Jackson’s would take the opportunity to clean themselves *after* they drank, thus the mist should last up to five minutes. As for lighting... I use a UV only when my chams are kept inside, otherwise it’s the sun.

Do you mean uvb? What about basking? Panthers need the heat to bask
Edit: to digest

 

[jajeanpierre]

Follow the directions. I wouldn't be too worried about an overdose. It's hard to overdose with oral vitamins. Just remember there are no standards for things like reptile vitamins, so they don't always have the strength they say they do. Ditto with human vitamins.

@Mikebuurskov Dose Vitamin A twice, two weeks apart then monthly thereafter. I suspect he, like most captive chameleons, is quite deficient in Vitamin A. Their Vitamin A deficiency starts before they are even conceived. Months worth of Vitamin A is put into the egg yolk, but most female captive chameleons are severely deficient so they don't have any to put into the egg yolk. Baby captive bred chameleons hatch already deficient when they should have enough stored (from their mother) for months. The same thing happens with calcium--they hatch with MBD from calcium deficiency that starts with their deficient mother.

 

[jajeanpierre]

The eye skin Also looks dry. Pretty White skin?

That's why I thought stuck shed.

I think the white/dryness you are observing is stuck shed.

Sometimes layers of skin can build up. You can't tell by looking, only by a skin biopsy can you see the layers of crushed skin that should have shed. The animal continues to shed. This is often caused by humidity that is inappropriate for the animal. It's not uncommon with imports that have been severely dehydrated or kept too hot or too dry. I once had a malthe that took a year to shed. When he finally shed, his skin was so thick it actually came off in a wafer that made a snapping sound when it broke. He couldn't bend his feet or hand. I thought he had bad gout, but it was only layers of stuck shed that could be traced back to how he was housed for a few months at the importer's.

Vitamin A deficiency shows up in the small tubules and ducts in the body. They become blocked with cells that don't slough off appropriately.

There have been studies done on panthers and Vitamin A deficiency. I don't have time to find them and quote the facts for you. If you have access to Mader's reptile veterinary text book, there are two different articles in there discussing Vitamin A deficiency and treating it.

 

[Rossroams]

So indoors I use a small basking ceramic emitters for my Jackson’s, they have 4’ tall enclosures. Plenty of room to regulate. UVB lighting. Yet my male is kept outside during most days in the winter. Typically above 60F, with direct rays of light the male can easily elevate his body temp above his surroundings.