Panther has sunken eye.

[missingthenight]

My boyfriend purchased a panther chameleon from a reptile show last week, and yesterday the chameleon kept shutting his left eye for longer periods of time and today it has been shut all day. His eye that is shut also looks a little sunken in, I was reading that it could be caused by dehydration and to try and put the chameleon in the shower. The problem with that is we have city water, and whatever the town treated it with managed to kill our discus fish when he first moved in.
Is there any reason to think the water could harm our chameleon? I know they are delicate creatures. And if so, can someone suggest an alternative to the shower?

 

[jannb]

Give him very long and very warm mistings. Post a picture and fill out the ask for help form please so that we can help you. https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[carol5208]

I have city water and that has all my chameleon has drank or been misted with for the past year. Unless your chlorine levels are extremely high (which I dont know how you would tell that anyways) it should be fine. I guess it depends on where you live though.

 

[Texas Ranger]

I agree with Carol. And fish are a lot different. They live in the water. So I can see where "city" water can kill them. Do you drink and cook with the tap water? I think it should be "ok". But dont quote me lol. I shower mine all the time. But im on a Co-op water company.

 

[missingthenight]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon Panther Chameleon, Male, Unsure about age( About 8 inches) and have had for a week.
Handling - In the past week, about 3 times.
Feeding - Crickets, and dusting with calcium
Watering - Has a fog machine on the cage, and cage is misted at least 4 times a day by hand. Sometimes more, when the air in the room feels dry
Fecal Description - No clue
History - Got at the New York Reptile Expo on April 17th

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Aluminum/mesh tank. Exact dimensions unknown (its at my bf's house, with the cham...)
Lighting - Solar Glo UVA/UVB bulb, and light is on during the day.
Humidity - Humidity is between 65% and 80%. Measured with a humidity guage.
Plants - No live plants yet
Placement - Cage is in the corner of the room, low traffic area. Top of the cage is at my eye level (a little below 5 feet)
Location - New England

Below are pictures of him. I apologize for the quality. My bf took them with his phone.

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[ataraxia]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon Panther Chameleon, Male, Unsure about age( About 8 inches) and have had for a week.
Handling - In the past week, about 3 times.
Feeding - Crickets, and dusting with calciumPlain calcium phos free evry feeding, caclium with d3 twice a month and multi vit twice a month.
Watering - Has a fog machine on the cage, and cage is misted at least 4 times a day by hand. Sometimes more, when the air in the room feels drymake sure cage is drying out between mistings. you dont need the fogger.
Fecal Description - No clue
History - Got at the New York Reptile Expo on April 17th

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Aluminum/mesh tank. Exact dimensions unknown (its at my bf's house, with the cham...)
Lighting - Solar Glo UVA/UVB bulb, and light is on during the day.from the pictures that bulb is way to close to the top of the screen. HE WILL BURN HIMSELF FOR SURE!!! i had a eye issue a few months back with my panthers. it was resolved between three things i did and one was a bulb change to a linear but im not 100% it was the culprit.
Humidity - Humidity is between 65% and 80%. Measured with a humidity guage.
Plants - No live plants yet
Placement - Cage is in the corner of the room, low traffic area. Top of the cage is at my eye level (a little below 5 feet)
Location - New England

pretty cham you have there. from the pics he looks fine. his eye issue could be from a few things.

1: may be his lighting
2: lack of multivitamins
3: i doubt he is wild caught but if he is he may have issues a vet needs to attend. do you know if he is or not?

 

[missingthenight]

pretty cham you have there. from the pics he looks fine. his eye issue could be from a few things.

1: may be his lighting
2: lack of multivitamins
3: i doubt he is wild caught but if he is he may have issues a vet needs to attend. do you know if he is or not?

We just changed the lighting today, didn't have a chance before work to get a stand for him. I was getting worried about the shut eye and moved the lighting, and misted him every 15 minutes manually, and removed the crickets in his tank (hoping stress was the reason) after about an hour he was a lighter color and moving around, but his eye was still sunken in. About an hour ago, when I asked my bf to text me pictures, he told me that the eye looked normal- so hopefully whatever I did while I was there was the solution.

Thank you for the advice about the lamp tho. I'm just still worried if this happens again, if we will be able to "shower" him, because we DO drink and cook with our water. I find it tastes a little funny, but I am very sensitive to changes in my water (my water at my house is well water and has a LOT of iron in it) I just don't know how much water change a chameleon can deal with. Currently we run his mister on purified water we buy at the store, same with his spray bottle.