Hello everyone, I’ve decided to come on here because I’ve seen a lot of people getting really good advice with their sick chams and I really need help with mine, I’ve read a ton on here about everyone’s but there’s a few differences that I noticed and wanted to find out if there was anyone who could help me. Any help is appreciated and I will try to answer as best I can. I’ve already filled out the form about my cham and I’ll add some pictures from today.
- Chameleon info - Veiled Cham, female, 10 months old (maybe) We’ve had her since Oct. 2020
- Handling - We don’t take her out as often because she doesn’t seem to like it, but when we do take her out we keep her out for maybe 10 minutes and we take her outside to climb on some small trees that we have in our backyard. We have been handling her a lot more now that we know how to feed her and such.
- Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? We started off feeding her crickets but then started only feeding her wax worms, but since she’s been sick(?) she hasn’t been eating or drinking. We would feed her 10-12 worms at a time and she wasn’t acting funny or anything until we fed her some super worms and then she completely changed. We weren’t sure of how to feed her for a while but for a few days we have been force feeding her black fly larvae (2 or 3 because that’s all she’ll eat)
- Supplements - We’re newby cham owners so we only have what they gave us when we purchased her, repti calcium and sticky tongue miner-all and we would occasionally dust the worms with the miner-all.
- Watering - We have a humidifier that is set to 55% and we mist her cage throughout the day with the exo-terra misting bottle for about 30 seconds to a minute. Before she started acting different, we would see her drink water but now I don’t see her drink any at all, she used to go to the top of her cage when she was thirsty too and we would give her water then.
- Fecal Description - Her poop has been the same since we got her, yellowish/white combo and the moist brown. The last time we saw her poop it was slimy, brown yellow/white, but I don’t think she’s pooped recently because I don’t see any fresh droppings. She has also never been tested for parasites.
- History - She used to climb all over her cage and would go into hiding as usual in the fake vines that we have in there but now she is constantly at the bottom of her cage. I also noticed that her grip has weakened and she was squinting for a while but now she is keeping one eye closed and the other one kind of open. She also sleeps at the bottom of her cage or I see her falling slightly. I’ve also noticed that she will only use her back legs and she will just lay on her front legs. She also never used to climb on the side of her cage (screen) but she was doing it for a bit. My boyfriend about a week ago brought her in from taking her outside and she went into her cage and hung upside down with her mouth open for a little bit. I was also watching her the other day and I saw that the eye she keeps closed was bulging out every few seconds but it then stopped, it just looks swollen now compared to her other eye. We also just recently got her the Fluker’s Repta Eye rinse from our local reptile store and have been trying to rinse her eyes out with them. She now keeps her left eye open but her right eye is completely closed.
- Cage Info: We have the ZooMed Reptibreeze cage and have had her in it since we got her
- Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Screen cage 24” x 24” x 48”
- Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? We have the Reptisun 5 UVB and we turn it on when we wake up around 9/10 am and turn it off at night around 10/11pm
- Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? We live in Las Vegas so it’s fairly hot in our rooms, typically it stays at mid or high 80’s during the day and at night it ranges from low to high 70’s maybe even a few degrees lower
- Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? We use a humidifier and put distilled water in it to keep her cage humidified, it measures the humidity for her and has been at 50-65%
- Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? We have fake vines in there for her that she used to hide under but she never goes under it anymore, we also have moss sticks and a moss bridge, no live plants. I was thinking of getting her a pothos to put in there for her.
- 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? Her cage is by the window in our room, no fans or vents blow towards her. She is on top of this tall wood shelf and she looks over the room so we don’t tower over her at all, not even to feed her.
- Location - Where are you geographically located? Las Vegas NV
- Current Problem - It’s been about a few weeks since I noticed that she hasn’t really been herself and I was able to see that she’s been having eye problems, we were able to rinse out her left eye but her right eye is completely shut but she opens it every now and then barely. I’ve also noticed that she will only use her back legs and not her front legs, she just kind of lays on them and she doesn’t really grip with them anymore, when we take her out to force feed her and give her some water we try to rinse out her eyes with the Repta Eye Rinse but she closes them too quickly or closes them when she feels the eye drops fall on her eye. She is constantly sleeping at the bottom of her cage and doesn’t really move, when we place her on the moss bridge she starts to fall over almost instantly so we move her back to the bottom. I’ve been reading all of the forums on here and trying my best to help her but I think I still need some help from the experts on what her problem is.
We don’t really have any vets around here that are experienced in reptilian care either so I’m hoping maybe you guys could maybe give me any kind of clue as to what she’s going through. I’ve added some pictures from today of her after her feeding, her left eye seems to be fine but her right eye is still shut. Any response would be great. Thank you!
Thank you, me too!
