Problem with goop in eye. Infection? Something else?

[Murrdox]

Chameleon Info:

* Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?

Panther, 3.5 years old, male. I've had him since he was 3 months old.

* Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?

Never unless needed.

* Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?

He eats several crickets a day that are gutloaded with a dry mix and a calcium gelatin nutrient cube. Recently I've put him on superworms.

* Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?

He gets crickets dusted with vitamins & calcium a few times a week.

* Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?

He has a drip that goes for several hours twice a day, as well as mistings twice a day. He drinks readily.

* Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?

Fecals have been good. Nice moist fecals, with urate mostly white, a bit of yellow on one end.

* History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Rygel has underdeveloped claws. As far as I can tell this is just something from birth. As a result, he tends to be a little clumsy, and occasionally he falls. He's never hurt himself more than a bruise though.


Cage Info:

* Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?

Screen cage 5'x2'x2'

* Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?

Long UVB reptisun, standard 60 w bulb. Lighted for 10 hrs a day.

* Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?

Basking is ~85, Ambient 80, lower cage 78-80.

* Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?

Haven't measured humidity lately. My gauge broke, haven't replaced.

* Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?

Pothos and Hibiscus

* 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?

He's placed up high, his basking spot is about 6' off the ground. He's in the corner, not near any vents. He's near my computer desk, but doesn't have people walking by all the time. Not a lot of heavy activity near him.

* Location - Where are you geographically located?

Virginia



* * * * * * *

Rygel has been getting "goop" in his eye lately. It seems to form almost a membrane over his eye. I'd say it almost looks like the chameleon equivalent of "sand" in the eye.

I've noticed this a couple of times over the past couple of weeks. It is always in his left eye. Obviously I'm concerned since he can't open his eye or see well with this "goop" in it. So, three times now I have washed out his eye for him, using warm water and a damp cloth to gently wipe the "goop" out of his eye.

Yesterday I washed his eye out for the third time in about 2 weeks, and I'm starting to get concerned.

Rygel is acting normally. He drinks, and eats. Once I clean the goop out of his eye, the eye looks perfectly normal. I cannot see any swelling or signs of infection, but I'm still a bit worried.

To top this off... I'm about to get married. I have relatives coming in starting today, and Saturday I'm off for a week's honeymoon. I have a friend coming to take care of Rygel, but If the vet gives me some sort of eye treatment I don't think I can task a friend with this.

I'm thinking I will have my friend keep an eye on his eye while I am gone, and if it happens again, I'm going to take him to the vet as soon as I return.

However, I'm still not sure what the actual problem is. Can anyone help me identify the issue and maybe give me an idea for a course of action until I see the vet?

I've attached two pictures of the "goop" in his eye from this last time I cleaned it. In the first picture the goop is completely coating his eye. He was asleep at the time, so I woke him up. After he woke up, he washed his eye a bit on his own, and the goop moved out of the way a bit. Next you can see what it looks like after I cleaned it for him.

I have a reference shot of his right eye as well, which is looking fine and normal.

 

[ColorCham427]

Easy way to clean your chameleon's eye is offering a shower. That bacteria/goop is pretty thick looking.

I take a Q-tip and wet it with clean warm water, and gently massage it out of my chameleon's eyes when this happens. This has only happened to me a few times. Two of them arriving with gunky eyes!

Make sure to be extremely gentle. You will notice how soft his eye's skin is and it might freak you out.

If he freaks out, you MUST hold him tighter. Restraining him tighter = quicker job.

You don't want to be gentle to his body because handling him will take forever.

Hold him tighter, and be gentle to his eye, massage it out. Easy.

 

[ColorCham427]

Double post!!!



You need to start feeding those crickets fresh veggies and fruits. I know you've kept him for 3 years + but offering him better nutrition will just better him and his body as he ages.

What supplements are you dusting with? Vitamins 3 times a week????

78 degrees below isn't really a cool spot. Try to get the bottom of his cage around 72.

Your computer room is 80 degrees? Ambient temp is better around 72-74.

"Rygel has underdeveloped claws. As far as I can tell this is just something from birth. As a result, he tends to be a little clumsy, and occasionally he falls. He's never hurt himself more than a bruise though."

Simple solution brother man, buy some fiberglass mesh from your local garden nursery or home depot, and zip tie that all over the screens. Wider holes, he'll just be able to grip those.

Falling once a month or even once a year should be prevented bro.

 

[Murrdox]

I'd love to prevent his falling if I could. My next step is to basically make a "Safety net" in his cage. He doesn't fall from grabbing onto the screen, he falls just climbing around on his branches.

Since his claws aren't well developed, he doesn't have a lot of friction with his feet. This means that large diameter branches he has a difficult time grasping, because he can't get his hand all the way around the circumference to get a good grip. He has a much easier time with smaller diameter branches. So his cage is designed with large diameter branches being very level so he doesn't have to climb up them, and lots of smaller branches for him to climb up and down on.

He doesn't fall constantly, but he does occasionally slip. Most times he catches himself with his tail.

Anyways, if anyone has any additional ideas on his eyes, let me know.

 

[jessica]

Looks like he may have an eye infection and will probably need antibiotics.

You can buy saline solution and rinse his eye to give him temporary relief.

 

[KingJulien]

My little guy had what looked like about the exact same thing a month ago. there is a thread about it somewhere. I was advised to squirt saliene at it, so that it bulges to rinse it well and use turtle drops. They have vitamin A. I believe it was a vitamin A deficiency, so I used a dab of vit A caplet on the back of a cricket for few days.

He cleared up pretty quickly. I would not reccomend rubbing or massaging an eye with anything.

 

[ColorCham427]

It's just a build up of bacteria. You can use the Q-tip method, do it with strong restraint so you don't spend a lot of time handling him.

And it's cost effective.

As for the falling from branches, get some bio-vines, the bumpy kind. Those are way better than the smooth kind.

 

[Murrdox]

King Julien, thanks for pointing me to your thread.

I've gotten some saline eye wash, and I washed his eye out today. It inflated slightly but afterwards I could tell he still had a little bit in there. I think it might just take some practice on my part in terms of how to get it in his eye really well to wash it thoroughly.

I'm going to wash it out again tomorrow, and look at giving him some vitamin A for a few days before I go on my trip. I'm educating my friend taking care of him in case his eye needs washed out again while we're gone.

I'll take your suggestion on the bumpy bio-vines, I hadn't seen those, but after doing some searches I think I found what you mean. I've only seen the smooth ones before, and those are what I have in his cage now.

 

[KingJulien]

No problem, I'm glad to help. Sorry I didn't find the link for you, I was in a rush to get out the door.

I did rinse more than once a day if it looked like it was needed. Just squirt into the eye until the lens looks completely clear and there's no white goop or hazy coating. My JJ's eyelid still looked a little odd but I stopped when the lens looked clear. It took a few days for us before it was only once a day and he was soon fine. His eyelid continued to look a little dry and wrinkly until his next shed. I'm happy to say that now he's 100% again.

Good luck with your chameleon.

 

[KingJulien]

It's just a build up of bacteria. You can use the Q-tip method, do it with strong restraint so you don't spend a lot of time handling him.

And it's cost effective.

As for the falling from branches, get some bio-vines, the bumpy kind. Those are way better than the smooth kind.

I'm not sure if rubbing an eye with anything is the safest idea. The goop in this case can harden and coat the eye, and in that case we would be rubbing a hard object against the eye, potentially scratching the cornea, which could lead to more problems. A rinse is always less risky.

Of course if the chameleon is going to rub their eye on their own there's not much we can do about that!

Edit to add: Even if we only see a soft substance in the eye, a small piece of debris could be in there too!