Problem! Won't eat, sleeping alot, eyes closed

Noahtb54

Member
Problem: I have a male veiled chameleon named Charlie, he's a little more then a year old and he seems to show no interest in eating. He's had a few problems with his eyes in the past but always got better. For the last week I've noticed his eyes stayed closed and that every now and then he would rub his eye on a branch. I tried flushing with water and saline. It seemed to help the problem temporally but would always go back to keeping his eyes closed. He used to go after the crickets I fed him very fast and now he shows no interest in eating them. He's also shown more of his mad and stressed colors then his happy green and blue

*Chameleon info: male veiled, a little more then a year old. Got him from a pet store at 5 months old.
*Handling: I try to take him out and let him crawl around on my hands and couple times a week for a half hour or so and he loves it but is not showing interest in me anymore(seems scared of me)
*Feeding: I feed him around 7-9 crickets daily but sometimes he will go a day or two without them if I run out. Occasionally if I'm to busy to get crickets I will feed him some lettuce to fill his stomach up a little bit.
*Supplements: I use Fulkers calcium and a couple times a month dust the crickets with his zoo med multivitamins he needs.
*Watering: I mist a couple times daily(normally hates it) and every now and then I put him in a shower. I also use a dropper to physically give him water when he opens his mouth.
*Fecal description: his poop is brown and hasn't changed, and his urate is mostly white with some yellow ( I know the yellow means he needs more water) hasn't ate in 2 days so I haven't seen any recent droppings
*History: got from a pet store when he was around 5 months old. He's awesome and when he's happy his colors are pretty. I want to make sure he's okay.

*Cage description: 16X16X30 reptibreeze screen cage chameleon kit(planning to get a more large one soon)
*lighting: 1 heat bulb and 1 exoterra uvb 100 bulb( pretty sure it's a 25 watt)
*Temperature: around 80-82 at the top and 65-70 on the bottom.
*Humidity: I spray a couple times daily but I think it's around 50-55 when I spray.
*plants: has a medium sized pothos plant on the bottom of the cage. Grows upwards like vines sometimes. Also have fake plants on the sides of the cage and real sticks and the fake vine you can wrap.
Location- southern Indiana

Please help! I don't want to lose my little guy, he's awesome. Anything can help! I will upload pictures of Charlie in his cage here soon
 

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how do you measure the cage humidity level? Rubbing his eyes and keeping them closed can be a sign that they are irritated and too dry. Is there any discharge from the eyes? Are the lids stuck shut in the mornings? If not, I'd suspect they are irritated. More live plants will help, as well as spraying more often or longer until the cage and foliage is saturated. How old is your UVB light? If its been used longer than 6 months replace it. Get him outdoors if the temps are OK. Full sunlight can really help. Supplements...he should be getting plain calcium (No added vit D3) dusted lightly on each meal. Every 2 weeks dust with calcium WITH added vit D3. Every 2 weeks dust with a herp multivitamin. Feeding him lettuce isn't very nutritious. Better to feed the insects dark leafy greens, fruit, fortified cereal grains, or use a good gutload that our forum sponsors make.
 
how do you measure the cage humidity level? Rubbing his eyes and keeping them closed can be a sign that they are irritated and too dry. Is there any discharge from the eyes? Are the lids stuck shut in the mornings? If not, I'd suspect they are irritated. More live plants will help, as well as spraying more often or longer until the cage and foliage is saturated. How old is your UVB light? If its been used longer than 6 months replace it. Get him outdoors if the temps are OK. Full sunlight can really help. Supplements...he should be getting plain calcium (No added vit D3) dusted lightly on each meal. Every 2 weeks dust with calcium WITH added vit D3. Every 2 weeks dust with a herp multivitamin. Feeding him lettuce isn't very nutritious. Better to feed the insects dark leafy greens, fruit, fortified cereal grains, or use a good gutload that our forum sponsors make.
I had a gauge to measure the humidity but I lost it unfortunately but it always stayed around 20-30 when the cage Is dry and was around 50-55 when I mist the cage. His eyes don't seem to have any discharge sometimes I may find something on his eye that could've been stuck but I always get it off so it won't irritate him. Could having the humidity so low bother his eyes? When I mist him and his face gets wet his eyes seem to open more and not be as irritated but in the mornings his eyes seem to be dry so I mist him to help but the majority of the day they've been closed. What could I do to help his eyes if they are dry and irritated?
 
Temperature: around 80-82 at the top and 65-70 on the bottom.

I think he's too cold. If his basking spot isn't warm enough he can't digest his food very well. According to the Forum care sheet for Veiled chameleons his temps should be as follows:

Baby/juvenile (<9 months): ambient 72-80F (22-26C), basking 85F (29C)
Adult males: ambient 75-80F, basking 90-95F

You don't need a special (aka expensive) heat bulb. I use regular household soft white incandescent light bulb in all my enclosures. You may even be able to pick one up at the dollar store. Start with a 60 or 75 watt bulb and check the temperature. If it's still not warm enough try a slightly higher wattage until the ambient and basking temps match those listed above.
 
I think he's too cold. If his basking spot isn't warm enough he can't digest his food very well. According to the Forum care sheet for Veiled chameleons his temps should be as follows:

Baby/juvenile (<9 months): ambient 72-80F (22-26C), basking 85F (29C)
Adult males: ambient 75-80F, basking 90-95F

You don't need a special (aka expensive) heat bulb. I use regular household soft white incandescent light bulb in all my enclosures. You may even be able to pick one up at the dollar store. Start with a 60 or 75 watt bulb and check the temperature. If it's still not warm enough try a slightly higher wattage until the ambient and basking temps match those listed above.
I Just got a Zilla slimeline tropical 25 uvb fixture today to upgrade more. I has a 2 dome fixture that I put 2 normal white light bulbs in and it kept the basking spot around 93 but it spread the light out more then the single dome fixture I have. Should I use the single dome to focus the heat and light to a more certain spot? Or should I keep the 2 dome fixture. ( if I need to use 2 bulbs I have 2 of the single dome fixtures to use. I just want to make sure everything is perfect so he can recover soon
 
Humidity of 20-30% sounds a bit low to me...

Caresheet says 40-70% so I'd go for 40% when it's dry.
 
Humidity of 20-30% sounds a bit low to me...

Caresheet says 40-70% so I'd go for 40% when it's dry.
His eye seems crusted just a little bit in the mornings around his pupil so I mist and it seems to help temporally but he hates it and hides in a corner when I mist the crust off...
 
Maybe you can increase the humidity by using a cool mist humidifier ...?
It should increase humidity without wetting the enclosure to much and if he doesn't like that you can just let it increase humidity of the whole room without running it trough the enclosure.
 
Maybe you can increase the humidity by using a cool mist humidifier ...?
It should increase humidity without wetting the enclosure to much and if he doesn't like that you can just let it increase humidity of the whole room without running it trough the enclosure.
I wrapped 2 sides of the cage in plastic wrap to hopefully keep the humidity up longer. The automatic mister is what could help I think but they are expensive so I've been saving for one. I gave him a shower earlier. It helped a little bit I think but he's back in his cage now with his eyes closed again. I put 7 crickets in his cage but he's only ate 3. He seems to want to get very close before he eat them but he shows little Interest unless they are right next to him
 
It will take a while for him to show change...chams do most things slowly. He may not show much interest in food partly because his eyes are irritated, and a dehydrated cham tends to eat a lot less. Their tongue actually is less sticky so they get frustrated and stop trying to shoot. Get a good hygrometer, electronic, not one of the cheapo analog dials from a pet shop. They can be really inaccurate! If you rinse his eyes with sterile saline (contact lens rinse solution...no added preservatives) it will sting less than plain water. Warm it slightly in the microwave.
 
It will take a while for him to show change...chams do most things slowly. He may not show much interest in food partly because his eyes are irritated, and a dehydrated cham tends to eat a lot less. Their tongue actually is less sticky so they get frustrated and stop trying to shoot. Get a good hygrometer, electronic, not one of the cheapo analog dials from a pet shop. They can be really inaccurate! If you rinse his eyes with sterile saline (contact lens rinse solution...no added preservatives) it will sting less than plain water. Warm it slightly in the microwave.
Sometimes he moves his inner part of his eye around to where you can't see his pupil I caught this picture of him doing it earlier. Any idea? Anyone?
 

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Could also possibly be a vit A defiency. This specific problem seems to effect chameleons eyes and it is an extremely common problem.
Could be completely wrong but I thought it was worth mentioning.
 
Could also possibly be a vit A defiency. This specific problem seems to effect chameleons eyes and it is an extremely common problem.
Could be completely wrong but I thought it was worth mentioning.
Anything helps! What could I do/use to help the problem if it would be vitamin A?
 
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