Right eye closed

[Jon S]

Hopefully its simple and not much, but I may have my first problem. I've kind of noticed that Sonny blinks his right eye a lot recently but I didn't think much of it. I noticed a little bit yesterday, but much more today that when he is kind of just at rest in the cage, he has been keeping the right eye closed. He will open it when I open the cage and look like everything is fine, but I am concerned about it. There doesn't, atleast outwardly, appear to be anything wrong with or in it. It does kind of look like when he blinks that the bubble that I'm used to seeing isn't as big though. He drinks and has been eating fine. I am pretty nervous about it though.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

He is in an 18x12x24 cage right now and I use the Ultimate Set Up Kit from Screameleons.

He is about 5 months old and his body is about 4 inches- blue bar ambilobe.

Temps are correct after a little adjustment since the weather dropped.

He eats 1/2" crickets gutloaded with kale, collard, grains and carrots.

He is misted well every few hours.

He has a small ficus tree in the cage

I supplement as suggested by Vince at Screameleons with ReptiCal w/ D3 and Herpavite. calcium is 3x a week and herpavite is once every couple of weeks.

 

[beeze]

It would help if you fill out the Ask For Help Form.......all of it.

What is your hotest basking temp?

What type of UVB light do you have? Brand and is it coil or tube style?

Do you have plain calcium without D3? You should be using that at just about every feeding. Only use D3 twice a month and herpavite once a month.

 

[carlosandcat]

With eyes closing, it seems a common problem amongst chams.

As soon as I noticed my cham doing this i upped the misting in the tank and wihtin 2 days took them to the vet, as the sooner the better. Once a cham starts going downhill the decline is quick.

1- there may be something in the eye and t needs flushing (moisture can help this) You can also buy eye drops for reptiles that can be placed in the eye to assist with the cleaning and flushing out of any foreign bodies

2 - they may be dehydrated: Again moisture. Up the spritzing in the tank and make sure they are drinking regularly

3 - Stress: When they are stressed their immune system drops off and they become run down. Sometimes this results in them closing their eyes to shut out the stress. : Check the location of your tank, how much they are handled, and low vibrations (this is only sound they can hear and i upsets them - they interpret it as threat from another cham or predator)

4 - The lights in your viv are too strong - this can, to all intensive purposes, blind them. They find the light too strong and then start to close their eyes to protect them selves. If the situation is not remedied sharpish, then the damage can be permeant.

5 - They may have an infection: This means get the vet sharpish. They can give you anitbiotic eye drops. If they start closing the eye too much, they wont be able to target and wont eat so its important to stay on the alert


It of course be none of these, but go through the list in order and see if nay of it helps. Fingers crossed for you.

 

[Jon S]

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Zilla Screen Habitat 18x12x24

Lighting - Reptisun 5.o UVB and a 60 Watt Blue Day bulb from ZooMed both are on timers that turn on at 7:30am and off at 7:30 pm

Temperature - I have a digital thermometer under the basking light and one that I can move for spot temps:
90 in basking spot 80-75 outside of basking. 72 ambient temp. Night gets no lower than 68.

Humidity - I have a humidity gauge to measure humidity. I have an automatic mister (getting a mistking when he moves to adult cage)- habbamist- that is currently in CA getting replaced. It was going off for 30 seconds every 3 hours on the same timer as the lights. I would mist a couple times also. Since the mister has been out to be replaced, I have been misting heavily for about 4 minutes once every 3-4 hours.

Plants - Small ficus tree in a pot with shiny black stones covering the soil- too big for chameleon to even attempt to get in his mouth.

Placement - It is on a stand in my bedroom, not particularly high traffic. I'm often not really around accept to feed and water him, as well as check in.

Location - Northeastern Pennsylvania, USA

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Panther Chameleon- Male Blue Bar Ambilobe. He is 5 months old tomorrow, and I have had him for 3 months now.

Handling - Every few days I will take him out for a max of maybe 5 minutes.

Feeding - He gets between 10-15 1/2" crickets, gutloaded with grain gutload, kale, collards, and carrots. I feed him every morning. at about 9:30am

Supplements - He has RepCal that I dust with 3 times a week. I also dust with Herpavite, but when asking the breeder about the schedule, I mistakenly said Reptivite, which he told me to use once every couple of weeks. Turns out he corrected me today and I should have been using the herpavite about as often as the calcium, so I will correct this directly.

Watering - Since the automatic mister broke, I am awaiting the replacement, I have been heavily hand misting. I mist for about 4-5 minutes starting when the light turns on and then on every 3-4 hours until the light goes off. I use distilled bottled water. Today, at the breeder's suggestion, I put the cage in the shower for a half hour as well. I do see him drink off of the leaves.

Fecal Description - Usually 2 brown fecal droppings accompanied by white urate. Once in a while the urate will have a little bit of yellow, which I know is a sign of dehydration. I respond by misting heavily.

Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Has not been tested for parasites. Captive bred from Screameleons.

History - He is from Screameleons. The sire is War and the mother was a wild caught female. That is really all the info I have on him.

Current Problem - The issue is, or right now was, that he was keeping his right eye closed while at rest during the day. I noticed it a little bit yesterday but more today.

I corresponded with Farrah and Vincent at Screameleons and they instructed me to put him in the shower for 30 min, with the water being room temperature and aimed at the wall so mist hits the cage. I did this and since his eye has been open, fine, and he has been more active. Hopefully it was just something in the eye, because all seems well now.

Thank you everyone for your help!

 

[Jon S]

Well, he was much better. After a while, I checked on him and he closed it again. It's not swollen. When I take him out or open the cage he opens it like there was nothing wrong and it looks fine. I took him out and examined his right eye compared to the left eye. It's hard to get a good look at both with him moving them all over the place, but they looked the same. Lighting isn't great and I thought the inside of his eye lid was something other than just the eye lid for a minute, but all seems well.

He is back in his cage and the eye still looks fine and open. Screameleons did suggest that I repeat the shower process for the next few days.

They also asked if he was getting ready to shed. I have a tough time telling when they are ready to shed except eating less and then when some skin is coming off. My other animals get a pink hue to them, is this true with chams as well? His usually whitish strip on his side is kind of a rusty pink as are other areas usually whiter.

Also is keeping an eye closed possibly a sign of that?

 

[Chameleon Company]

Jon,

Sounds like a Vitamin A issue. While a rinse, such as in a shower, or a jet of sterile solution directly into the eye, can provide temporary comfort, it is addressing a symptom, and not the problem. I just sent you two PM's containing my paper on Vitamin A (its too long to fit in one PM as the site limits characters to 5000 per PM). LMK how things end up, either in this thread, or via PM. Good luck.

 

[Jon S]

Update on eye issue

OK, so I will start off by saying that Sonny is doing MUCH better and I couldn't be happier.

After I originally posted about the right eye, the same issue happened with the left eye, so he either had one eye closed or both. He became fairly inactive and I was worried he was on his way out.

Jim from the Chameleon Company sent me a pm about Vitamin A deficiency and the symptoms matched it to a tee. The treatment turned out to be relatively simple. The breeder agreed with Jim's treatment plan and I ordered the particular Vitamin A that was suggested:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00014ELAA/ref=ox_ya_oh_product

The treatment was pretty simple. Once a day for 5 days, I put a drop of the vitamin a (squeezing it from a pierced capsule) onto a dampened q-tip. I got the cham to fire up a bit so his mouth was open and just brushed the q-tip along the gums. Jim and Vincent from Screameleons both stressed the importance of not overdoing it, because it can be toxic if the dose is too high.

After the first couple days he still seemed to be deteriorating. Then at about the 4th day, his eyes were looking better and by yesterday, he seemed almost completely healed up. His eyelids/eyes, which were more oval making him look kind of sleepy, have become more circular and he is much more active in his cage. His appetite has increased and he is shedding today as well.

It was suggested to me to treat him like this as a maintanance program once every couple of weeks to ensure he is getting the proper amount of vitamin a. The problem, I believe, is that I miscommunicated which type of vitamin supplement I had to the breeder originally. I said I was using Reptivite when I was actually using Herpavite, and the scheduling is completely different. I am very lucky and grateful that Sonny has bounced back so quickly.

Before this issue, I had thought that chameleon care was not as challenging as it is made out to be, but it certainly showed me how delicate these animals are. I am very fortunate that I didn't lose the little guy. I'll post up some pics after the shed is complete.

Thank you again Jim, and thanks to Vincent and Farrah at Screameleons as well!

 

[beeze]

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Zilla Screen Habitat 18x12x24

Lighting - Reptisun 5.o UVB and a 60 Watt Blue Day bulb from ZooMed both are on timers that turn on at 7:30am and off at 7:30 pm

Temperature - I have a digital thermometer under the basking light and one that I can move for spot temps:
90 in basking spot 80-75 outside of basking. 72 ambient temp. Night gets no lower than 68.

Humidity - I have a humidity gauge to measure humidity. I have an automatic mister (getting a mistking when he moves to adult cage)- habbamist- that is currently in CA getting replaced. It was going off for 30 seconds every 3 hours on the same timer as the lights. I would mist a couple times also. Since the mister has been out to be replaced, I have been misting heavily for about 4 minutes once every 3-4 hours.

Plants - Small ficus tree in a pot with shiny black stones covering the soil- too big for chameleon to even attempt to get in his mouth.

Placement - It is on a stand in my bedroom, not particularly high traffic. I'm often not really around accept to feed and water him, as well as check in.

Location - Northeastern Pennsylvania, USA

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Panther Chameleon- Male Blue Bar Ambilobe. He is 5 months old tomorrow, and I have had him for 3 months now.

Handling - Every few days I will take him out for a max of maybe 5 minutes.

Feeding - He gets between 10-15 1/2" crickets, gutloaded with grain gutload, kale, collards, and carrots. I feed him every morning. at about 9:30am

Supplements - He has RepCal that I dust with 3 times a week. I also dust with Herpavite, but when asking the breeder about the schedule, I mistakenly said Reptivite, which he told me to use once every couple of weeks. Turns out he corrected me today and I should have been using the herpavite about as often as the calcium, so I will correct this directly.

Watering - Since the automatic mister broke, I am awaiting the replacement, I have been heavily hand misting. I mist for about 4-5 minutes starting when the light turns on and then on every 3-4 hours until the light goes off. I use distilled bottled water. Today, at the breeder's suggestion, I put the cage in the shower for a half hour as well. I do see him drink off of the leaves.

Fecal Description - Usually 2 brown fecal droppings accompanied by white urate. Once in a while the urate will have a little bit of yellow, which I know is a sign of dehydration. I respond by misting heavily.

Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Has not been tested for parasites. Captive bred from Screameleons.

History - He is from Screameleons. The sire is War and the mother was a wild caught female. That is really all the info I have on him.

Current Problem - The issue is, or right now was, that he was keeping his right eye closed while at rest during the day. I noticed it a little bit yesterday but more today.

I corresponded with Farrah and Vincent at Screameleons and they instructed me to put him in the shower for 30 min, with the water being room temperature and aimed at the wall so mist hits the cage. I did this and since his eye has been open, fine, and he has been more active. Hopefully it was just something in the eye, because all seems well now.

Thank you everyone for your help!

Glad that he is better. You have his basking temps too high. Should be no more than 85. See post 12 in this link. https://www.chameleonforums.com/odd-color-change-sunken-29402/index2.html

Also on your supplements. Herpative should be used no more than twice a month. I only use once a month. You should use calcium without d3 at just about every feeding and calcium with d3 twice a month.

Your cham gets parasites from eating feeders. My female was CB from a very reputable breeded and when I had her fist fecal (within 2 weeks of purchase) she was loaded with hookworms and pinworms.