Right eye

[brighteyez]

I've noticed that Wilson, my 4 month (that's a guess) old jackson, has been closing his right eye a lot. It's not always closed, but often is when he's just sitting, and when he opens it, it looks kinda like he's squinting, and not opening it fully. What should I do? Should I take him to the vet right away, or wait and see if it clears up?

Here's his info:

cage type- screen repterium, 16"x14"x36", approx
lighting- one reptisun 5.0 uva, linear 18", and a basking light, i thinks it's 40watt but not quite sure. They are on from 7am to 8:30ish. And I also have a repti glo 5.0 uvb linear bulb that I turn on if it's getting to cold. I don't own any compact bulbs!
Humidity- Generally it's between 45-55. I try not to let it get bellow 50, but at the moment I'm hand misting, several times a day since I don't yet have a mister.
Plants- I have two pothos, one hanging and one on the floor, one bromiliad, and um, something else I can't remember the name of, but I know it's ok for chams.
Location- The cage is on top of a shelf thingy, about two feet off the ground in the corner of the living room, by the back glass sliding door. It's not too high traffic, mostly just me and my husband.

My cham- Male jackson, I think 4 or 5 months old, and I've had him for about 2 months now.
Handling- I generally don't if I can avoid it. My husband will pick him up once in a while, but definately not often.
Feeding- ekk! He's a bad feeder. He normally will only eat a few bugs a day, sometimes just one. I've had a lot of trouble getting him to eat ever since I got him. I mostly cup feed, and try to get him to eat several times a day (normally I fail). His menu consists of silk worms, crickets, mealworms, house flies, blue bottle flies, super worms, and wax worms.
Supplements- mon rep cal, tue flucker's cal with d3, wed rep cal, thurs rep cal, fri herptivite, sat nothing, sun rep cal.
Watering- I have a dripper, but I don't use it consistantly. He never seems interested in it. I mist for a minute or two several times a day, maybe five. I basically mist every time I walk by and see the humidity is low. Yes I see him drink.
Fecal- I don't think he poos daily, but I'm not sure, since he likes to hide in his plants, and if he poos in there, I won't really know right away. They are often kinda on the liquidy side. Urates normally white.
He's never been tested for parasites.

 

[sandrachameleon]

What do you gutload with?

 

[brighteyez]

Flucker's gutload for crickets, bran, oatmeal all the time. Then I also put in a mixture of sweet potatos, carrots, collard greens, and apple.

What do you gutload with?

 

[Nicole Guy CRR]

Sounds like something my Cham was just going threw....try TERRAMYCIN drops can get it at LLL reptiles or big apple herps I think. Try to get drops just easier, rather then ointment. I belive it's 2 drops in the infected eye 2-3 times daily for a week a belive. My Chams eye looks fine now. Just try not to be to rough when applying as stress is the worst thing on them.

 

[brighteyez]

Sounds like something my Cham was just going threw....try TERRAMYCIN drops can get it at LLL reptiles or big apple herps I think. Try to get drops just easier, rather then ointment. I belive it's 2 drops in the infected eye 2-3 times daily for a week a belive. My Chams eye looks fine now. Just try not to be to rough when applying as stress is the worst thing on them.

Really? So it might not be a vit A thing? Is there any way to tell if it's an infection versus the vitamin A thing?

 

[Lancecham]

It is possible it is a vitamin A deficiency.
an infection is usually associated with an eye that is stuck shut with material from the eye and is able to be opened with with prolonged mistings. The mistings help dissolve the material coming from the eye. This not a cure, but will need to be treated with something such as Terramycin.

 

[sandrachameleon]

I would hesitate to jump to Vitamin A deficiency as the likely suspect. There are many potential eye issues for reasons varied. Have you taken the chameleon to the vet to have this looked at?

 

[dodolah]

Really? So it might not be a vit A thing? Is there any way to tell if it's an infection versus the vitamin A thing?

a vet might be able to tell you that.

I wish you could borrow your friends camera and upload the pic here.
It'll help a TON.

 

[brighteyez]

Ok, I just borrowed my friends camera and took pictures, BUT, I can't upload them on to my computer. I'll have to wait until I can go back to her house tomorrow and upload them then.

Right now his eye looks a lot better. Most of the dead skin looks to have come off, so maybe it was just shedding after all. I went ahead and gave him an extra long misting with warm water to help, although I didn't notice him trying to rub any of the skin off or clean his eyes in any way.

Sandrachameleon: No, I haven't taken him to a vet, yet. I'm trying to find one and will as soon as I can.

 

[brighteyez]

Ok, his eye is still closed. He was just shedding, which I had never seen before and it made me freak a little (lol, sorry!), but all the skin is off his eye, and mostly off the rest of him body now. As for the eye, he still opens it occassionally, but for the most part keeps it closed, or squints a little. There is not swelling that I can see and there is no puss or liquid from it that I can see. I'm thinking it's vit A, would you agree???
I gave him a superworm today with just a tiny bit of vit A oil on it's back. Wilson is only 0.5oz, so I'm thinking maybe one bug with just a touch of vit A on his back every other day until he gets better, and then I'll add some reptivite (I was told that had some preformed vit A in it) once every other week to keep him healthy. How does that sound?? I want to be careful not to overdose him, but I know he needs some as well. Does that sound like a good amount for his size??

I took the pictures but am waiting for my friend to email them to me, I will post them when I get them.