Sick veiled cham *URGENT*

[Hheaster1]

my chameleon is 1.5 years old. About 3 weeks ago he stops climbing and just stayed on the floor of his enclosure. He stopped eating/drinking as much but there were no other visible signs of sickness. He was still eating just less. He hasn’t pooped in a while. I just noticed yesterday his left eye had swelled up like a ballon and had a scab over it. Took him to the vet and she cleaned it but said nothing was wrong with him, he’s just cold. His eye was better when I brought him home earlier today and now the left eye is fogged up and non responsive to movement. He hasn’t eaten in a while and so I gave him worms and put them directly in front of his face and his tongue barley comes out at all so it’s a huge struggle, he finally got one and struggled chewing it as well. He got it down okay though. I don’t think the vet was right when she said he was just cold. Nothing in his habitat has changed nor temperature. HELP!!!

 

[jannb]

Please fill out the Ask for help form linked below and post some recent photos of your chameleon so we can better help you.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

 

[Thehippie]

Agreed, you need to fill out the form mentioned above so we can pinpoint the cause of any illnesses or discomforts that may be causing your chameleon to act like this. also please post pictures of him and his enclosure.

 

[Hheaster1]

my chameleon is 1.5 years old. About 3 weeks ago he stops climbing and just stayed on the floor of his enclosure. He stopped eating/drinking as much but there were no other visible signs of sickness. He was still eating just less. He hasn’t pooped in a while. I just noticed yesterday his left eye had swelled up like a ballon and had a scab over it. Took him to the vet and she cleaned it but said nothing was wrong with him, he’s just cold. His eye was better when I brought him home earlier today and now the left eye is fogged up and non responsive to movement. He hasn’t eaten in a while and so I gave him worms and put them directly in front of his face and his tongue barley comes out at all so it’s a huge struggle, he finally got one and struggled chewing it as well. He got it down okay though. I don’t think the vet was right when she said he was just cold. Nothing in his habitat has changed nor temperature. HELP!!!

Please fill out the Ask for help form linked below and post some recent photos of your chameleon so we can better help you.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/how-to-ask-for-help.66/

Your Chameleon – Veiled chameleon, Male, 1.5 years old, he’s been in my care since he was about 2-3 months old.

Handling – Hardly ever, he is very aggressive and I hate to see him upset and stressed out when I try to handle him. He once even fell from his foliage while I was trying to get him out.

Feeding – He mainly lives off mealworms and we do crickets off and on, he doesn’t seem very interested in them they often die because he doesn’t eat them. I feed him 5 a day he doesn’t always eat them all, he’s just not a big eater it seems. I sometimes dust them with the calcium powder as well.

Supplements – N/A

Watering – I use a dripper and keep it on 24/7. I mist for about 1-2 minutes a day, I also have a humidifier and turn it on sometimes. I do see him drinking often, but not recently.

Fecal Description – No, he has never been tested for parasites but his bathroom schedule was normal until recently when he got lethargic and sick.

History – He’s never been nice, always hisses when I go near him. He has never acted weird like this until recently when he stopped crawling in his foliage and became very weak.


Cage Info:

Cage Type – screen cage, 24x24x48 inches

Lighting –Lights: Day white light (75W Brand-Zilla) and the 5.0 UVB (13Watt tropical, Brand-reptisun/zoo med). My daily lighting schedule is turning both lamps on in the mornings when I wake up around 6:30 a.m. and turning them off when it gets dark, if it feels chilly I leave the heat lamp on for a tad longer but not all night, unsure about how that would affect his sleeping schedule.

Temperature –His temperature is usually around 85+ during the day and 70 ish+ at night. I measure them by using a thermometer that came with the Reptibreeze cage I bought.

Humidity – I try not to make it too complicated by using the same misting schedule and humidifier timing.

Plants – I’m using fake plants and branches from the pet store.

Placement – His cage is in his room and I do have a fan in my room but its on the winter setting to push heat not cold air. His cage sits on a cabinet about 4 ft off the floor.

Location – West Virginia

Current Problem – He is very lethargic and weak; his tongue only sticks out about ¼ of an inch. He hasn’t shown interest in food for about 2 weeks and I’ve tried to hand feed him but he just gets upset. His eye got clogged up and I decided to take him to the vet to get the problem diagnosed. When I noticed the “scabbing” on the left eye later that night it swelled and got HUGE. I never noticed before and we went to the vet the next day, she did not seem helpful at all except for the fact that she cleaned his eye out. He has been “sick” for 3-4 weeks now and she said he’s just cold but the temperatures never changed in the room when it became winter. The other exotic vets are 2 hrs.+ away. Last night his left eye seemed unresponsive and grey/ foggy as if it were now blind in the left eye. I snuck food into him on that side so he ddint flip out when he saw me. He tried to eat and missed on the first 2-3 tries considering his tongue barley comes out. He finally got one and ate but struggled to swallow. I now am dripping water into his mouth with a syringe once or twice a day when he hisses at me.

 

[Thehippie]

mealworms are no good they cause impaction and that may be the cause of his lethargicness

 

[Thehippie]

is the scab yellow clear or black

 

[Thehippie]

can you get a picture of him

 

[Thehippie]

you also need supplements he probably has mbd from that, you need calcium no d3 every feeding and calcium and multivitamin 2 times a month

 

[Hheaster1]

Agreed, you need to fill out the form mentioned above so we can pinpoint the cause of any illnesses or discomforts that may be causing your chameleon to act like this. also please post pictures of him and his enclosure.

I filled out the forum and posted below.

 

[Hheaster1]

you also need supplements he probably has mbd from that, you need calcium no d3 every feeding and calcium and multivitamin 2 times a month

Don't you think if he had mbd the vet would have recognized it and diagnosed him? I will definitely take the advice though.

 

[Thehippie]

i would have wished but we cannot tell without a pic of him

 

[Hheaster1]

can you get a picture of him

I'm working on uploading a few photos of his cage and etc.

 

[Thehippie]

did you ask if your vet had any cham experience

 

[Hheaster1]

is the scab yellow clear or black

it was black but the vet pulled it off and it was eye booger like and she cleaned it and it look good as new after that until last night and it looked like that eye had gone blind.

 

[Thehippie]

mist 5 mins once a day, chams can drink for up to 30 mins!!
you need a 10.0 or 12% arcadia linear bulb.

 

[Hheaster1]

mealworms are no good they cause impaction and that may be the cause of his lethargicness

What do you suggest for food? The closest pet store is 30 min from where I live and they are always on a shortage of crickets.

 

[BabyChamCham]

it was black but the vet pulled it off and it was eye booger like and she cleaned it and it look good as new after that until last night and it looked like that eye had gone blind.

Can you maybe post a picture of him and his enclosure?

 

[Thehippie]

if your chameleon has a discharge coming out of his eye he most likely has some sort of infection. He should be seen by a vet and he will give you drops or the proper antibiotic. especially if it is black

 

[Hheaster1]

did you ask if your vet had any cham experience

I never thought about that but when she picked him up she seemed comfortable handling him, although that doesn't mean she knows in deatil about chams. Good point

 

[Thehippie]

order off of ebay, slik worms BSF BSFL BBF and roaches are all nutritional