Slightly sunken grayish around eye??

[aduesler93]

Hello!
I recently purchased a young (approx. 3 months old) male veiled chameleon. I’ve had him for a week and a few days ago I noticed his left eye turret had some gray on it when he moved his eye around. I’ve been watching it closely and today it seems like it is more sunken in. He still appears to be using that eye to see and the other eye looks perfectly fine. He seems to have adjusted well, is eating regularly, moves around a lot and gets at least 3 mistings per day (but I haven’t seen him actually drink in front of me yet). I don’t have a local vet that works with reptiles so I want to check in to see if it may be something more simple. It is not drippy or closed so it doesn’t seem to be an infection. He is very brightly colored unless he gets scared and seems to otherwise be health. Any more information needed I will be glad to provide! Thanks!

The first photo is the best I could get tonight of his left eye and the second is his right eye

 

[aduesler93]

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Veiled chameleon, male, approx. 3 months old, 7 days with me
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Try to handle him for very brief periods every other day or so as we are still building trust (example: today I moved him from his vine to his bowl mount while checking his eye out quickly)
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Small crickets, 2x a day, eats about 5-6 each feeding, cup feeding (I have a mount For his enclosure or I hold the cup), gut load with kale, mustard greens, and repashy big burger
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Repcal calcium without d3 daily, reptivite multivitamin once this week (plan on twice a month as I’ve read it should be)
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? I use a dripper on a very slow drip throughout the day and mist first thing in the morning and about half hour before lights out for a few minutes until leaves are covered in droplet (he doesn’t like to be anywhere near the misting when it happens)
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Since getting him a week ago he’s had healthy poos, brown thicker poo and light yellow urine nearly every day. Not sure about parasites was “vet certified” from petsmart
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. At the petsmart they had him in a small glass enclosure with a substrate thats all I know

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Reptibreeze screen enclosure, size med. 30.5 x 16 x 16
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Zoomed blue daylight 60 watt bulb and zoo med uvb light. Both 12 hours on 12 off
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Top thermometer reads between 70-75 when checked during day, drops to high sixties at night. Lowest it has been is 65 when checked before I go to bed. Use digital thermometer/hydrometers
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Top of cage is usually around 32% bottom is usually between 40-45% depending on how close to misting I check. I keep an ultrasonic cool mist humidifier next to his enclosure in low throughout the day because it’s winter heat season and it dries things pretty quick and turn it up a little higher at night.
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? No live plants yet I am still researching what is best and most simple to care for (suggestions would be appreciated ) only have artificial leaves and plants right now. I have a few leafy plants along the side wall of his enclosure like in his picture and one very leafy viny plant that fills the center spacing of the cage
• 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? Cage is kept in my spare room/office space. Very low traffic area. There is a heat vent in the room about 5 feet away. Top of cage is about 5 feet high.
• Location - Where are you geographically located? Upstate New York, I keep my home heat on 72 because like chameleons I prefer warm humid weather
• My problem is in the previous post but as I said his eye is sunken and turret seems dry/gray but he seems to still be able to see out of it and moves it around

 

[Carloscruz]

@MissSkittles @kinyonga @Beman

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi and welcome. I really have no idea what is going on with his eye. Do you recall anything abnormal with it when you got him? My thinking is it could possibly be an injury or something he was born with. Your husbandry looks ok, but I do have a few questions/comments. Give me a few and I’ll go thru it.

 

[aduesler93]

Hi and welcome. I really have no idea what is going on with his eye. Do you recall anything abnormal with it when you got him? My thinking is it could possibly be an injury or something he was born with. Your husbandry looks ok, but I do have a few questions/comments. Give me a few and I’ll go thru it.

I was thinking it could have been a previous injury also because I do remember noticing a little bit of the gray showing when he looked in certain directions but his eye was normal otherwise.

I also want to mention that the pet store has suggested I buy the smagmum moss to help with humidity in the enclosure so I also had some of that on the bottom of the cage but I removed it recently after doing some more reading and only have felt at the bottom now. But as I said he did have a tiny gray coloring the day I got him so not sure what it could be

 

[MissSkittles]

I’ll put my feedback in red.

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Veiled chameleon, male, approx. 3 months old, 7 days with me Just have to ask if your sure you have a boy. Does he have protrusions (Spurs) on his back heels?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Try to handle him for very brief periods every other day or so as we are still building trust (example: today I moved him from his vine to his bowl mount while checking his eye out quickly) This is a great blog to check out. https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/building-trust-with-your-chameleon.2396/
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? Small crickets, 2x a day, eats about 5-6 each feeding, cup feeding (I have a mount For his enclosure or I hold the cup), gut load with kale, mustard greens, and repashy big burger Very good, but could improve. Like us, they like variety in their diet. Try adding some other staple feeders like roaches, silkworms, bsfl, etc and don’t forget the occasional treats. You could also add to your gutload…squashes, bell pepper, sweet potato, a little fruit, etc. See graphics below.
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? Repcal calcium without d3 daily, reptivite multivitamin once this week (plan on twice a month as I’ve read it should be) Does your ReptiVite have D3? If so, all is perfect! If not, you’ll need to add a calcium with D3 for one feeding every other week, alternating with the ReptiVite.
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? I use a dripper on a very slow drip throughout the day and mist first thing in the morning and about half hour before lights out for a few minutes until leaves are covered in droplet (he doesn’t like to be anywhere near the misting when it happens) Your misting schedule is good, just make sure to mist for at least 2 minutes each time. You can cut the dripper down to about 20-30 minutes during mid day or add an additional misting. You want the enclosure to dry out fully between misting.
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Since getting him a week ago he’s had healthy poos, brown thicker poo and light yellow urine nearly every day. Not sure about parasites was “vet certified” from petsmart I doubt that they do any fecal checks for parasites. Coming from a chain pet store, I do suggest finding a vet that will at least do a fecal. There is this https://www.rainbowmealworms.net/fecal-parasite-test-for-reptiles/ but it only mentions testing for worms. There are other and very nasty parasites out there that a vet’s office can check for.
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you. At the petsmart they had him in a small glass enclosure with a substrate thats all I know

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Reptibreeze screen enclosure, size med. 30.5 x 16 x 16 This may be ok now while he’s still small, but veiled’s grow fast and he’ll outgrow that faster than you can blink. The minimum size he’ll need is 2x2x4’. If you can go even bigger than that, it would be even better.
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Zoomed blue daylight 60 watt bulb and zoo med uvb light. Both 12 hours on 12 off So colored lights aren’t recommended for sensitive chameleon eyes. Try an incandescent or halogen bulb for basking. Just not LED as they put off little to no heat. Very important - is your uvb a screw in bulb or a linear tube? What is the distance between basking area and lights? The standard is a linear T5HO with either a ReptiSun 5.0 or Arcadia 6% uvb and long enough to span the width of your enclosure. The bulbs need to be changed yearly unless you have a solarmeter (which is expensive but I think worth it). Basking area will need to be about 8-9” down from the lights. Young chams do climb across the screen tops and this places them at risk for burns. Until he’s big enough to not be able to do this, I suggest elevating the lights even just 2-3” above the screen top. I use dollar store wire baskets to support my lights.
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Top thermometer reads between 70-75 when checked during day, This is a bit too cool. Around 80f would be ideal. drops to high sixties at night. Perfect! Lowest it has been is 65 when checked before I go to bed. Use digital thermometer/hydrometers
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Top of cage is usually around 32% bottom is usually between 40-45% depending on how close to misting I check. Great levels! I keep an ultrasonic cool mist humidifier next to his enclosure in low throughout the day because it’s winter heat season and it dries things pretty quick and turn it up a little higher at night. It’s best not to use any humidifiers during the day when temps are warm. To boost your humidity/keep it stable you can wrap 2-3 sides of your enclosure with a shower curtain or window insulation film on the outside. Live plants will also make a big difference.
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? No live plants yet I am still researching what is best and most simple to care for (suggestions would be appreciated ) only have artificial leaves and plants right now. I have a few leafy plants along the side wall of his enclosure like in his picture and one very leafy viny plant that fills the center spacing of the cage Attaching a plant graphic. Basic pothos is the staple of cham keepers. Philodendron is very similar and also can be used. While everyone does things differently, I like having a taller centerpiece plant and then add on vining plants around it. You want to create a forest edge for him and give lots of places to take shade and hide if he wants. Make sure to also give him lots of roads to travel with vines or branches. To attach, I suggest these https://dragonstrand.com/dragon-ledges/ but truly your imagination is the limit. Just make sure to use the frame of the enclosure to carry any weight and not the screen.
• 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? Cage is kept in my spare room/office space. Very low traffic area. There is a heat vent in the room about 5 feet away. Top of cage is about 5 feet high. Higher is always better as chams feel safest when they are above us.
• Location - Where are you geographically located? Upstate New York, I keep my home heat on 72 because like chameleons I prefer warm humid weather
• My problem is in the previous post but as I said his eye is sunken and turret seems dry/gray but he seems to still be able to see out of it and moves it around I already addressed, but is it flaky at all? Could it be stuck shed? Eye problems are usually best handled by a vet. Getting your husbandry as perfect as possible will help rule out any causes there.

 

[MissSkittles]

I was thinking it could have been a previous injury also because I do remember noticing a little bit of the gray showing when he looked in certain directions but his eye was normal otherwise.

I also want to mention that the pet store has suggested I buy the smagmum moss to help with humidity in the enclosure so I also had some of that on the bottom of the cage but I removed it recently after doing some more reading and only have felt at the bottom now. But as I said he did have a tiny gray coloring the day I got him so not sure what it could be

Sometimes they are born with certain conditions that may or may not resolve with time. Then we can only guess at the conditions in which he was shipped and handled in the pet store, which could have caused an injury. I do need to caution about risks of leaving crickets in his enclosure. If you don’t put a little piece of something for them to eat in the enclosure, they can bite your guy. Sometimes when feeding crickets it’s hard to make sure all are eaten and accounted for.

 

[aduesler93]

Sometimes they are born with certain conditions that may or may not resolve with time. Then we can only guess at the conditions in which he was shipped and handled in the pet store, which could have caused an injury. I do need to caution about risks of leaving crickets in his enclosure. If you don’t put a little piece of something for them to eat in the enclosure, they can bite your guy. Sometimes when feeding crickets it’s hard to make sure all are eaten and accounted for.

Thank you for all the feedback I’ll try to answer all of your follow up questions:
So, i should have specified that I am not 100% sure yet that he is a male, I feel like I do see teeny little spurs on his little heels they are not completely flat across and he looks like he’s getting the little bump under his tail so that was a guess. I’ve been reading up on females as well just in case to be prepared.

For his diet, I will definitely add some extra buggers in there. I had read that at his/her age they should be fed mostly staples but I will certainly look for more of a variety.

I do actually have calcium with d3 also that I haven’t dusted with yet, there is no d3 in my multivitamin

A larger cage will definitive purchased as he grows. I went with the basic starter kit as he is so small right now but we are no stranger to big reptiles so we will be accommodating him.

Lights: the blue basking light info is good to know, I assumed since it came with the zoomed chameleon starter that it would have been a good option but will order a better light ASAP. The UVB is a screw in reptisun 5.0 UVB. Should I upgrade that as well? I have an extra tube light setup that we used with our beardies smaller tank.

His eye: doesn’t seem to be flaky just the gray coloring on the inside and sunken in today.

 

[MissSkittles]

Thank you for all the feedback I’ll try to answer all of your follow up questions:
So, i should have specified that I am not 100% sure yet that he is a male, I feel like I do see teeny little spurs on his little heels they are not completely flat across and he looks like he’s getting the little bump under his tail so that was a guess. I’ve been reading up on females as well just in case to be prepared.

For his diet, I will definitely add some extra buggers in there. I had read that at his/her age they should be fed mostly staples but I will certainly look for more of a variety.

I do actually have calcium with d3 also that I haven’t dusted with yet, there is no d3 in my multivitamin

A larger cage will definitive purchased as he grows. I went with the basic starter kit as he is so small right now but we are no stranger to big reptiles so we will be accommodating him.

Lights: the blue basking light info is good to know, I assumed since it came with the zoomed chameleon starter that it would have been a good option but will order a better light ASAP. The UVB is a screw in reptisun 5.0 UVB. Should I upgrade that as well? I have an extra tube light setup that we used with our beardies smaller tank.

His eye: doesn’t seem to be flaky just the gray coloring on the inside and sunken in today.

Attaching a pic of my guy when he was 4 months old and you can clearly see his tarsal spur. Although not common, some females will have a tiny nub but it is not so pronounced. The color bands are also a good indicator as well as casque size. Females may get some swirly patches and dots, but not the vertical bands and their casques stay smaller.
The screw in uvb only provides the uv index needed at 2-3” away, which is why we use the linear T5 which provides a much broader area and better gradients. As long as your extra tube uvb is a T5, it is what you want. Do make sure to check the uvb strength of the bulb though as beardie’s use a much stronger uvb. It should be written on the end of the bulb. Also make sure the bulb isn’t more than a year old as they lose strength as they age. Proper uvb and supplements are the #1 way to prevent a multitude of health problems.

 

[aduesler93]

Attaching a pic of my guy when he was 4 months old and you can clearly see his tarsal spur. Although not common, some females will have a tiny nub but it is not so pronounced. The color bands are also a good indicator as well as casque size. Females may get some swirly patches and dots, but not the vertical bands and their casques stay smaller.
The screw in uvb only provides the uv index needed at 2-3” away, which is why we use the linear T5 which provides a much broader area and better gradients. As long as your extra tube uvb is a T5, it is what you want. Do make sure to check the uvb strength of the bulb though as beardie’s use a much stronger uvb. It should be written on the end of the bulb. Also make sure the bulb isn’t more than a year old as they lose strength as they age. Proper uvb and supplements are the #1 way to prevent a multitude of health problems.
View attachment 316004

Ok he is starting to get banding but this bright yet though I’ll check him out tomorrow thank you!

 

[Isxbvlle]

Hello!
I recently purchased a young (approx. 3 months old) male veiled chameleon. I’ve had him for a week and a few days ago I noticed his left eye turret had some gray on it when he moved his eye around. I’ve been watching it closely and today it seems like it is more sunken in. He still appears to be using that eye to see and the other eye looks perfectly fine. He seems to have adjusted well, is eating regularly, moves around a lot and gets at least 3 mistings per day (but I haven’t seen him actually drink in front of me yet). I don’t have a local vet that works with reptiles so I want to check in to see if it may be something more simple. It is not drippy or closed so it doesn’t seem to be an infection. He is very brightly colored unless he gets scared and seems to otherwise be health. Any more information needed I will be glad to provide! Thanks!

The first photo is the best I could get tonight of his left eye and the second is his right eye

My young veiled chameleon (about 3 months as well when I brought him home) had something similar looking like this going on with his eye and would sleep with that eye open. It turned out to be a rough shed when I took him to the vet, and he shed it all off during the next shed and his eye was completely back to normal in 2-3 weeks!

Totally would recommend visiting a vet since I’m no cham expert, but this does look like a rough shed from what I’ve seen.

 

[Isxbvlle]

-

 

[aduesler93]

My young veiled chameleon (about 3 months as well when I brought him home) had something similar looking like this going on with his eye and would sleep with that eye open. It turned out to be a rough shed when I took him to the vet, and he shed it all off during the next shed and his eye was completely back to normal in 2-3 weeks!

Totally would recommend visiting a vet since I’m no cham expert, but this does look like a rough shed from what I’ve seen.

Thank you for sharing! The closest vet to me is a little over an hour away and tough to get into and I will certainly be bringing him in for a check up but I’ve been worried it’s more urgent. Everyone’s help has made me feel a little better and it doesn’t look as badly sunken today as yesterday did

 

[aduesler93]

I got some better pictures of this little individual’s feets. The pet store told me it was too young to tell as he/she’s only about 3 months old but should I be prepping for a female? I’m back and forth because it has had some green banding when moving around at some points

 

[Isxbvlle]

I got some better pictures of this little individual’s feets. The pet store told me it was too young to tell as he/she’s only about 3 months old but should I be prepping for a female? I’m back and forth because it has had some green banding when moving around at some points

You can tell from a young age for veileds if they’re a male or female! The males will have “tarsal spurs” on the back of their feet, the females do not. They look like little bumps right at the corner of their feet. I can’t tell from the angles of these photos, but I attached some reference pics that can hopefully help you to identify your baby’s gender!

 

[aduesler93]

You can tell from a young age for veileds if they’re a male or female! The males will have “tarsal spurs” on the back of their feet. I can’t tell from the angles of these photos, but I attached a reference pic that can hopefully help you to identify your baby’s gender!

Thanks I’ve bugged them already today checking out their eye so I’ll get a closer look of the backs of those feet’s tomorrow

 

[aduesler93]

Update: today his eye is not as sunken in and I caught him rubbing it on a wet leaf when I misted it looks like it’s just some shed in there

 

[aduesler93]

Although it looked better today I’ve noticed since his lights turned off he has had this eye opened. Could he not be getting enough moisture to clean it out or maybe a vitamin deficiency? Again not sure what the store was giving him

 

[Isxbvlle]

Although it looked better today I’ve noticed since his lights turned off he has had this eye opened. Could he not be getting enough moisture to clean it out or maybe a vitamin deficiency? Again not sure what the store was giving him

That sounds exactly like what mine did! I didn’t want to do anything to risk damaging his eye so I just added an extra misting during midday (in total misted his cage 3 times a day). What calcium powder do you use during feeding time?

 

[Isxbvlle]

That sounds exactly like what mine did! I didn’t want to do anything to risk damaging his eye so I just added an extra misting during midday (in total misted his cage 3 times a day). What calcium powder do you use during feeding time?

Just read your info on the “your chameleon” fill-out form. All the calcium supplement look good to me as long as the reptivite has D3! Everything Miss Skittles recommended is great advice