Something is wrong with my chameleon

[Kelseylineberry]

I just got a veiled chameleon about a week or two ago. I think it's a boy but I call her a girl. The pet store said she's about four months old. She won't drink anything. I mist her cage about three times a day and I use a dripper, and I use a syringe. She seems to hate them all. When I put the syringe in her face she runs away. She runs away when I mist her cage too. She also does this thing where she puffs her eye up really big to wear it looks like it's about to pop, then she'll scratch it on her branch. I've never seen any discharge. I'm very worried about her, please let me know anything that you can think of and how I can fix it.

 

[Kelseylineberry]

She also has a fountain that she never pays attention to

 

[pgr7]

Use this to help out those who can point you in a good direction.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[jannb]

Welcome to the forums. I'm sorry to hear that you think something might be wrong with your new girl. What kind of lights are you using? Some of the lights can bother their eyes. It would be very helpful if you could post a few pictures of her/him and the enclosure. It would also be helpful if you would fill out this form below so we will know how you are keeping her and see if there's anything that could be causing problems.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

 

[Kelseylineberry]

It's a veiled chameleon, I think it's a boy but I call her a girl. The pet store says she's about 4-5 months old. I feed her lots of crickets a day (not sure exactly how many) and she eats about 3 mealworms a day. I mist about 3 times a day. I've never taken her to the vet or got her tested for anything.when I first got her sometimes she would change to the color brown but now she just stays limegreen all the time. My chameleon seems to hate water. I mist her cage 3 times a day and I've never seen her drink. I've used a surrenge and she turns her head Away from it. She has a waterfall that I've never seen her go near. I don't want her to dehydrate. I'm very worried about her and I want her to be okay. She also does this thing with her eye where she puffs it up really big until it looks like it's about the pop, and then she scratches it on her branch. She has live plants in her cage that have organic soil on them with the rocks on top of them.i've never seen discharge come out of her eye. Please help. She has a "black light" heat lamp and an energy lamp. My pet store told me to turn off the energy lamp and I have, but nothing has really changed

 

[Kelseylineberry]

Sorry I keep leaving out details, she also almost always has her eyes closed. I give her eye drops and she seems to start disliking me since I have started doing this. Most of the time she runs away from me. I can hardly even get them in her eyes most of the time

 

[Lovereps]

Turn off the black light

Welcome to the forum!
Sorry your cham is having problems.

Don't give up on misting him and please continue to use the dripper, too.
He may prefer that the water is lukewarm, so it isn't as startling.
Mist him for a few minutes at a time---because many chams don't start to drink until they've been misted continually for 5 minutes or so.
You can read more about chameleons and water here: https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/water/
Fountains usually aren't used for chameleons, since they can easily become full of bacteria unless cleaned thoroughly every day and most chams will not drink from them.

Honestly, it sounds like whomever sold the chameleon to you did not give you the right information about what he/she needs---probably because they really do not know.
The same thing has happened to plenty of people on these forums, so we understand.

It is good that you've now found the right place for good info about chameleons.
We will help you get everything sorted out.
We can help you so you know which things should be changed and which are good for him, so that your chameleon then has everything the way that he needs it to be.

Please turn off that black light starting now, keep it off and then get a regular household light bulb that gives off regular white light.
You want to have an area for your cham to bask under where the temperature is 85 degrees.
What wattage light bulb will do that depends on how warm the room is and how close to the basking spot the light fixture is.
Typically a regular 40 watt or 60 watt bulb does the trick


His eyes should improve within a few days of keeping those lights off.
Chameleons should not have black lights.
Not for heat or for light or for UVB--because they do not emit any UVB, which chams need.
Reptisun 5.0 bulbs are commonly used to provide UVB.
With his eyes so irritated right now, I would not use any bulb other than a regular household bulb until he feels better in a few days.

The lights you have been using have most likely irritated his eyes so badly that he will not eat or drink because his eyes hurt .

When a chameleon has its eyes closed during the day, it means that he is either sick or his eyes are very irritated from the lights that are being used--or both.

Your chameleon has been bulging out its eyes because that is the way chameleons clean their eyes--they rinse them and bulge them out.

Rubbing eyes on branches is another way they get debris out of their eyes.
However, a chameleon which rubs its eyes throughout the day and/or has its eyes bulged all the time has an eye problem.
Pet store medications simply don't help chameleon eye troubles.


You must turn off all the lights at night.
A chameleon needs darkness at night.
Chameleons can see UV light that is invisible to our eyes and it will keep the cham awake at night.

For some more info, here is the forum's excellent Veiled caresheet https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/

If you cut and paste the questions from here https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/
and then add all of your answers--we can help you better.

The more completely you answers those questions, the better the quality that the advice can be.

 

[jcarlsen]

I just got a veiled chameleon about a week or two ago. I think it's a boy but I call her a girl. The pet store said she's about four months old. She won't drink anything. I mist her cage about three times a day and I use a dripper, and I use a syringe. She seems to hate them all. When I put the syringe in her face she runs away. She runs away when I mist her cage too. She also does this thing where she puffs her eye up really big to wear it looks like it's about to pop, then she'll scratch it on her branch. I've never seen any discharge. I'm very worried about her, please let me know anything that you can think of and how I can fix it.

I see some folks already gave you some great, detailed info, so I'll just say two important things:

1. Make sure you look over the caresheet on this site carefully and make sure you're meeting those requirements.
2. If you just got this chameleon, it will be very scared of you for a while, so be patient. It will puff up and run from you because it thinks you're going to eat it. The only thing you can do to help that is take your time and let it settle in and then work your way towards hand feeding.

 

[Candybugs]

Look on the back of its back feet for a little nub if you see it it's a male. The worst mistake you can make with chameleons is lighting and calcium you have to get it right or they get muscular bone disease MBD and it's catastrophic to the animal.

 

[MamatoElvis]

It's also important to know if you have a female or not? Females have different needs. They need a laying bin and if they have eggs they require extra nutrition and calcium. I don't have a female so I'm not an expert. If you could post some pictures of your Cham some of the senior members will confirm if you have a boy or girl. It really is important to know.