Sos eye issue part 2

[ChameleonClem]

A little while ago i posted that i was concerned about my dudes eyes looking puffy around the bottom. Evefyone said he looked normal so i just let it go and kept watching him.
Now ive been noticing he may have his eye/s closed during the day but opens them if he notices me nearby. Today i came to visit him and he has one eye closed so i brushed his tail and he briefly opened it and closed it then “squished” his eye shut and i noticed a buldge come out the front of his eye then went back down when he relaxed it.
I sat next to his cage and he is keeping the eye shut and turned his head so he can see me with the other eye.

 

[ChameleonClem]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - male, panther, approx. 1 yr, he came into my possession last spring from framchams
• Handling - i do not handle him, i sit/stand next to the cage during feeding. Attempts to put my hands near him seem to deeply stress him and i am trying to build trust, however in the past year ive not made a ton of progress. Food is always involved
• Feeding - only crickets so far, hornworms once before but not very interested. 10-15 crickets, i try to feed once a day but lately sometimes i will have to miss a day. (Im under the impression thats okay) and i feed the crickets frresh vegi scraps from the kitchen + flukers cricket food + a paper towel soaked in water
• Supplements - calcium one every feeding except the 1st and 15th of every month then we use the reptivite. I just grab a pinch with my tongs and drop it in the sandwhich bag with my feeders and give them a good shake.
• Watering - i have an auto misting system + distilled water, it was spraying 1 min right before lights come on and 1 min 30 mins before lights go off but im not sure if this is enough.
• Fecal Description - never been tested for parasites. Fecal has been pretty consistent the entire time ive had him brown and white
• History - we get our feeders from joshes frogs and havnt got them from any other source since early summer. I also put his feeders in an enclosed feeder box now unless im working on taming but feeders never really touch the bottom of the cage.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - i have the xl reptibreeze cage and it is wrapped on three sides with a shower curtain.
• Lighting - i have lucky herp t5 10.0 UVB in a reptizoo fixture, flukers incandescent 60 watt basking bulb Heat and a sansi gro bulb. All lights on at 7:30 sansi off at 6:00 other lights off at 7:30.
• Temperature - basking spot is usually about 92, the bottom of the cage i dont have a thermometer for but the room is 68-71 (we have an old house with baseboard heat). I have a zoo med thermo/humidity combo i measure the humidity at the bottom of the cage and heat at the basking spot of course
• Humidity - usually around 40-45
• Plants - only live plants, tons of pothos, a ficus, a peace lilly and a struggling hibiscus.
• Placement - cage is located in a far corner of our living area and it is the lowest traffic area of our home, our only other pet is a small dog who is not allowed in that part of the house and no children. Top of cage is arnd 6 ft and the highest branch also the basking branch is at the top of my 5’4 head.
• Location - indiana, usa

Current Problem - eye closed, maybe puffiness. Opens eye when interacted with.

 

[Gloriawood]

I’ll let someone familiar with panthers do a full review since I have a veiled. However, misting should be at least 2 minutes long. Try giving him a nice long session of at least 3-4 minutes and see if that will trigger him to try and clean his eye.

 

[kinyonga]

Did you add any of the plants to the cage recently?

 

[MissSkittles]

The only things in your husbandry that I see is misting duration, which has already been addressed, and temp is a bit high. It would be better to keep basking temp around 85. However, neither of these things could really be responsible for his eye. I do see that one is smaller than the other. I don’t know if he’s squinting a little or not. Have you tried giving him an extra long misting session of at least 5 minutes or so?
There is one other thing that may be a concern, but you’d need a solarmeter to determine. Not so long ago I tested one of the ReptiZoo T5 fixtures with their 5.0 uvb. The uvb output was very poor and it was the bulb. If you have access to a solarmeter 6.5 to test it, that would be great. If you don’t have one, I would advise to change the uvb bulb to either Arcadia 6% or ReptiSun 5.0, both of which have proven consistent quality.
I wasn’t sure about your peace lily so looked it up and it seems to be safe.
A visit to a good vet with chameleon experience is probably the best course of action.

 

[ChameleonClem]

The only things in your husbandry that I see is misting duration, which has already been addressed, and temp is a bit high. It would be better to keep basking temp around 85. However, neither of these things could really be responsible for his eye. I do see that one is smaller than the other. I don’t know if he’s squinting a little or not. Have you tried giving him an extra long misting session of at least 5 minutes or so?
There is one other thing that may be a concern, but you’d need a solarmeter to determine. Not so long ago I tested one of the ReptiZoo T5 fixtures with their 5.0 uvb. The uvb output was very poor and it was the bulb. If you have access to a solarmeter 6.5 to test it, that would be great. If you don’t have one, I would advise to change the uvb bulb to either Arcadia 6% or ReptiSun 5.0, both of which have proven consistent quality.
I wasn’t sure about your peace lily so looked it up and it seems to be safe.
A visit to a good vet with chameleon experience is probably the best course of action.

I gave him a 3 minute misting yesterday and today i admittedly forgot. (Lights out now) Will try a five minute misting tmmrw and probably everyday until resolved. When i fed him today he was still winking. But he was back in the foliage so i didnt want to stress him.
I will order a new uvb bulb asap and lower wattage basking bulb. What brand do you recommend for for basking?
Our nearest exotic vet is an hour or two away and he doesnt tolerate being touched or handled so im going to try to home remedy it first. I know eyes closed is a bad sign but he is not behaving any differently he is not lethargic and he still has a normal appetite.
He opens the eye when i interact closely with him and the other eye seems fine. (I definitely do think he is squinty because it wasn't like that before)
Another weird thing is the peeling of skin ontop of the eyes i didnt see him shed and i dont see much dead skin in the enclosure. I thought maybe i missed it (which would be crazy but possible i guess) but i really searched today and im not finding rlly any shed and hes not peeling on his body yet.

 

[Gloriawood]

I gave him a 3 minute misting yesterday and today i admittedly forgot. (Lights out now) Will try a five minute misting tmmrw and probably everyday until resolved. When i fed him today he was still winking. But he was back in the foliage so i didnt want to stress him.
I will order a new uvb bulb asap and lower wattage basking bulb. What brand do you recommend for for basking?
Our nearest exotic vet is an hour or two away and he doesnt tolerate being touched or handled so im going to try to home remedy it first. I know eyes closed is a bad sign but he is not behaving any differently he is not lethargic and he still has a normal appetite.
He opens the eye when i interact closely with him and the other eye seems fine. (I definitely do think he is squinty because it wasn't like that before)
Another weird thing is the peeling of skin ontop of the eyes i didnt see him shed and i dont see much dead skin in the enclosure. I thought maybe i missed it (which would be crazy but possible i guess) but i really searched today and im not finding rlly any shed and hes not peeling on his body yet.

Any brand basking bulb is fine. Even the regular household incandescent bulbs work as long as they are not LED, but they are hard to find nowadays.

 

[ChameleonClem]

Okay it got worse, up until yesterday it was staying about the same maybe a bit better. But he has been going to sleep as early as 5-7 pm on some days which he has always done if its dark and cloudy out; so i hoped for the best. Yesterday he was asleep when i got home at 6, today he is awake and looks so scary. I think the nearest vet when i first got him is gone but im thinking the closest is in Cincinnati the vet is the last resort but i am so scared. Again he doesnt seem to be acting weird just puffy, the eye is even open now.
I have not added anything new to his enclosure, except had to substitute faucet water for distilled water here and there.
Are there any home remedies? If i have to go the vet route whats the best way to get him out into a transport container because everytime i have tried to hold him he starts hissing and the whole show, And i am unable to get him off the branch at that point.

Ps new lights have not arrived yet, and he is in a very grumpy mood today.
Also the eye that was closed before is smaller than the eye that was open.

 

[Gloriawood]

Honestly a vet is what is needed IMO. @elizaann2 has a great list of vets she can give you. I always lure my guy out of the enclosure with his favorite bugs. Let him come on to my arm by holding the worm far enough away that he HAS to climb onto me to get it. Then I put him in a small box with a stick shoved through it (going out both sides of the box this way the stick doesn’t move). Close the box and it’s dark so he will go to sleep. He will be fine in there for a whole day. My vet is over 2 hours one way. He ends up being in the box for well over 6 hours usually and is just fine.

 

[elizaann2]

Hello! I'm sorry to see your beautiful guy is having some eye issues. Attached you will find our vet list. Hope it helps!

Please keep us posted on how the vet appointment goes!

 

[MissSkittles]

Poor guy. There’s really more going on with your guy’s eyes than we can help with. He may have some keratin deposits that need to be flushed, a sinus issue or I don’t even know. No idea where you are, but Dr Dahlhausen in Milford is experienced with chameleons and said to be quite good. He’s on the vet list. If you put your guy in a dark box, he should sleep the whole way there. Unfortunately you’ll still have the drive, but good chameleon vets are few and far between.

 

[ChameleonClem]

Poor guy. There’s really more going on with your guy’s eyes than we can help with. He may have some keratin deposits that need to be flushed, a sinus issue or I don’t even know. No idea where you are, but Dr Dahlhausen in Milford is experienced with chameleons and said to be quite good. He’s on the vet list. If you put your guy in a dark box, he should sleep the whole way there. Unfortunately you’ll still have the drive, but good chameleon vets are few and far between.

Thank you all so much i do actually think milford is the closest. You all have calmed my fears about shoving him in a box a little better lol i was really worried about the stress that would put on him. Swelling has gone down a bit today and looks like he is in the same condition he was prior to yesterday but i think i will still pursue the milford vet. For those with exotic vet experience, do you usually have to leave him or is it usually done in one trip?

 

[Gloriawood]

Thank you all so much i do actually think milford is the closest. You all have calmed my fears about shoving him in a box a little better lol i was really worried about the stress that would put on him. Swelling has gone down a bit today and looks like he is in the same condition he was prior to yesterday but i think i will still pursue the milford vet. For those with exotic vet experience, do you usually have to leave him or is it usually done in one trip?

I’ve never had to leave mine. It’s always one trip, but I’ve also not had to do anything major

 

[Beman]

May I just double check your supplements? Can you please post pics of the front labels of your supplements?

 

[CalamityCrow]

Thank you all so much i do actually think milford is the closest. You all have calmed my fears about shoving him in a box a little better lol i was really worried about the stress that would put on him. Swelling has gone down a bit today and looks like he is in the same condition he was prior to yesterday but i think i will still pursue the milford vet. For those with exotic vet experience, do you usually have to leave him or is it usually done in one trip?

Dr. Dalhausen is great. They ARE a little slow to see people sometimes (though the two times I went there were some DIRE emergency bird cases they had to take care of - a bobcat had half-gutted someone's pet duck O_O) but they treated me great. I did leave my cham my second visit because he was honestly on his way out. His entire back end stopped working and the vet wanted to keep him overnight and treat him to be able to give him immediate medical help if needed.

But it's highly unlikely they'll wanna keep him, so hopefully it's just one trip, or a trip, take him home, treat him, and come back in a few weeks for a checkup. Fingers crossed for your lovely guy!!