Veiled Chameleon having trouble with eye

[AlaskanChameleon]

Current Problem - Over the past week I noticed my chameleon was closing its right eye. I started reading up on the forums and I first switched out her screw in bulb for a 18in 5.o uvb bulb hoping that was the problem, I also took out her substrate and only use paper towels now. I also increased her misting by misting her a few more times a day. I thought her eye was getting better because she opened it a few times but today it looks like maybe a growth or discharge is coming out of it? Im trying a warm shower right now to see if that helps as well. Please help me, my girlfriend would be devastated if anything happened to our baby hershey. I hope the pictures are good enough to see whats going on.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon have had it just over a month, believe it is roughly 3-4 months old
• Handling - been working on handling but so far not so good
• Feeding - crickets about 10 a day, occasionally super worms or phoenix worms as treats. All crickets dusted with Calcium
• Supplements - Using repti calcium and herptivite multivitamin once a month
• Watering - I have a mist king system set up to mist 3 times a day for 1 minute each time and occasionally I will spray the cage
• Fecal Description - fecal matter looks normal, dark brown with a little white at the end
• History - Hershey (chameleons name) was purchased from petsmart ( I know I should have gone with a breeder but the girlfriend was very persistent about that certain one)

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - screen, 18x18x36
• Lighting - originally had one of those not so good dual bulb setups but switched up to an 18inch usb 5.0 and a 50 watt basking bulb
• Temperature - cage sits at 70-75 during the day and basking spot about 85. at night it hits 65
• Humidity - Using a mist king
• Plants - Pothos and another plant (can't remember the name but its on the safe list)
• Placement - cage is in the living room but its just myself who lives their with a couple fish tanks and a leopard gecko so very low traffic.
• Location - Anchorage Alaska

 

[CharlesYamaguchi]

Hello,

There are several things that can cause this in a veiled. It can be lack of adequate vitamin A supplementation, bad lighting, an upper respiratory infection, a stuck shed in the eye, or simply a little scratch!

• That herptevite that you are supplying, does it have preformed Vitamin A in it?
• You said you switched out her screw bulb? You also said you switched to linear which is good but how long was she under that other? Sometimes those can cause problems if left under for long time.
• Does she do any weird gasping or breathing? And I mean all the time or at weird times. They do it some times after they drink so do not count that.
• Also, can be just a little stuck skin in the eye and she is trying to wash her eye to get it out. If that is the case, you can take a nice warmly moist qtip and gently massage the eye and try to remove the gook. I tried getting the image larger to see what it is but it got all blurry. When I say warm, I mean, warm to them not us haha somewhere around 85 degrees or so. Most of the time chameleons really enjoy this and work with you on eye rubbing.

 

[AlaskanChameleon]

I feel so dumb, I didn't even read the back of it and just found out it has no vitamin A I feel so bad now. Is there a preferred vitamin brand everyone uses? Also the calcium I use is Zoo Med Repti Calcium, is that okay or should I use a better brand.

She was under the screw in UVB bulb for about a month. The new 5.0 bulb has been in for about a week

No weird gasping or breathing that I've noticed.

She's been in the shower for a good 30 minutes now. So far she really seems to enjoy it. I "massaged" the bugger off too, heres a pic

 

[CharlesYamaguchi]

OH This is GOOD! Hopefully just a stuck shed. Is the shower on her more like mist or bouncing off of something onto her? I use a temperature gun to gauge the water temperature and/or a turkey thermometer to gauge how warm the bounce off water is.

Repashy LoD as it has Vitamin A in it

 

[AlaskanChameleon]

As soon as she got onto my hand after the shower (she's never actually done that before) she rubbed her eye on me, so that was something new!?

The water was bouncing off the wall and misting the ficus tree I put in there.

I will make sure to order that tonight and do another shower tomorrow. Is there a certain time limit that is too long to leave them in there? Spent a good 30-40 minutes in the shower and I feel like I could have left her longer.

 

[AlaskanChameleon]

Also should I look into getting reptaid or terramycin? Not sure if I'm overreacting now or not but I just want to make sure I'm doing everything I can for little hershey without making it worse

 

[kinyonga]

@AlaskanChameleon said..."She was under the screw in UVB bulb for about a month. The new 5.0 bulb has been in for about a week"...and you said the eye has been bothering the chameleon for about w week?? Could be that the light is bothering the eye. I'd try turning it off for a couple of days to see if it makes a difference.

 

[AlaskanChameleon]

She seems to not be doing any better today and less active. Could it be an eye infection?

 

[kinyonga]

You can take it to the vet to find out if it's an eye infection. I can't tell you not it is.
Did you try turning off the light as I suggested?

 

[AlaskanChameleon]

Light is now off

 

[CharlesYamaguchi]

If she is lethargic, it could be more than just an eye issue. It may be a respiratory infection. Are both eyes closed?

 

[AlaskanChameleon]

Nope, just the one eye. Its really hard to tell, somedays it seems like she sleeps more than normal other days she seems very active.

Does anyone have an opinion about starting her on some reptaid?

 

[CharlesYamaguchi]

Reptaid is really meant to be more of a supplement for overall health rather than a fix when an animal is already sick. :\ Although, it would not hurt. But without knowing true cause of issue, it may do little to nothing. Did the goo return on the eye? She should not really be sleeping at all during the day. After clearing the goo from the eye, how long did she use it?

 

[AlaskanChameleon]

the goo has not returned, she still wouldn't open her eye. been trying to coax her out of the cage tonight for another shower, but no luck so far.

 

[CharlesYamaguchi]

I am trying to see in the picture, is her nostril swollen on the side with the eye issue or is that a water droplet?

 

[AlaskanChameleon]

Her nostril is not swollen, just a water droplet