werner's chameleon eyes closed and mouth open

[lainezor]

Hello everyone, I have a Werner's chameleon named Syd, age unknown, whom i've had for 8 months, recently stop opening his eyes. Yesterday I took him to the vet and he said there was some debris in his eye and to give him an anti-inflammatory called Metacam and use an eye wash solution to clear his eye out. He has not opened his eye for more than a couple of seconds and is refusing food. He is leaving his mouth open and hissing constantly and now he just bit his own tongue. My vet is not in today as it is Saturday and I am really worried about him, he really doesnt look good and isnt eating. He has a real pothos plant in his cage, ive been keeping chameleons for 4 years and I am very confident that he is setup properly. His temps range for 89-68F. I havent used the eye steam solution yet because I am afraid of hurting him more, any advice? I left my phone number at the vets and they said he might get back to me today.

• Your Chameleon -Werner's chameleon named Syd, male, age unknown, whom i've had for 8 months
• Handling - Usually friendly, handled once every few weeks or so
• Feeding - crickets and silkworms.
• Supplements -calcium no d3 mon-fri, friday he gets 3 silks, saturday plain crickets and sunday i alternate between calcium d3 and herptivite multivitamin.
• Watering - Exo terra monsoon set to go off for 120 seconds every 2 hours.
• Fecal Description - He had been tested for parasites and came back negative. Normal looking poops with white urates.
• History - He was probably wild caught, has been in my care for 8 months an is not gaining any weight at all, my digital scale is always reading him at 26g.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Repti-breeze large size.
• Lighting - reptiglo 5.0 UVB linear bulb, changed ever 6 months. Household bulb for basking heat.
• Temperature - 88°F in the basking area and about 70 along the floor. Drop to mid 60s at night. I use digital temperature gun for accuracy.
• Humidity - between 60-80%, monsoon goes off every 2 hours for 2 mins.
• Placement - In my bedroom beside my veiled chameleon's cage. Plastic sheets to ensure they cannot see each other.
• Location - South-western Ontario Canada

 

[brownie64]

If it were me I would mist him real well with worm water making sure it gets on his face to try to wash out the eyes. Two things I noticed about you husbandry I would change being he is a montane species. I would bring his basking temps down just a bit to the low to mid 80s, and he should only get multivitamins, and calcium with d3 once a month not to be both given in the same month. If he has just now stopped eating I wouldn't worry about him starving until you get back into the vet they can go a few days without eating just fine. Him not growing fast is par for the coarse for these guys the one I had grew very slow they are one of the smaller species anyway. Would it be possible to post a pic of him?

 

[lainezor]

He opened his eye long enough for one picture:

 

[brownie64]

Yah his eyes don't look infected to me in fact other than him closing his eyes he looks really healthy. If it were me I would keep up with the heavy direct misting until you see your vet on Monday. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. It's kind of weird that both eyes are affected at the same time keep us posted on what happens.

 

[lainezor]

Syd has passed away

 

[brownie64]

Wow that fast! I'm sorry for your loss. Are you going to see what it was?

 

[lainezor]

I talked to another vet and it sounds like it was a lung infection. Towards the end of today he started gasping and drooling. He seemed to go downhill very fast. I am heart broken. I wasnt the first owner of him and who knows what hes been through.

 

[LindsayG]

I'm so sorry for your loss. It seems so sudden. Well wishes are headed your way. RIP Syd!

 

[brownie64]

I talked to another vet and it sounds like it was a lung infection. Towards the end of today he started gasping and drooling. He seemed to go downhill very fast. I am heart broken. I wasnt the first owner of him and who knows what hes been through.

I had a hunch it was something other than his eyes, the fact that both were shut at the same time kind of made it seem unlikely it was something in his eyes. Again I can't tell you how sorry I am, but these guys can be so fragile really and sometimes they go so fast you don't have time to figure it out. You done all you could do.

 

[jajeanpierre]

I'm very sorry for your loss.

Something else to consider is secondary drowning or aspiration pneumonia from the liquid meds you were giving him going down into his lungs.

Chameleons are tricky to give oral meds or fluids to. The opening to the windpipe is often right at the front of their mouth, just behind their teeth. They can also pull it back to the back of their throats.

Here's a link to a photo. Scroll down to Message #26 by Ferretinmyshoes, a reptile vet.

When I give liquid to any chameleon if I can't inject it into a feeder insect, I basically gavage feed, putting the syringe tip deep down the throat well past the respiratory openings. This can be problematic as well since it is easy to damage the tongue and throat structures. All in all, giving meds to a chameleon is just not easy.

If you got liquid into the lungs, they can develop secondary drowning in a few hours and without veterinary intervention will die very quickly. What happens is that a small amount of fluid--it could be water--goes into the lungs. The lungs set up an immune response and flood the lungs with fluid and the animal drowns because of severe pulmonary edema. It is sudden. I know from experience--I did it when a favorite hen regurgitated when I was giving it fluid and inhaled a small amount of fluid/crop contents. The bird was fine for a few hours and then I came upon it in severe respiratory distress. I rushed her to the vet (as I said, she was a favorite hen) and the vet treated her with Lasix (a diuretic) very soon after she was in severe respiratory distress and again the next day. It was not cheap but the bird was saved.

Birds do not have cilia, the thread like structures on the surface of the respiratory system that sweep debris out of the lungs/respiratory system. Birds and reptiles share a lot of structural features that differ from mammals so they might also not have cilia in their respiratory system.

I'm not so sure that your chameleon would die so suddenly from a respiratory infection when the pictures of him showed an animal in fairly good body weight. I guess it is possible, but the suddenness is worrisome.

I'm very sorry my post might cause you grief but many are not aware of the risks of giving liquid to chameleons. It is really easy to make a mistake, so please don't feel bad or guilty if you think maybe what I'm saying might be what happened. (And I might be completely wrong, too.) Again, I'm sorry for your loss.