Whats with the eyes?

[sarah777]

Sounds like the spiral bulb is at fault, turn it off and get a tube. Even if it takes a few days to get the tube he's better off with no uvb till then.

 

[Elizadolots]

Closed eyes are kind of a general sign of bad health, not absolutely an indication of eye problems. It might be the spiral bulb, but many people use those with no problems. To me, it sounds like the animal has never had a real night with darkness and the appropriate cool down. If it were me, I'd fix that first, check into replacing the bulb and take the animal to the vet.

 

[morpheon]

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled, male, year and a half old, been in my care for about a year.
Handling - About once a week.
Feeding - I am feeding crickets mealworms and butterworms, about 10 crickets 2 meals, 2 butters, once a day around 5 o clock, no i feed the crickets carrots and potatoes.
Supplements - herptivite and one in a blue container... i use these everyday
Watering - i use a dripper i usually mist twice daily and ive seen him drink but not recently
Fecal Description -brown, white, both normal. never been tested for parasites

Cage Info:
Cage Type - screen cage about 6 feet tall 2 and a half feet wide and long
Lighting - total of 200 watt lights for 12 hours in the day 150 watts at night
Temperature - basking spot is 90 to 100 and drops as you gget lower in the tank
Humidity - fogger, misting, live plants
Plants - i dont remember their names, but i made sure they are safe
Placement - it is placed on the floor of my room in the basement under a vent (helps with heating)
Location - southern ontario

Current Problem - wont open eyes

Here is my review. I didn't take the time to read the previous answer on purpose. This way, you will be able to notice if i agree or not with the previous users. However, i would like to say something important: if he's sick like that, it's because there is OBVIOUSLY something going wrong in your husband. Therefore, you should be open to change a few things. Also, when eyes are closed and a chameleon is not moving, you should be going to the vet TOMORROW (not in two days, not in three days, nor next week).



Handling: once a week, Ok, but for how long?? And what is "to handle" your chameleon for you?? Ie: what do you do with it??

Feeding: to me your are over feeding your adult chameleon. I'd also remove the butter worms, except maybe once or twice a month. Your gutloading doesn't seem very good either, and we all know that chameleon eyes need good vitamins. The good thing is your are giving your chameleon different kind of insects, but you stillneed to improve what i mentionned previously.

Supplements: Could you be more specific? What kind of herptivite? and what is the blue container you are talking about?

Water: for how long is your dripper dripping? And how long is your misting?

Lighting: Are your using the coiled/twisted bulbs?? What brand? What are your UVBs coming from? -- If you are using any coiled/twisted bulb for UVB, you should remove it RIGHT NOW or tomorrow when the lights go on. These bulbs are associated with eye issues. -- Also, how old are your bulbs? Please answer for each of them.

Temperature: 100 looks a bit high to me. Also, where are your bulbs? Are they INSIDE or OUTSIDE the enclosure?

Humidity: i am definately not a big fan of foggers.

Plants: Could you show us some pictures?

Chameleon: Could you upload a picture of your chameleon that was taken today please? Or tomorrow. Could you also say explicitly when the different problems appeared. You mentionned that he had eye issues and stopped moving. You also mention that he isn,t drinking nor eating lately. But for how long each of them? In what order?


In conclusion: to me you should definately go see a specialized vet tomorrow. There are great vets in Ontario and you should be able to find one. I am saying TOMORROW because when a chameleon starts showing signs of sickness, it is because they have been sick for a long time before. You can ask any real senior breeders; they will all confirm what i just said. Therefore, you obviously don't want to risk to let your chameleon die. Finally, no matter what you will do tomorrow to improve the conditions of your chameleon, it will NEVER be a good substitute to seeing a vet.

 

[carol5208]

I just noticed something also in going back in the posts, you said you are giving calcium with d3 ONLY every other day. Every other day is still WAY too much. You are feeding every day, so that means you are giving him d3 about 15 times a month! As I said before whether you are giving it everyday or every other you are over dosing you chameleon on d3!!! This should be given about two times a month. Don't know if that is contributing to your problems. As Morpheon suggested, let see some pics of your set up and your cham.

 

[Psi]

I just noticed something also in going back in the posts, you said you are giving calcium with d3 ONLY every other day. Every other day is still WAY too much. You are feeding every day, so that means you are giving him d3 about 15 times a month! As I said before whether you are giving it everyday or every other you are over dosing you chameleon on d3!!! This should be given about two times a month. Don't know if that is contributing to your problems. As Morpheon suggested, let see some pics of your set up and your cham.

Without knowing the brand of the Calcium with D3, you can't make this statement.

Rep-cal Brand, definitely too much D3.
Zoo-Med/Exo-Terra the dosage is fine.

Nic Pic, I would also suggest you take him to the vet. If you're in my area, I can help you out with supplementation as well as lightning if you need to swap stuff up.

 

[Kent67]

Two thoughts and maybe the first was addressed already: Are you running lights on 24/7? You said you had on different wattages from day to night, just want to make sure he's getting darkness. As for night temperatures, adult veileds can and do drop down into the 40's at night without problems when they can warm back up the next day. Second thought, how about Vitamin A deficiency? Does he open his eyes when disturbed but then seem uncomfortable until he closes them?

 

[carol5208]

Without knowing the brand of the Calcium with D3, you can't make this statement.

Rep-cal Brand, definitely too much D3.
Zoo-Med/Exo-Terra the dosage is fine.

Nic Pic, I would also suggest you take him to the vet. If you're in my area, I can help you out with supplementation as well as lightning if you need to swap stuff up.

oh ok, did not think of that, but still isnt every other day still overkill? It just seems twice a month is the standard on here for d3 and the brands are never discussed regardless. So you are saying that Zoo med can be given 15 times a month and there will be no side effects?

 

[Psi]

oh ok, did not think of that, but still isnt every other day still overkill? It just seems twice a month is the standard on here for d3 and the brands are never discussed regardless. So you are saying that Zoo med can be given 15 times a month and there will be no side effects?

Repcal contains 400,000 IU/kg
Exo-Terra contains 32,428 IU/kg
Zoo-Med contains 22,907 IU/kg

Ratio wise:
if you dust twice monthly it's 800k for Rep-cal.
if you dust every other day it's 485k for Exo (970k daily)
if you dust every other day it's 354k for Zoomed (700k daily)

Obviously our chams wouldn't be recieving even 1/1000th of that amount in a month, but it's pretty close based on frequency of what the daily vs semi-monthly dosages would be.

It's not quite as simple as this, but the % (or IU) of D3 intake from non-RepCal brands would be very hard to overdose on.

 

[carol5208]

Repcal contains 400,000 IU/kg
Exo-Terra contains 32,428 IU/kg
Zoo-Med contains 22,907 IU/kg

Ratio wise:
if you dust twice monthly it's 800k for Rep-cal.
if you dust every other day it's 485k for Exo (970k daily)
if you dust every other day it's 354k for Zoomed (700k daily)

Obviously our chams wouldn't be recieving even 1/1000th of that amount in a month, but it's pretty close based on frequency of what the daily vs semi-monthly dosages would be.

It's not quite as simple as this, but the % (or IU) of D3 intake from non-RepCal brands would be very hard to overdose on.

thanks PSI! Good info to know!!! Like I said it is always the norm on here to tell everyone twice a month with the d3, kinda the forum standard ya know. Dang, you just learn something everyday on here. That is why i love this place!!!!