Won't open eyes.

[alphakenc]

Here is what u can do @Daniel Martin,shut the halogen light off ,just use the regular light bulb to give the heat,and monitoring ur cham's reaction on his both eyes,if he start open them then u will know what to replace for sure.

 

[Angelwolf]

My panther chameleon won't open his eyes unless I give him a Shower. I gave him one yesterday and his eyes were open for the rest of the day. I woke up this morning and he couldn't open his eyes. I gave him a Shower and then he was able to get up, see, and walk around his cage. I've already scheduled an appointment for the vet but was wondering if anyone knows what's wrong or if they have gone through this.

I just had the exact same issue with my veiled! After bloodwork, and exams, we couldn't find any thing wrong! And it was not an eye or respiratory infection. He would still feel his way around his cage, but when I realized he wasn't eating and how much weight he had lost, he was already in critical condition! I was given some dog food (Science Diet a/d), and a syringe by my vet, with instructions on force feeding. After a few days, he had a remarkable turn around, but STILL wouldn't open his eyes! Finally, my vet gave me an eye ointment, and showed me how to get it inside the eye, and from that instant he opened them and they have been opened since! I finished the course of treatment and during that time, on 3 different occasions, I removed debris that he was able to work out on his own! A couple of bits of debris from the fake vines in his cage, as well as a fairly large piece of old shed! What this lengthy essay comes down to, is that I nearly lost my boy over dirt in his eyes! So please get him to the vet, and try the eye ointment. All my cham needed was the soothing lubrication of it, and it VERY LITERALLY saved his life!!

 

[Daniel Martin]

In my opinion temps are not the only problem with high wattage halogen, they also are extremely bright. And artificial lighting is bright in very detrimental ways compared to natural rays. Plus the sun may be bright but it is hundreds of millions of miles away. Plus chameleons in the wild aren't exposed to high temps for a long time even if they are basking, the sub is constantly moving so even if they were sitting in a warm sunny spot for a while, it would be in shade soon, and where they usually are found in the wild is in the canopy or lower parts of the canopy, so there is thick foliage for them to always escape into.

Mine can escape into foliage

 

[Daniel Martin]

Whee

Here is what u can do @Daniel Martin,shut the halogen light off ,just use the regular light bulb to give the heat,and monitoring ur cham's reaction on his both eyes,if he start open them then u will know what to replace for sure.

What kind of bulb do I use them? A non- halogen 75 watt heat bulb?

 

[alphakenc]

Whee

What kind of bulb do I use them? A non- halogen 75 watt heat bulb?

Just regular house light bulb....60watt or 75watt whichever u have.use the temperature probe to determine on ur basking spot.
Start rule out everything before u visit ur vet,in the mean time keep him hydrated n fed.

 

[alphakenc]

I just had the exact same issue with my veiled! After bloodwork, and exams, we couldn't find any thing wrong! And it was not an eye or respiratory infection. He would still feel his way around his cage, but when I realized he wasn't eating and how much weight he had lost, he was already in critical condition! I was given some dog food (Science Diet a/d), and a syringe by my vet, with instructions on force feeding. After a few days, he had a remarkable turn around, but STILL wouldn't open his eyes! Finally, my vet gave me an eye ointment, and showed me how to get it inside the eye, and from that instant he opened them and they have been opened since! I finished the course of treatment and during that time, on 3 different occasions, I removed debris that he was able to work out on his own! A couple of bits of debris from the fake vines in his cage, as well as a fairly large piece of old shed! What this lengthy essay comes down to, is that I nearly lost my boy over dirt in his eyes! So please get him to the vet, and try the eye ointment. All my cham needed was the soothing lubrication of it, and it VERY LITERALLY saved his life!!

Great job to share ur story ,Daniel's cham is starting one eye now its in both eyes n one looks a bit sunken on his right eye.
But why "dog food" to force feed on ur cham??

 

[Andee]

Mine can escape into foliage

In my opinion from the posts on the upper part of your cage the amount of foliage that is in the upper part of his cage is not nearly anything like the canopy of a wild forest. It's not even what I would consider a heavily planted enclosure. However I am only seeing a small part of the enclosure. Post pictures of the entire enclosure and the. I would know better.

The picture I posted is of my heavily planted panther enclosure. I honestly still ended up filling a few spots in with a couple silk plant chains after this picture, but this effect was done with two carefully picked out and pruned plants. I need to take a picture of my female jacksons enclosure because hers is heavily planted and is more on the heavier side of it because she is a montane species. Even her basking spot a small branch that allows shade in a tiny part. I am constantly pruning her plants to keep them from growing out of control and also keep them shading the correct spots.

 

[Andee]

Ryker when he got his corneas burned had more problems with one eye than the other and then eventually both eyes were constantly closed. Since his recovery and the reintroduction of his 5.0 linear uvb bulb he basks in it regularly and his basking bulb is a 60 watt incandescent, however I do often still find him closing his eyes. Though I do know he's still awake. I can usually get him to eat on his own though now, and have no need for force feeding any Carnivore Care. He no longer eats from fingers though because during the part of his recovery where he kept his eyes shut. I could not for the life of me get him to drink on his own no matter how much I misted or dripped water on his nose. So I eventually began giving him water orally. I am amazingly comfortable with medicating all types of animals and know how to do so safely with all of them, I never recommending someone doing this unless consulting their vet. But because I was regularly giving him .5 to 1 cc of water split up through out the day, I have kind of been out of his good graces at the moment. However I, unlike most people do not care if I make my chameleon upset or stressed at the time, the fact is, I cause as little stress as possible by doing it as fast as possible. And I can always win his trust back, I have no problem working for his affection, what I did was necessary for his survival at the time, whether he ever trusts me again doesn't matter. As a chameleon I never expect it from them.

 

[Daniel Martin]

Him after another shower. Still blinking a lot. I'm going to give him a break from the lights from
His cage mostt of the day.

 

[Daniel Martin]

One eye is open but another wants to close. I can see a grey part in his eye while it is shut.

 

[Daniel Martin]

Is this a burn? And the two sides of his head. Are those areas supposed to be soft because they are.

 

[Andee]

Looks like it could be a burn, not a horrible one but it could be. It's either that or sort of fungal/bacterial skin infection. But idk for sure.

 

[Andee]

Often it is recommended for humans who have thermal or heat burned corneas to rinse their eyes in the shower for long periods. I did this for Ryker for the first week of his recovery every day, and then two times a week after that. Including the removal of the harsh lighting. The regular showers do help to soothe their eyes I think, I am not honestly sure how much or not. Because Ryker still took a relatively long time to heal compared to what humans supposedly take. But I think this makes sense in a way since chameleons have such complicated eyes anyway.

 

[Daniel Martin]

3rd

Often it is recommended for humans who have thermal or heat burned corneas to rinse their eyes in the shower for long periods. I did this for Ryker for the first week of his recovery every day, and then two times a week after that. Including the removal of the harsh lighting. The regular showers do help to soothe their eyes I think, I am not honestly sure how much or not. Because Ryker still took a relatively long time to heal compared to what humans supposedly take. But I think this makes sense in a way since chameleons have such complicated eyes anyway.

What lights should I use then?

 

[alphakenc]

Is this a burn? And the two sides of his head. Are those areas supposed to be soft because they are.

Those crest are supposed to be soft,as the cham get old ,they get fuller

 

[Andee]

I used a 60 watt incandescent basking light. If you want to get a reptile one. Do not get anything labeled intense. A house light that is 60 watts and incanscent should work fine at the moment. For uvb I had access to outdoors which worked best for me, but since it is getting winter. I would look into a relatively old 5.0 linear uvb light or a 2.0 linear uvb for the moment. As long as he gets some uvb at the moment you can work with it. If you are worried about mbd, if you take him into the vet just to get him checked out, you can often get a small 1 oz bottle of liquid calcium for relatively low cost for just maintenance. If you decide to take him into the vet, I would try seeing if you can get some sort of lubricating drops for his eyes too. Usually antibiotics don't help heal thermal burns in this situation, from what I understand, but the extra lubrication from an ointment that a vet could prescribe could help him heal more quickly if it is a cornea burn. And then I would abuse the good temps of the outdoors when you can. If you have a day coming up in the mid 70-mid 80 range definitely take him out for a few hours. A few hours of natural uvb can easily prevent any possible calcium problems that low artificial uvb could cause. Right now the problem is, you can't get him to eat on regular basis on his own. And if it is the lights that are bothering him any sort of harsh light will cause him to keep them closed. Cornea burns cause severe light sensitivity. So before you actually adjust any of his uvb, though I still definitely suggest thinking about your basking light. if you have an simple 60 watt or 75 watt house bulb around put it in instead of the halogen and turn of the uvb that way he can bask. He will be fine for a couple days. I also suggest turning on the room light if it's not too bright so he doesn't think it's night time. He should show a bit of improvement with two or three days from what I have experienced. It won't be huge. But you will notice more squinting behavior instead of straight closed eyes. Or maybe one open and one closed more often.

 

[Daniel Martin]

I used a 60 watt incandescent basking light. If you want to get a reptile one. Do not get anything labeled intense. A house light that is 60 watts and incanscent should work fine at the moment. For uvb I had access to outdoors which worked best for me, but since it is getting winter. I would look into a relatively old 5.0 linear uvb light or a 2.0 linear uvb for the moment. As long as he gets some uvb at the moment you can work with it. If you are worried about mbd, if you take him into the vet just to get him checked out, you can often get a small 1 oz bottle of liquid calcium for relatively low cost for just maintenance. If you decide to take him into the vet, I would try seeing if you can get some sort of lubricating drops for his eyes too. Usually antibiotics don't help heal thermal burns in this situation, from what I understand, but the extra lubrication from an ointment that a vet could prescribe could help him heal more quickly if it is a cornea burn. And then Iuld abuse the good temps of the outdoors when you can. If you have a day coming up in the mid 70-mid 80 range definitely take him out for a few hours. A few hours of natural uvb can easily prevent any possible calcium problems that low artificial uvb could cause. Right now the problem is, you can't get him to eat on regular basis on his own. And if it is the lights that are bothering him any sort of harsh light will cause him to keep them closed. Cornea burns cause severe light sensitivity. So before you actually adjust any of his uvb, though I still definitely suggest thinking about your basking light. if you have an simple 60 watt or 75 watt house bulb around put it in instead of the halogen and turn of the uvb that way he can bask. He will be fine for a couple days. I also suggest turning on the room light if it's not too bright so he doesn't think it's night time. He should show a bit of improvement with two or three days from what I have experienced. It won't be huge. But you will notice more squinting behavior instead of straight closed eyes. Or maybe one open and one closed more often.

I used a 60 watt incandescent basking light. If you want to get a reptile one. Do not get anything labeled intense. A house light that is 60 watts and incanscent should work fine at the moment. For uvb I had access to outdoors which worked best for me, but since it is getting winter. I would look into a relatively old 5.0 linear uvb light or a 2.0 linear uvb for the moment. As long as he gets some uvb at the moment you can work with it. If you are worried about mbd, if you take him into the vet just to get him checked out, you can often get a small 1 oz bottle of liquid calcium for relatively low cost for just maintenance. If you decide to take him into the vet, I would try seeing if you can get some sort of lubricating drops for his eyes too. Usually antibiotics don't help heal thermal burns in this situation, from what I understand, but the extra lubrication from an ointment that a vet could prescribe could help him heal more quickly if it is a cornea burn. And then I would abuse the good temps of the outdoors when you can. If you have a day coming up in the mid 70-mid 80 range definitely take him out for a few hours. A few hours of natural uvb can easily prevent any possible calcium problems that low artificial uvb could cause. Right now the problem is, you can't get him to eat on regular basis on his own. And if it is the lights that are bothering him any sort of harsh light will cause him to keep them closed. Cornea burns cause severe light sensitivity. So before you actually adjust any of his uvb, though I still definitely suggest thinking about your basking light. if you have an simple 60 watt or 75 watt house bulb around put it in instead of the halogen and turn of the uvb that way he can bask. He will be fine for a couple days. I also suggest turning on the room light if it's not too bright so he doesn't think it's night time. He should show a bit of improvement with two or three days from what I have experienced. It won't be huge. But you will notice more squinting behavior instead of straight closed eyes. Or maybe one open and one closed more often.

Thank you so much. What if I have the 10.0 UVB on for every other day. Keep in mind it is a foot away from the highest branch

 

[Andee]

If you use the 10.0 uvb I would maybe buy another piece of screening at a hardware store (make sure it has relatively large holes, about 1/2 inch or 1 inch openings) lay it underneath it to help block out a little extra but of the uvb rays. (Simple but usually pretty easy fix) in the beginning days I would only do a few hours of uvb, so if you are able to turn it off at like three or four hours. You can even buy an extra timer for just that light.

 

[Daniel Martin]

If you use the 10.0 uvb I would maybe buy another piece of screening at a hardware store (make sure it has relatively large holes, about 1/2 inch or 1 inch openings) lay it underneath it to help block out a little extra but of the uvb rays. (Simple but usually pretty easy fix) in the beginning days I would only do a few hours of uvb, so if you are able to turn it off at like three or four hours. You can even buy an extra timer for just that light.

Ok thank you very much

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

Beatiful boy! Sure hope he gets over this quickly! Also look at the info in the thread that I posted the link to below.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...nced-keepers-please-share-your-wisdom.152159/

Hope this helps!