Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - BB Ambilobe, Female, 5months. I've had it for 4 days now.
Handling - I've been letting her stay in her cage, hoping it'll be better for her recovery. However, i handle her once a day to examine her eye.
Feeding - I feed her 5 crickets in the morning and 5 mid-day. I gutload crickets with Carrots, romaine lettuce, apples, cucumbers, and oatmeal
Supplements -
I powder crickets with Rep-Cal, no phosphorus, no D3.
Watering - I have a dripper set up with filtered tap water. I also spray down the cage three times a day and check humidity every 2 hours to make sure it's between 50-60%. I change out the dripper with new water between sprayings so that she is constantly supplied with water throughout the day to drink.
Fecal Description - It is usual brown with white. Yesterday i noticed it was a little more watery than usual though, however today her dropping was normal.
History - She was fine the first day when i got her, however i did notice on the car-ride home (hour drive) in one instance she closed her left eye which struck me as odd, and kept it closed for about 30 seconds to a minute. Then everything was fine.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - She is in a 30x18x30 inch Fresh Air Screen Habitat made by Zilla. It is a black wire mess screen cage with aluminum frame.
Lighting - I have a combination of ZooMed Heat repti basking spot lamp, 100 watts (i'm thinking of dropping that down to 75watts) and a ReptiSun UVB compact florescent bulb, 100 watts (again, thinking of dropping that down to 75). I have dimmers on both to regulate lighting and heat and reinact what would happen in nature, with a steady drop of light and temperature "as the sun goes down"
Temperature - The floor is around 70 with his basking spot around 85. At night the temperature is between 65-70. Both the temperature and humidity are recorded by All Living Things analog gauges, however i also have Fluker's all new digital display Thermo-Hydrometer that i'm trying out, so there are two separate displays recording temp and humidity
Humidity - The Humidity levels are between 50-60%. I spray the cage regularly and water the plants which help maintain the humidity. For methods of recording, see "Temperature" above ^^^^
Plants - She has a Schefflera plant as well as a small Hybiscus plant in her cage with an assortment of collected branches from the yard.
Placement - Her cage is against a wall at the far end of the room, nowhere near traffic. Her cage sits on a platform my grandfather and i built, standing roughly 4ft tall, leaving the top of the cage standing 78 inches off the floor
Location - I am located in New Jersey, on the East Coast of the United States
Current Problem - I noticed that the first day (friday) as i was driving home with her, i saw her close her left eye for 30 seconds to a minute and held it closed, but then opened it and everything was fine. Recently i've noticed she'll close her left eye and random times and only look out her right, but then other times i'll look at her and she'll be fine.
Then on monday, i took her out of her cage and held her outside in the sun because it was a beautiful day out and i noticed she puffed up and darkened, no doubt to bask in the natural rays of the sun, but then she closed both of her eyes and curled up her tail, ramaining in that state!
This struck me as bazar because i've never had a chameleon close even one of their eyes during the day, let alone both! also when she curled her tail, it was as though she was sleeping! So then i took her back inside and she stayed perched on my finger with both of her eyes shut and this worried me, but then when i was walking inside to her cage, she opened her eyes and became active again, turning her normal orange color and walking around.
Then today, i noticed her sitting in her cage and her left eye was closed again! so i took her out to observe it and see no film or sign of infection, but then she blinked hard a few times and her eye began to bulge! after about a minute, it returned to its normal size again until she blinked a few hard times again and the same repeated, it bulged, then returned.
I placed her back in her cage, and placed crickets in for her to eat. She ate 4 crickets and i did not see her drink, then just sat there. Then she closed both her eyes, at 6:30 which seems too early! However, her tail was not curled so i was unsure if she was asleep.
Then around 8:00pm, i noticed she had moved to another spot in her cage, this time both eyes closed and tail curled up and i concluded she appeared to be sleeping.
Why is she closing her eyes!? what can be wrong with her?
