Cham closing eyes during the day

Chika211

New Member
Hello, I’ve gone through some of the post here and I am curious if anyone can add a little insight. I’m currently trying to book a vet visit for my Chameleon. He is about 10 months old. Has been defecating every 2 to 3 days. He seem to be fairly healthy up until about two days I noticed he was closing his eyes during the day. Initially I thought it was just from the fogger. Because his face was in the fog. But now I’ve noticed that he will rest and close one eye only or both eyes together. I also noticed yesterday and today that he was rubbing the sides of his face when n the branches. Similar to when he’s trying to shed. His last shed was on Christmas day December 25, 2023. So he is definitely not shedding or getting close to shedding.

I live in California, and humidity has been getting low lately. But for the most part it stays at least above 40% in his cage. Occasional dip to upper 30’s from time to time, but I do my best to bring it up.

Any insight? I am hoping this isn’t a parasite situation. The banded crickets that I got shipped to me did not look like they were in good condition at all.

I also want to mention that I did get some branches from a reptile store a couple weeks ago that I added to his cage. Birch branches. I did wash them, but I didn’t bake or do anything else. Also hoping that those were not contaminated.
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I have multiple gauges within his cage. I had a higher basking perch that was about 6 inches from a T5HO, I just took that down thinking that maybe she was too close to his basking light. Mind you he’s been in this set up for about four months so I’m not entirely sure it’s that.

About two months ago he stopped eating or having any interest in crickets. He still had some appetite for Dubia roaches up until about 3 to 4 weeks ago. So he’s mainly been on a diet of horn worms and silk worms. He loves them especially the silkworms.

I gave him a multivitamin and calcium supplements on different days at least once a week. There may have been a week or two where he didn’t get any supplements because I was out of town and it was too much to ask for my Chameleon sitter.

I fog him in the morning for about an hour, and then I fog him in the evening about an hour before he goes to sleep. I have a dripper that I turn on every other day for him sometimes more depending. And I hand missed him twice a day for about two minutes.

The only things that I’ve changed recently was that I purchased some banded crickets via the mail, thinking that maybe she might want to try out the crickets again and since these are typically supposed to be quieter and from a breeder versus Petco or Petsmart I thought I’d give it another try. He had no interest in them at all. I did leave the bandage crickets in a container and his cage for about four days with some carrots and water.

In the meantime I’ve been feeding him horn worms and silkworms because that’s all he seems to care about right now.
 

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Sorry trying to do this quickly and I did talk to text so I apologize for any typos. Also the pictures seem to get posted randomly throughout my thread. The last photo of him with more color was when I open the cage and he opened his eyes and got fired up. He did come out of his cage to me earlier today. All in all he is not acting like himself though. And I do not like that he’s closing his eyes. Just noticed this yesterday and today it seems to be progressing worse.

I have his lighting and heating on a timer, comes on around 7 AM and off at 7:30 PM
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Hi and welcome. :) I have some questions. Can you post pics of the supplements you’ve been using and what is the frequency for each one? What is the color of his urates? What are his basking temps and night time temps?
 
Hi and welcome. :) I have some questions. Can you post pics of the supplements you’ve been using and what is the frequency for each one? What is the color of his urates? What are his basking temps and night time temps?
Yes Urates seem to be great. The picture I attached was from January 16. TODAY he came out of his cage and crawled around on me for a little and then went back in his cage and then shortly after had another bowel movement. And it looked great, unfortunately I didn’t take a picture. I cleaned it very quickly since he is in my office and the smell is too rancid for me to handle.
With regards to the supplements, I have attached the pictures of what I have been giving him. I typically give him calcium more often than the multivitamin. I was out of town for several days here and there the past month. I wasn’t able to provide him the supplements, because I didn’t wanna complicate things for the person who was watching him for me. Calcium about once to twice a week, multivitamin about once a week. Unfortunately, I don’t write down the schedule I just try to do my best to remember when feeding throughout the week. I know I should be better about taking note of his supplement schedule…

He is still eating everyday. Just doesn’t seem to have interest in crickets anymore or Dubia roaches. She only wants the juicy silk worms and horn worms. She refuses to cup feed, so this makes it very hard for me to give him a variety of food. Trust me I’ve tried and I do not want to starve him.
 

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I have pictures of what is temperatures are in his cage. I have different positioned gauges. One is usually around 79 to 83 with humidity around 40-50%

Everything is shut off at night, so his temperatures are in the upper 60 to low 70s.
 
I took a video of him and all of the cage temperature and humidity gauge’s. unfortunately this site doesn’t allow me to post a video. If somebody has a suggestion on where I can post it and link it here, I’d be happy to do so if that helps.
 
Yes Urates seem to be great. The picture I attached was from January 16. TODAY he came out of his cage and crawled around on me for a little and then went back in his cage and then shortly after had another bowel movement. And it looked great, unfortunately I didn’t take a picture. I cleaned it very quickly since he is in my office and the smell is too rancid for me to handle.
With regards to the supplements, I have attached the pictures of what I have been giving him. I typically give him calcium more often than the multivitamin. I was out of town for several days here and there the past month. I wasn’t able to provide him the supplements, because I didn’t wanna complicate things for the person who was watching him for me. Calcium about once to twice a week, multivitamin about once a week. Unfortunately, I don’t write down the schedule I just try to do my best to remember when feeding throughout the week. I know I should be better about taking note of his supplement schedule…

He is still eating everyday. Just doesn’t seem to have interest in crickets anymore or Dubia roaches. She only wants the juicy silk worms and horn worms. She refuses to cup feed, so this makes it very hard for me to give him a variety of food. Trust me I’ve tried and I do not want to starve him.
Am I correct that you are using a linear T5 uvb light? What is the strength of your bulb?
The problem that I see is in your supplements. He is getting too much vitamin D3 and multivitamins. The D3 is fat soluble and can build up in the body to dangerous and even toxic levels. We often tend to thin of vitamins as harmless, but they are capable of so much. I’m going to give you the easiest supplementation regimen to follow. You need to get a phosphorus free calcium without D3 and Repashy Calcium Plus LoD. You will lightly dust at every feeding with the plain calcium except for one feeding every other week (or twice a month) in which you’ll use the Repashy Calcium Plus LoD. This is super easy to remember. The Repashy calcium plus LoD is a D3 and multivitamin combo…not to be confused for the Repashy calcium plus. Repashy also has Supercal NoD, which is super fine and doesn’t clump like many others do. Here’s links for each.
https://www.amazon.com/Repashy-Supe...plies&sprefix=Repashy+superca,pets,135&sr=1-1
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DLJRMV...amp=&crid=2PDNKIZJBDTQ7&amp=&sprefix=repashy+
Right now, stop all supplements and increase hydration. When you get the new supplements, start using the Supercal only for about a month and then start using the LoD. This will help get the excess D3 out of your guy’s system along with the excess multivitamins.
For hydration, you do not want to be fogging during the day or when temps are above 68. It greatly increases risk for respiratory infection. A better way is to mist or spray twice a day (before lights go on and off) for at least two minutes. If you are having problems with maintaining humidity, adding more plants will help. You can also cover the back and two sides with something like a shower curtain.
I’d also like to suggest adding many more branches and vines, especially horizontal ones. It is a challenge to hang things on screen, but there are solutions. Dragon Ledges are amazing! https://dragonstrand.com/dragon-ledges/ I’ve been using plastic garden trellis in my most recent set ups and that works pretty good too. Whatever way you do it, make sure that the weight is attached to/being supported by the frame. This is another option for hanging plants. https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/hanging-flower-pots-in-photos.191946/ If you look thru all of the posts, you’ll see how everyone has their enclosures set up and get some ideas.
If you haven’t yet found them, here’s some great links on husbandry standards and so much more. https://chameleonacademy.com/chameleon-husbandry-program-getting-started-with-chameleons/ https://www.neptunethechameleon.com/ Feel free to ask as many questions as you need and share your handsome guy with us, especially how he’s doing with the changes made.
To link video, it first needs to be uploaded to something like YouTube or Instagram. Then you share the link
 
You said his poop smelled "too rancid to handle" - are his poops really stinky? If so, that's often signs of parasites. Chameleon poop shouldn't really even have a smell unless it's super new and you're pretty close to it. If you're smelling horribly bad poops then that's not normal either. Has he gotten a fecal done for parasites?
 
You said his poop smelled "too rancid to handle" - are his poops really stinky? If so, that's often signs of parasites. Chameleon poop shouldn't really even have a smell unless it's super new and you're pretty close to it. If you're smelling horribly bad poops then that's not normal either. Has he gotten a fecal done for parasites?
I should correct myself, when I got him from the breeder his fecal was extremely smelly. I have actually noticed that I don’t smell it much these days. But I also for some reason randomly catch him when he’s in the process of pooping so I pick it up very quickly. I noticed it didn’t smell as bad so I thought maybe it was me and I was just getting nose blind lol. When I first got him his urate the first time was half white and half orange/pink-ish. Since then it’s been pretty much just white. The picture that I posted, I hope you can see, shows how his last few droppings have looked. Since I have also noticed him while he’s mid process of doing his business, I’ve noticed yellowy clear fluid coming out as well. I don’t know if that’s normal. I’ve had a Chameleon before and he lived for 5 1/2 years, I never had a problem like this before. Sorry I’m frustrated and sad.

I have an appointment to see an exotic veterinarian this Thursday. That was the soonest they could get me in. I’ll be taking time off of work to get him in and checked out to figure out what is going on. As I type this he is still lounging on his perch with his eyes closed. It breaks my heart.
 
I should correct myself, when I got him from the breeder his fecal was extremely smelly. I have actually noticed that I don’t smell it much these days. But I also for some reason randomly catch him when he’s in the process of pooping so I pick it up very quickly. I noticed it didn’t smell as bad so I thought maybe it was me and I was just getting nose blind lol. When I first got him his urate the first time was half white and half orange/pink-ish. Since then it’s been pretty much just white. The picture that I posted, I hope you can see, shows how his last few droppings have looked. Since I have also noticed him while he’s mid process of doing his business, I’ve noticed yellowy clear fluid coming out as well. I don’t know if that’s normal. I’ve had a Chameleon before and he lived for 5 1/2 years, I never had a problem like this before. Sorry I’m frustrated and sad.

I have an appointment to see an exotic veterinarian this Thursday. That was the soonest they could get me in. I’ll be taking time off of work to get him in and checked out to figure out what is going on. As I type this he is still lounging on his perch with his eyes closed. It breaks my heart.
If you're taking him to the vet on Thursday, bring a fresh fecal sample that's no more than 24 hours old if you can. Get one and put it in a baggie and put it in the fridge and bring it with you to the appointment. A fecal float will hopefully be able to tell you if he has parasites/eliminate that possibility for why he's feeling bad. Those usually aren't pricey and are VERY worth doing.

Otherwise, pay close attention to what Miss Skittles has told you - she's very knowledgeable and it does sound like supplements may have been an issue. I'll caution you that depending on the vet's experience with chameleons specifically, they'll maybe WANT to do a vitamins injection - please decline that. If it is a supplement issue, he already has too much.

My heart goes out to you and your little guy! I hope you can find what's ailing him and get him on the mend. <3
 
I have an appointment to see an exotic veterinarian this Thursday. That was the soonest they could get me in. I’ll be taking time off of work to get him in and checked out to figure out what is going on. As I type this he is still lounging on his perch with his eyes closed. It breaks my heart.
Do make sure that your vet understands about the supplements that you’ve been giving. All too often some vets think everything is solved by giving a vitamin A or other vitamin injection. Since all he’s been eating is silkies and hornworms, I think it’s probably pretty normal to have excess fluid coming out. Those are both juicy and hydrating feeders. Actually I’m surprised he hasn’t had any diarrhea from them. Do take the fresh fecal for testing as @CalamityCrow spoke of. I’m sorry that your beautiful guy isn’t feeling well and my heart goes out to you. Do keep us updated on what the vet says, any changes etc. 💗
 
Do make sure that your vet understands about the supplements that you’ve been giving. All too often some vets think everything is solved by giving a vitamin A or other vitamin injection. Since all he’s been eating is silkies and hornworms, I think it’s probably pretty normal to have excess fluid coming out. Those are both juicy and hydrating feeders. Actually I’m surprised he hasn’t had any diarrhea from them. Do take the fresh fecal for testing as @CalamityCrow spoke of. I’m sorry that your beautiful guy isn’t feeling well and my heart goes out to you. Do keep us updated on what the vet says, any changes etc. 💗
Thank you. I will see what they say. I’m super devastated because I am trying to do everything right for him. And I’ve been stressing about the fact that he won’t eat anything else lately except for worms. Super stubborn guy.

I’m hoping it’s an easy fix. Unfortunately I already threw away his fecal production. So perhaps he’ll have another one before I go to the vet otherwise I’ll have to make a second trip to deliver it for further testing.
 
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