Chameleon with Closed eyes

[chrtheriault]

Hey everyone I am new to this group as a poster, I read a lot of posts. I am here because I have a 2 year old Veiled Chameleon and he has been keeping his eyes closed a lot lately. A while back he would do this with one eye so we took him to the vet and she gave me medication. Expensive and didn't offer much assistance. Fast forward to now. He is doing it again but with both eyes. We still use that medication and warm water and flush out his eyes. He did open them for 2 days but they are now closed again. We use 2 spiral UVB bulbs, Reptisun 5.0. This was the first time we used this brand, before this it was ExoTerra. Never had this much trouble with them bulbs. My question is, can it be the make, maybe he has 0 tolerance with these as opposed to the others that he is used to. Also I have a canopy by ExoTerra and it holds 2 spiral bulbs. Should I be using both. I have a 75 watt basking red bulb because we are in Canada and it gets cold in my place. He has a waterfall and I mist twice a day. His enclosure is a 18x18x24 ExoTerra Small Tall Terrarium glass. Any assistance would be great here. I am worried about the little guy. I was going to take him back to the vet but after last time she didn't offer much assistance. Thank you everyone.

 

[chrtheriault]

here is the little guy

 

[Theveiled]

Closed eyes are usually not good. I would definitely take him to the vet and MAKE SURE to ask as many question as you need to. After all you are paying them to make your chameleon better.

 

[Mawtyplant]

he sleeping during the day? if yes.. i agree its not a good thing.. what was the first diagnostic? what is the name of the medication and where have you found this clinic?

 

[chrtheriault]

he does sleep during the day but he is also still active and roams around his terrarium like he always does. The medication that he has is Ciloxan. The vet did say that if I had to take him back for the same issue she may have to give him a shot of vitamin a. that is a hard pill to swallow, they charge so much for assistance with no guarantee it is going to work. it worked shortly last time when they have me the meds but charged me quite the amount.

 

[urawrath]

It has been reported in the past but they said they fixed that the spiral bulbs can cause eye issues. If you try and change to a linear tube bulb it may help him.

 

[chrtheriault]

Do you think that maybe the ExoTerra ones are better than the Reptisun ones. He never started closing both eyes until I switched the bulbs. Both were spiral. Might be a different issue but just ironic that it got worse when I switched bulbs.

 

[Kboz1991]

Yea they say the CFL bulbs cause eye problems they throw off uvb in weird direction witch is sometimes way to intense I would get a linier florescent light myself. Also I think the 18x18x24 is to small a full size male should be in a 24x24x48.but if your going to use CFL the 2 is way too much for a small enclosure like that. But I would take him to a vet if your guy is sleeping during the day

 

[Kboz1991]

Also I forgot the waterfalls aren't a good idea unless you clean them everyday because the build up bacteria just my opinion

 

[chrtheriault]

It is hard to tell if he is sleeping all of the time or not because his eyes are closed. We rinse them out every night so they don't get dried out so I don't know why he won't keep them open. A couple of weeks ago when we cleared them out he kept them open and was eating good, tongue was accurate and all but then he closed them again which brings us to today. It almost seems like he is doing it on purpose. Also when he had them open he was his regular pissed off self hissing at us, now that they are closed no emotion or hatred towards us.

 

[kinyonga]

When he was shutting them the first time, what UVB lights were you using?
Did he just start shutting them the second time when you got the Repti-sun 5.0 coiled lights?
Has the red light been on at night? The UVB?
Can you post a photo of the cage please?

I personally never use more than one UVB light on my cages and I never use the coiled type.

What SPECIFICALLY do you supplement with and how often with each? What SPECIFICALLY do you feed/gutload the insects with?

 

[Veild Cham Owner]

Please please PLEASE take him to a vet as soon as possible. My 5 month old cham died this morning because of pneumonia and all he did was close his eyes. That ment that he was weak and all he wanted to do was sleep so PLEASE bring him in.

 

[chrtheriault]

He started closing his eyes with the ExoTerra but it was the one eye that I was referring to. I took him to the vet for that. he started closing both eyes when I switched the bulbs. He seems fairly active and still moves around his terrarium but the closed eyes are bothering me. What signs did the little guy have Veild Cham Owner. I am sorry to hear about that.

 

[chrtheriault]

I took out one of the UVB bulbs last night hoping that it would help him. I turn everything off at night. This started happening when I was using a 50 watt heat lamp but thinking that it might of been too cold for him I did upgrade to a 75 watt bulb.

 

[Veild Cham Owner]

Well the first major sign he had was he just all of a sudden stooped eating and soon after that he started to look like he was having trouble with breathing then 4 days ago we brought him to the vet then we found out he had pneumonia and ever since then he always had his yes closed and was sleeping

 

[kinyonga]

I would try turning off the UVB lights for a day or two to see if it makes a difference.

 

[chrtheriault]

Kinyonga I actually did try that for 2 days, a lady at the pet store said to try it because the uvb bugs their eyes. It didn't make a difference. I am going to go buy some ExoTerra UVBs when the mrs gets home with the car in hopes that it will help him. I was hoping to avoid the vet because they gauge you and I don't really think the last time I took him she was of much assistance but I may have to.

 

[Kboz1991]

Is it only me or does he look like godzilla in Tokyo. That cage is tiny. And their is no sticks in there. GET A BIGGER CAGE

 

[chrtheriault]

Is it only me or does he look like godzilla in Tokyo. That cage is tiny. And their is no sticks in there. GET A BIGGER CAGE

The weird part about it was I was thinking the same thing that he looks huge in there in the picture but in person I don't find he looks that big in there. There is a lot of room still. I was planning on trying to find an old curio cabinet and make it into a terrarium for him though because I think he will be a lot happier but I've been selective. Maybe I shouldn't be so picky about one.

 

[Kboz1991]

Yeah because they need room to roam should be a minimum of 2'x2'x4'