please help. My veiled Athena has an eye infection. She has seen the vet and we are giving her eye ointment antibiotics. She can not see very well to hunt. The eye infection is clearing up but the ointment leaves her eyes blurry. She acts like she can't see, the way she maneuvers herself around the cage she doesn't seem to be able to see her vines. She drinks, I make sure she drinks. I've tried feeding her with a syringe but she clamps her jaw down. I squeeze food into her lip hoping she is getting some food at least...any advice would be greatly appreciated. He hip bones are now visible and I'm worried....
Veiled female eye infection, not eating
- Thread starter Dbernardo
- Start date
A picture of Athena. I've been giving her "showers" to get high humidity hoping that would help her eyes. I need help with feeding her. I'm able to get her to drink and I've been trying to hand feed her watered down baby food with a syringe. I'm trying to get her some sort of nutrition. It's hard though and I'm worried about her. She can't see to hunt due to her eye infection. She has seen the vet. Vet has gone though the lighting, temp, humidity, diet, it all checks out. I just need advice on feeding her please.
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jajeanpierre
Chameleon Enthusiast
You can put food directly in her mouth when you medicate her. Whenever I medicate one of mine (and I've had to a lot for parasites in wild caughts) I will stuff a couple of silkworms in their mouth. I like silkworms because they are quite big and don't escape. Ferritsinmyshoes, a vet, suggested stunning crickets. By stunning, if I remember correctly, she meant to remove/crush their heads, basically killing them right before you force fed them. She looks a little dehydrated, which might be why you are seeing her hips. When they are dehydrated, they look skinnier and you really notice it along their back and the base of the tail. Try putting her in a shower a couple of times a day for a good 20 minutes. Even if she can't see to drink, she will open her mouth and lap up the mist/tiny droplets. After her shower, she should have cleaned the ointment out of her eyes, so she should be able to see until you put ointment back in unless there is some damage to the cornea (which will heal).
Yes the infection is in both eyes
I do put her in the shower and she seems to enjoy the water and humidity. She does drink the droplets. Her eye is visible after the shower, but she acts like she can't see. I will try stunning the cricket to see if that works. I tried feeding her an alive cricket and when it's leg touched her lips she backed away... Maybe if it doesn't grab her she will be able to eat it.
Andee
Chameleon Enthusiast
If you have a petco near you, you could try and see if they have a liquid caloric supplement called Reptaboost, it would be better for her than the baby food because it is specially made for insectivores. Either that or order online on amazon, Oxbow Carnivore Critical Care which would be even better! Have it shipped as quickly as possible and that will get way more calories that are good for her in her system. I have had a lot of luck with both Liquid Diets when I had chameleons who couldn't eat by themselves. If you are doing baby food, do only fruit or veggie ones. Don't do the meat ones. But if you get the liquid diets you can give them both to her and keep her diet closer to normal if she was eating by herself. It's what I did with my rescue female veiled when she had a Vit A deficiency that was affecting her eyes.
Ok. So, I got the reptiboost. I gave her a shower and dropped drops of reptiboost into her mouth when she was drinking the water droplets. She doesn't rub her eyes at all. The humidity seems to help her eyes open better but she still doesn't seem to be able to see. I'll keep up the showers and feelings several times a day until hopefully she can see and eat again on her own. At least I now feel like she's getting something that will help her. Thank you
She is doing better. The showers, reptiboost, and eye ointment has helped. Her color is looking better, she's still of course thin and she still can't see. Will she eventually get her sight back with the vitamins and ointment? Do you think the blindness could be perminant? I bought a new basking light and a brand new UVB 5.0 bulb also. How often are we supposed to change the UVB bulb?
Andee
Chameleon Enthusiast
You are supposed to change UVB bulbs every 6 months usually. Her sight could return, it could not. She may need to get her eyes flushed my a vet and really looked at to see what might be the issue, to see if there is a scratch on the cornea or something. My vet realized with my girl that her lack of D3 caused her third eye lid to be unable to retract all the way. I would never of noticed it by myself, so with a couple flushings and some regular liquid calcium she came back around. I don't know if your vet will be able to do anything for you girl but it's worth asking?
