Young Jackson eye problem

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Jacksonii jacksonii male. Between 4-5 months, not 100% sure. Had him 3 months now.

Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Once a week to move him when i clean out his cage. occassionally twice a week.

Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? He gets FF and pinheads every morning. I have also tried dubia and woodlice to no avail. I am going to try him on some freshlyy moulted mini mealworms at the weekend. I see him eat most morning as soon as lights come on. Gutloaded with fresh veg and repashy gutloading foods.

Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? I use zoomed calcium, calcium with D3 and reptivite without d3. I have been using calcium once a week and reptivita and calcium with d3 about once a month

Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? Misting five times a day for two minutes each time. He also has a dripper running all day when the lights are on.

Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Goes to the toilet most days. looks healthy. Sometimes a slight orange tinge but mostly white.History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Exo terra flexarium 38 gallon

Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Using arcadia T5 lighting. Using the 12% but this bulb has been used for about a year and the bulb is about 6 inches from the top of the cage. 40 watt heatbulb for heating

Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Basking spot is at most 81f. General cool end temp around 60-65f and dops at night to about 60F

Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Measuring humidity with a digital reader. measures about 60-70 througout the day. goes up when misted.

Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? Using a small live plam and umbrella plant. also using some fake plantsPlacement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? In my bedroom, low traffic area with my other reptiles.

Location - The UK

Problem- He was closing one eye yesterday so I upped misting to about 5 minutes each time in the hope to remove anything from the eye. Today he is closing both eyes quite a lot. I have misted him again in the hope to remove anything from the eye. I am going to dust with a multivit tomorrow for vit A. he is so small though any local vert wouldnt even be able to look in the eye for the problem - they couldnt even with my male veiled! I may change my uv light too but there have been no reported problems with these and it isnt very high in uv as it has been used for nearly its full life cycle. Is there anything I can do?

Any suggestions?

My veiled is having similar problems I flushed his eye with saline only solution and have noticed improvement. however a vet is out of the question seeing as there are very few vets in Wisconsin that know about reptiles and the one vet we did bring him to was a new lady vet and she was skittish to even touch my cham. So yeah flushed it myself but hes still holding it closed for periods of time while the other one is open. idk it hasn't seemed to affect him too much.

First let me say you're wise to be asking questions before he gets worse.
Probably just about everyone here has made at least one mistake in caring for their cham, so don't beat yourself up about anything, just change what needs to be changed and get him to a reptile competent vet if he hasn't noticably improved in a day or two or seems to be rapidly declining before then.

bradley said:

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Jacksonii jacksonii male. Between 4-5 months, not 100% sure. Had him 3 months now.

Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Once a week to move him when i clean out his cage. occassionally twice a week.

Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? He gets FF and pinheads every morning. I have also tried dubia and woodlice to no avail. I am going to try him on some freshlyy moulted mini mealworms at the weekend. I see him eat most morning as soon as lights come on. Gutloaded with fresh veg and repashy gutloading foods.

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I'm a bit surprised that at 5 months of age, he's still small enough to eat fruit flies. My Jackson's started out older, so that might be closer to normal than I think.
Other good feeders include small silkworms, small phoenix worms aka calciworms (black soldier fly larvae), baby superworms and baby hornworms (commercially bred only--ones that have eaten tomato plants are poisonous to chams).

bradley said:

Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? I use zoomed calcium, calcium with D3 and reptivite without d3. I have been using calcium once a week and reptivita and calcium with d3 about once a month

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He needs calcium without D3 more frequently, such as every other feeding.

bradley said:

Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? Misting five times a day for two minutes each time. He also has a dripper running all day when the lights are on.

Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? Goes to the toilet most days. looks healthy. Sometimes a slight orange tinge but mostly white.History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions? Exo terra flexarium 38 gallon

Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? Using arcadia T5 lighting. Using the 12% but this bulb has been used for about a year and the bulb is about 6 inches from the top of the cage. 40 watt heatbulb for heating

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You are very likely being "penny wise and pound foolish" with the lighting.
Without a UV meter there is no telling how much UVB that bulb is putting out--maybe too much, maybe too little.
Hopefully, his basking and UV lights are on for 11-12 hours daily.

bradley said:

Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? Basking spot is at most 81f. General cool end temp around 60-65f and dops at night to about 60F

Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? Measuring humidity with a digital reader. measures about 60-70 througout the day. goes up when misted.

Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? Using a small live plam and umbrella plant. also using some fake plantsPlacement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor? In my bedroom, low traffic area with my other reptiles.

Location - The UK

Problem- He was closing one eye yesterday so I upped misting to about 5 minutes each time in the hope to remove anything from the eye. Today he is closing both eyes quite a lot. I have misted him again in the hope to remove anything from the eye. I am going to dust with a multivit tomorrow for vit A. he is so small though any local vert wouldnt even be able to look in the eye for the problem - they couldnt even with my male veiled! I may change my uv light too but there have been no reported problems with these and it isnt very high in uv as it has been used for nearly its full life cycle. Is there anything I can do?

Click to expand...

Sounds like you need a new vet.
Have a look here:
http://www.arav.org/find-a-vet/#UnitedKingdom
And here:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/veterinarian-resources-67/

Accurate diagnoses via internet really is not possible but here are known and suspected causes of eye troubles and more information than you can stand, perhaps.....

His eye troubles:
1) may or may not be limited to his eyes--often they are not limited to the eyes but are actually symptoms of a sinus/respiratory infection which won't clear up without antibiotics
2)The UV bulb might or might not be causing the problem--stopping using it immediately and getting the proper bulb is the best remedy there
3) MBD can indirectly cause eye issues by affecting general health and vitamin A deficiency is known to cause eye issues but guessing which one caused the problem--if either one has---and treating it yourself may end up doing more harm than good if you're not careful. Vitamin A overdosage causes liver/kidney damage.
Be aware that Jackson's and other montane chameleons are more sensitive to vitamin overdoses than other chams.

More eye issue specifics here:
Eye issues are fairly common cham troubles and can be caused by any of several things:
1) Infection, which can be due to injury, environmental issues, nutritional deficiencies or parasite problems
2) Malnutrition which can be caused by failing to gutload feeders or failure to feed a varied diet, improper supplementation, parasites or simply a higher need for a particular nutrient in an individual chameleon
3) Irritation--sometimes a cham's eye is irritated by something in their environment, such as too little humidity, sap from a plant or a bit of something getting into the eye (shed skin, soil particle, etc.)

The first 2 problems are best treated by a vet.
It is important is to carefully review your care, whenever a health issue arises, as even infections are often caused by environmental issues.

For the third problem, gentle, repeated flushing of a cham's eye with a sterile saline solution designed for use in eyes will typically clear things up, but if there isn't substantial improvement within a day or two, it's time to see a vet.
FWIW, I've used this one http://www.bausch.com/en/Our-Product...es-Plus-Saline
It goes without saying that if there is something in your cham's environment that caused the irritation, it should be remedied.

Vitamin A treatment at home can easily do more harm than good because too much vitamin A damages the liver/kidneys, as well as doing other undesirable things.
The safest way for a corrective dose of vitamin A to be administered is by an experienced reptile vet--who will inject a measured dose of vitamin A.

The danger of simply trying this or that is possibly fixing the problem only accidentally and temporarily--or in the worst instance, delaying necessary vet treatment until permanent damage is done.

Here are 3 more posts about eye troubles and other health issues:
http://seavs.com/lizards/chameleons.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs...ns-rev1-1.html
Eye problem...

cbassabin said:

My veiled is having similar problems I flushed his eye with saline only solution and have noticed improvement. however a vet is out of the question seeing as there are very few vets in Wisconsin that know about reptiles and the one vet we did bring him to was a new lady vet and she was skittish to even touch my cham. So yeah flushed it myself but hes still holding it closed for periods of time while the other one is open. idk it hasn't seemed to affect him too much.

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Not to be a wise guy but if you close one of your eyes and then walk around and try to reach out and touch things, I think you'll soon realize just how important seeing with both eyes is to people--nevermind how important it is to a creature who grabs food with its tongue.

Please read my reply to the OP for much more information about eye problems and the various causes.
If the sterile saline rinse works, that's great but if not, then you need a decent vet to prescribe an effective treatment.
You probably need to do the rinsing several times each day, rather than once a day to possibly be effective.

Can't blame you for not taking your cham to a vet who seems to find reptiles "icky"--I wouldn't either.
In addition to the "sticky" post at the top of the forum post list and searching through posts about or by fellow Wisconsinites,
here's a list of reptile vets in 3 different Wisconsin area codes, so maybe one is nearer to you than you thought...

http://www.arav.org/find-a-vet/#Wisconsin

I think he may have an RI. I went to my vet earlier with my dog as she had a check up and she said that she can't give me anything without seeing him. we both agreed baytril will probably be the best option to start with. I am going to see hwo he is tomorrow as I know a vet visit will stress him a lot! I have upped the temp a slight amount. Anything i can do with regards to humidity?

If your humidity is 60-70% between mistings, then you're pretty close to the preferred range.
A good way to increase the humidity other than more or longer misting sessions is to put plastic around 2 or 3 sides of the enclosure.
I cut the bottom of the plastic sheeting that I use a couple of inches short of the bottom to ensure adequate air flow.

While the vet visit always stresses the chams, it's far better than an untreated infection will do.
Glad you're off to the vet tomorrow.
Let us know what he finds and how your cham is doing.
You're right to boost the temps a little. Upping the basking temp by about 5 degrees is something my chams' vet recommends to help them recover from illness that requires medication.

I am hoping the exotic vet is in othewise I know what I need so I can just ask when we go. Can't have my christmas present gone before christmas! Could the closed eyes be caused by the infection?

bradley said:

I am hoping the exotic vet is in othewise I know what I need so I can just ask when we go. Can't have my christmas present gone before christmas! Could the closed eyes be caused by the infection?

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Yes, definitely can be the reason.
Hope your guy gets to see the exotics vet and that your Christmas present recovers quickly!

I took him to the vet yesterday afternoon and they prescribed baytril. they injected the first dose so it got into the system quickly. The shock killed him on the way home, didnt even make it back from the vets. I think he was just to small and the shock and stress was just too much.

Bradley that is awful. I'm so sorry for your loss .

Truelly sorry your little guy didn't make it. You tried your best to make him better.