Active, but eyes are closed

[Tydis]

So my guy has been very active all day however his eyes have been closed almost all day.

He has been bulging and rubbing them on branches and vines; so I am assuming he has something in them.

I've tried misting but he never wants to bulge his eyes for leaning while I mist him.

Tomorrow I am going to shower him for the first time.
How long should I leave him in the shower for, 30min?

Also if he ends up needing a second or third shower to clean his eyes out how long should i wait between showers?


Male nosy be, about 6 months old ~4 inches snout to vent.

 

[Ashley]

Give us the whole run down first...

We need the whole set up

Cage
Lighting... be specific
Water intake
Food and supplements

Could he possibly be ready for a shed?

 

[kinyonga]

What brand and type (compact or tube/linear) UVB light are you using?

We need more information please.

 

[Tydis]

Cage Info:

* Cage Type -Screen, 16x16x20, waiting on a larger one from bluebeast.
* Lighting - 5.0 repti-sun UVB tube, 65watt basking bulb.
* Temperature - 85 basking, 75 ambient, 60 night time.
* Humidity - 40-60 mist 5min in the morning and lightly later in the day. and dripper going all day.
* Plants - Ficus benjamena
* Location - In my room on top of an unused entertainment center, i usually have ceiling fan on medium to prevent stagnant air.

Supplements are 2x calcium with d3, 2x calcium w/o, and 2 vitamin days beta carotene in the vitamins and once every two weeks i provide pre-formed vit a.

He is eating 2-3 inch long silkworms a day.

He just shed about 1 month ago, however I don't think he is preparing for another one.

 

[kinyonga]

Could he be getting a draft from the fan? Your room gets quite cool at night and if the fan is running it could be drafty.

It could also just be that he's getting close to shedding.

 

[Tydis]

the fan is turned off at night, the breeders (kammers) told me 58 at night would be fine, i rarely actually go down to 60, usually around 63-65.

 

[Dave Weldon]

...Plants - Ficus benjamena...
...i usually have ceiling fan on medium to prevent stagnant air...

Howdy,
Although I've never personally had a chameleon experience problems with ficus sap, it is mentioned from time-to-time as a potential eye irritant.

I'm not a big fan of fans either .

If you are hand-misting, try misting him directly with warm water and see if he'll eventually wash his eyes. It may take 5-20 minutes before he actually tries to clean them.

 

[Tydis]

okay, so a quick update. today his eyes were closed nearly all day, at about 3 o'clock I gave him his first shower. He HATED it, but about 10 minutes in he calmed down and started to drink. 20 min in he started bulging both his eyes out and cleaning them.

I put him back in his cage 10 min later and they were open for a good 20-30 minutes. He then closed them again; and they were closed until he went to sleep. He would only open them sparingly to look at his food before he ate it.

He is still acting healthy, eating and drinking regularly. Poops look fine. Every thing seems normal except for the eyes being almost fused shut.

Not sure what the problem is.
I know his enclosure is far too small, I finally got my cage from bluebeast today and it is SEVERELY bent. I am waiting on a response from them.

I will put a picture of the enclosure up tomorrow.

 

[Julirs]

Is he only eating 2-3 inch long silkworms daily? That does not seem nearly enough for a young chameleon?

 

[Treetop Chameleons]

my panther is doing the same thing right now everything seams fine but his eyes. we are going to the vet in a few days on my day off till then lots of showers.i will let you know what happens.

 

[Dankmeleon]

did you recently trim your ficus to get it to fit in the cage?

i'm not sure but I imagine that would cause the irritants to secrete out, and being directly under a light, or a dripper, i'm sure would intensify the problem...you should take a lot of pics immediately

 

[Brad Ramsey]

I have not had the ficus sap ever bother a veiled (even when freshly pruned) I have heard of it irritating Panther's.
I might try replacing the plant with something different though ... start taking away elements that might be the problem (one at a time) and see if you discover anything.
Don't spend too much time messing around though ...if this persists for much longer he should probably have a wellness exam.
Do you have a vet?

-Brad

 

[chamlover]

I read through your thread but couldn't see how old he is. If he is not full grown, he is really not eating enough. Although I don't think that would have anything to do with his eyes closed but i'm not sure. Start there. Mine at juvie age were eating 12-15 med-large cricket a day. They have alot of growing to do in a short period of time and need the protein and stuff to do it. I'm not sure how many silkies make up for 1 cricket.

Debby

 

[Tydis]

Is he only eating 2-3 inch long silkworms daily? That does not seem nearly enough for a young chameleon?

Some days he will eat more some days its only 3.

my panther is doing the same thing right now everything seams fine but his eyes. we are going to the vet in a few days on my day off till then lots of showers.i will let you know what happens.

Keep me updated.

did you recently trim your ficus to get it to fit in the cage?

i'm not sure but I imagine that would cause the irritants to secrete out, and being directly under a light, or a dripper, i'm sure would intensify the problem...you should take a lot of pics immediately

Nope, didnt trim it. I was lucky enough to get a very small one.
Pics will be up asap.

I have not had the ficus sap ever bother a veiled (even when freshly pruned) I have heard of it irritating Panther's.
I might try replacing the plant with something different though ... start taking away elements that might be the problem (one at a time) and see if you discover anything.
Don't spend too much time messing around though ...if this persists for much longer he should probably have a wellness exam.
Do you have a vet?

-Brad

The ficus has been in there with for for about 4 months now. I don't see why a problem would come up now.

I Have an ubmbrella tree plant for the new cage, but its way too big to fit into this one. If i trim it down to fit in it may go into shock. Better than a sick chameleon though.

I am currently looking for vets in the DFW area.
Any one have any opinions on Dr Shawn Patrick Messonnier?

I read through your thread but couldn't see how old he is. If he is not full grown, he is really not eating enough. Although I don't think that would have anything to do with his eyes closed but i'm not sure. Start there. Mine at juvie age were eating 12-15 med-large cricket a day. They have alot of growing to do in a short period of time and need the protein and stuff to do it. I'm not sure how many silkies make up for 1 cricket.

Debby

Well, I put in about 8 or 9 thought out the day, but usually only 5 get eaten. Yesterday it was only 3.
So far today he has eaten 3.



Thanks for the responses everyone. I will be trying them asap.

 

[Dankmeleon]

is he drinking?

 

[Dave Weldon]

...I am currently looking for vets in the DFW area...

Howdy Tydis,
Just in case you haven't seen this vet locator link, here ya go...
http://www.herpvetconnection.com/texas.shtml

Think of the chameleon's eyes as a window into their health. It can be especially telling of highly stressful and or painful conditions. Intestinal impactions, egg binding, parasites, organ failure, severe dehydration, allergic reactions or even just a contaminate in the eyes may all have the same visible symptom; closed eye/eyes with sunken eyes being worse yet. Because these problems may result in the same symptom makes it extra important that all of the aspects of chameleon husbandry are kept optimum to help eliminate what my be causing the problem.


Give more details here... Brands... More about the Pre-Vit A dosage...

Supplements are 2x calcium with d3, 2x calcium w/o, and 2 vitamin days beta carotene in the vitamins and once every two weeks i provide pre-formed vit a.

 

[dodolah]

careful on the preformed vit A.
IMHO, once every 2 weeks is a bit excessive.
People generally argue about beta carotene and preformed Vit A necessity in chameleon until the cows come home, but whatever your position on that matters, the facts remain that preformed vit A can be quite toxic since it cannot be dump naturally by the body. So, you might want to cut back that Vit A to once a month.

 

[Tydis]

is he drinking?

Yes, not as much as he used to but eyes are not sunken and urates are white, the humidity levels have been higher than usually, could this explain the lack of drinking but still having white urates?

Howdy Tydis,
Just in case you haven't seen this vet locator link, here ya go...
http://www.herpvetconnection.com/texas.shtml

Thanks Dave, that list is more complete than the one I was looking at.

Give more details here... Brands... More about the Pre-Vit A dosage...

Rep-Cal w/ D3, Rep-Cal without D3 and Herptivite. With the preformed, i get the smalled drop i possibly can onto a worms head, wipe half of it off and hand feed it to my guy.

So, you might want to cut back that Vit A to once a month.

I made a vet appointment for tomorrow, I will be sure to ask the vet about the Vit A levels of my chameleon. For now i am not giving any preformed.

My Blizzard was looking much better today, eyes open most of the day ate 6 or 7 large worms, still not drinking as much as I would like but his urates are white as can be. I planned on taking him outside monday and yesterday but we had a random snow storm. In Texas of all places.

Sorry for the late responses guys, thanks so much for the replies.

 

[Tydis]

Just got back from the vet. Not sure how much I trust him mainly because the first thing he said was "Oh what a beautiful Jackson's" and mine is a Nosy Be, about as far from a jacksons as you can get.

Anyways, he said there was a slight case of conjunctivitis in his left eye and a tad more in the right eye. He gave a a medicine called Tobramycin and said to drop it in each eye twice a day for at least 4 days.

Anyone here have any experience with this medicine?

 

[Treetop Chameleons]

i just got back from the vet as well and was having the same prob, he knocked my cham out flushed his eyes and said he just found a small infection. he gave me some vitamins to give him and a kind of gel to put on his eyes. i will post the names of the meds when i get home. but he has been on the med for the last day and seems to already be doing much better.