Almost 3 weeks now... (Yet another eye topic)

[fatedgod]

Any one else ever seen this happen? Merlin has stopped using his left eye completely and has had it shut for almost 3 weeks now. His right eye is fine, he is active all day, he is drinking and seems to be eating. In fact, everything looks 100% except for the fact they he has his left eye squeezed shut. Very strange. Has anyone else had a cham do this? The vet says he seems healthy and so does my breeder. No one has a clue what the heck he is doing.

 

[chrisandpugs]

Possibly a Vitamin A deficiency?? Check his diet

My past Panther died of a Vitamin A deficiency because he was on a bland diet of giant mealworms and crickets(that were probably not gutloaded enough). Same symptoms....His one eye stayed shut but everything else seemed O.K for awhile. I did bring him to see an Exotic Vet but was unfortunately misdiagosed as possibly having an URI. She precribed Baytril anyway even though she admitted he didn't show any symptoms of an URI and on top of that, she examined his eye and stated it looked fine and told me that he was in overall O.K health. To make a long story shorter, my Panther died 4 months later(his health started declining rapidly) and he was was getting very weak and loosing his sense of balance and then he ceased eating and drinking completely. He died at 11 months.
Now, I have an 8 month old Veil and he eats a healthy chunk of of Collard Greens leaves which is high in Vitamin A and in addition, silkworms that supply him with extra nutrients due to the mulberry mash that they eat. I have definitely learned a lot from being on this forum and when my Panther started getting real weak and lethargic, that was when I initially searched out for this type of a forum to get advice and feedback. Wished I had found this forum sooner to get the invaluable information that I needed at that critical time and could have reversed the vitamin A deficiency effects so my Panther possibly could have been saved.

What does his diet consist of on a daily basis? I know that when a Chameleon's one eye is shut for that long of a period and it's not because there's anything irritataing his eye, I would check that he's getting enough of the real natural Vitamin A in his diet(Not the synthetic vitamin supplement powder that you dust their insects with).

Christine

 

[fatedgod]

He gets crickets, wax worms, and meal worms. I gut load and dust the crickets. I have offered veggies in the past, but he never seems to eat them.

 

[chrisandpugs]

How about Silkworms??

Hi!
Would you be opposed to testing him out on Silkworms(due to their high nutritional value) and see how that works out for him. If vitamin deficiency is the culprit, adding silkworms in his diet could perhaps reverse that deficiency.

Christine

 

[Brad Ramsey]

Have you tried collard greens? They are my favorite green for my veiled and he loves them.
I attach them to a branch by bending the end of the branch around the greens.
(It's a bend-a-branch by the way).
Also consider trying the vitamin A from gelcaps designed for us. Not too expensive at the drugstore. I pierce a gelcap with a pin and spread whatever comes out on the pin onto a silkworm or something that is going to get eaten right away. That's all you put on too. These guys are little and that pill is designed for an adult person.
Incidentally I take the rest of the gelcap myself....hate to be wasteful!
I do this once every two weeks.
What about dusting with calcium with NO D3? I do it 3 times a week and the cal w/ D3 once every 10 days or so.
How about time in the real sun? Does he get it? Great time of year for it.
Mist, mist, mist! I'm sure you are....that seems to be the "when all else fails cure all".
Get some silkworms for sure!!! I can't say enough about them and maybe trade zophobas for the mealworms.
Roaches, cultured houseflies, mantids....start looking to expand the variety in his diet.
Maybe all this will help (it certainly won't hurt!)
Maybe get a second opinion from a different vet.
Good luck!

-Brad

 

[fatedgod]

Thanks guys. I went out tonight and got him Mustard and Collard greens and hung them all over the cage. I also added some of those greens to the cricket tank so they take in some of the vitamins. I dust with Fluker's Repta-Calcium from insectivores. It says it has a minimum of 36% calcium and D3 added in. he gets that every other day on his crickets. As for misting, I have a pump that runs a sprayer nozzle in the center of the cage that goes off for 2 minutes at 8am, 12pm, 4pm, and 8pm. It raises the humidity to about 50% for about 30 minutes and then stays in the 20-30 range for another 45 minutes. I've also been giving him showers and additional misting. He gets sunlight from the window everyday along with his 12hrs of reptisun 5.0 daily. I would take him outside but its still too cold in Syracuse for him to spend time with me outside. I am interested in getting silk worms. Where can I get them? Are they hard to keep? I would like to phase out meal worms in favor of something else. he like wax worms and crickets (although I don't really see him eat, most likely because I am a late riser).

 

[chrisandpugs]

Silkworm source

Hi!
I use MulberryFarms.com for my mail-order silkworm source. Easy to keep! There are other Internet sources,too and they all sound reliable. I use that company because it's also in CA.

I noticed in your last post that you are a late-raiser so you don't know when your Chameleon actually eats all his insects or not. When do you put his insects in his cage? Best that he eats in the morning or mid-day so that he has enough time to do plenty of basking in order to digest his food after he eats.

Christine

 

[fatedgod]

He gets his grub around 10-11am

 

[rcagosto]

Brad I'm very interested in what you are doing with the vitamin A capsules. Is this experimental. Have you seen improvements with your chameleons etc. ?
That's very cool, sorry for being off topic but I think this could be helpful to all of us.
Roberto

 

[Brad Ramsey]

I am in the ranks of several people on here who have begun to introduce vitamin A this way and I have not been doing it long enough to observe any effects good or bad.
Heika started it for me when she ordered a copy of a roundtable discussion on chameleons and vitamin A.
I'm not sure if that is still available on here, maybe she will link us to the thread. At any rate I copied it and have read it several times...I may look at it again tonight.
Vitamin A and how it should be administered for captive chameleons is a controversial topic and there is still lots to learn here.
What I do is (in my opinion) the least dosage for possible beneficial result.
I would be reticent to do more, but feel confident that this dosage is safe and that no ill effects will result from it.

-Brad

p.s.
I think every other day with a supplement containing D3 is too much. Repcal makes a calcium supplement w/out D3 that I think should be the primary calcium supplement
(refer to my previous post).

-B.