Baby Chameleon Eye Problem

[BriannaHaynie]

So we've had our baby veiled chameleon for a little over a week now and so far he's been doing seemingly well! However, for the past couple of days he has been frequently closing his right eye. The eye doesn't appear to be irritated or inflamed at all and he opens it back up when he feels us open his cage to feed him or when he wants to move around, etc. So I know he is capable of opening it. He just chooses not to for a few minutes and then opens it back up and leaves it open for a while.

Today, however, after spraying his cage, he started rubbing the same eye on branches and leaves and has been closing it a little bit more than usual. He hasn't had any problems with the eye today until about 15 minutes ago.

I do also notice that he mostly does these things after we spray. Noticing that, we've been making an extra effort to make sure we avoid any possibility of getting water in his eye. But he is still closing it after we do.

Could this mean infection?
Is the water just irritating his eye?
Is there any sort of "home remedy" I can do to make his eye more comfortable?

I've attached some photos! I'm really worried about him so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Theveiled]

You can try to gently mist the eye (not directly) to help him clean it out if there is something stuck in his eye.

 

[BriannaHaynie]

You can try to gently mist the eye (not directly) to help him clean it out if there is something stuck in his eye.

Really? I feel uncomfortable doing that because he already is scared of being sprayed. I can't imagine how traumatizing it would be for him to get sprayed directly in the face!

 

[Jay3479]

Well the other option is to take him to the vets n see what's going on with his eye

 

[jajeanpierre]

Many eye problems are caused by debris in the eye or an irritation. There can also be disease processes. Looking at the picture, it looks like there is something irritating his eye. Your picture shows he is pulling the eye into its socket, suggesting irritation. Also he is rubbing the eye, again, possibly caused by irritation.

They need misting to clean their eyes. I just do not believe a hand mister really does a good job, which is why I advocate a misting system for every chameleon, even the single PetSmart veiled. A misting system produces very fine droplets.

Your spray bottle probably produces quite large droplets, which they don't like. They like a fine mist that is almost a fog. Most chameleons don't like direct misting but there are a few things you can do to make it nicer for them.

If hand misting use one of those pressurized sparyers generally produces finer droplets. I will hand mist with one I bought from PetCo (Mist'R Lizard Jr). That allows you to pump it up and remain very still while the misting for a long period of time. Babies especially are quite flighty, so your pumping the sprayer even IF you could get a fine mist will disturb him/her.

Use warm water.

Increase your misting time to minutes at a time several times a day. If I had an animal that I thought had debris in its eyes I would run the mister for 20 minutes at a time several times a day.

Drop artificial tears (I use the ones in the single use containers) onto the eye turret so there is a big blob of fluid over the eye. Do it many times a day.

Put him in a shower. Put his cage or his plant in the shower and run the shower against a wall so the misty spry surrounds the chameleon. Use body temperature water. Do not spray the animal directly--the water bouncing off the walls creates a mist.

Hope that helps. Many eye problems stem from lack of misting. Besides eye troubles, dehydration is a big problem with the pet chameleon fancy. Chronic low grade dehydration often leads to kidney failure down the road.

If you are buying an automatic mister, buy one of the good ones that won't be destroyed if it runs dry. I recommend MistKing because it is a good solid pump and the company has a good customer service track record. It is false economy to buy a cheap one that breaks.

The other non-illness/nutrition caused eye problem can be poor lighting. Baby chameleons can get retinal burns from UVB lights. What is your lighting (brand names and strength, i.e. 5%, 10%, etc.)? How close to the animal is it?

If proper hydration and misting and possibly turning off the UVB light don't get a big improvement really quickly, it might be time to head off to a vet. While a bit of debris in the eye can cause a scratch that will heal, that scratch can also be an opportunity for an infection to begin.

Hope that helps.

 

[Jay3479]

I agree with the misting system as a need 4 the fine mist and I only said the vet cause there uncomfortable with misting there chams eyes which on a scale would b simple to try n make things better to get comfortable with there chams they need to start with the simple stuff which will build conferences to do something more like force feed or meds if needed in the future

 

[Matt Vanilla Gorilla]

Also see the thread: https://www.chameleonforums.com/thr...nced-keepers-please-share-your-wisdom.152159/