Hi there, wondering if anyone can help me. I have an almost 3 year old panther chameleon that has a blister bulging type area in the loose skin around his eye. It's now about the size of his eye and I'm sure it's obstructing his view. I pushed on it alittle and it's kind of soft and just feels like a sack of fluid caught in there. He still catches crickets just fine and seems fine otherwise. Any suggestions??
"blister" in loose skin surrounding eye
- Thread starter RachelW
- Start date
Alexl
Avid Member
Please bring him to a reptile vet. If it's an abscesse, it will need to be opened, cleaned and medicated locally as soon as possible to avoid the inflammation migrating into the bone. You can't do diagnosis or treatment on your own and waiting doesn't help anyway. He seems to have another problem with mouth closing (deformed bones?), too.
I've had him the whole time. I got him from a pretty reputable reptile shop in the cities when he was very young. But he is my first Chameleon and I'm not going to pretent I know tons about taking care of him and what to look for. Just what I've read in books and online. He seems to have done very well until this puffy thing developed on his eye....What would cause his mouth to be formed weird???
carol5208
Chameleon Enthusiast
Sometimes a thing called MBD-Metabolic bone disease can cause that. not saying that is what it is. His mouth does look a little mishapen but not horrible like some cases that have been posted on here. What do you use for supplements and what do you gutload(feed)your crickets?. What type of UVB lighting are you using?
ataraxia
Avid Member
please dont take my post as rude. it is basically down to the niddy griddy with you.
from his pics you not only have some sort of abscess . the flat sunken in lobes on his head suggest that he is malnurished, dehydrated and has mouth area suggests he possibly has mbd. although it could be a birth defect but i dont think so in the case. your care for him needs to step up. im not going to ask you to fill a "how to ask form" to criticize your care. i can tell by his condition many things need to change. here is a basic care sheet for panthers. PLEASE follow what i am about to post.
he definitely needs a vets attention for the abscess but the rest you should be able to help with a change in care.
Cage:24x24x48' SCREEN cage lots of rope, vines and live plants if you can. live plants will help with the humidity. make sure you cover the soil with screen or large rocks. put cage as high up in the room as you can. not near any vents, fans or windows.
Lighting: 5.0 reptisun or reptiglo linear tube (length depends on cage size)/house hold bulb for basking. the house bulb watt will depend on how far your nearest branch is from the light and your ambient room temps.
***change UVB bulbs every 6 months.
Temps: basking temp around 90* for a male low 80's* for female / ambient temps 72* measure by digital guages.
Hydration: manual spray 2-5 minutes/2-3 times a day. provide a dripper.
Feeders: gutload (24 hours before feeding) with fresh veggies and fruits and once a week with sticky tongues gutload. Crickets, mealworms (as a snack), silkworms, hornworms, dubai roaches, reptiworms, BB flies. NO SUPERWORMS
Supplements: repcal calcium w/o d3 every feeding, repcal calcium w/d3 twice a month, repcal herptivite twice a month (i also rotate herptivite with reptivite)
heres a link to help him get rehydrated. if he has a appetite, he just needs fed the proper amount of food and frequency.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/ataraxia/454-dehydration-solutions-force-fluid-tips.html
from his pics you not only have some sort of abscess . the flat sunken in lobes on his head suggest that he is malnurished, dehydrated and has mouth area suggests he possibly has mbd. although it could be a birth defect but i dont think so in the case. your care for him needs to step up. im not going to ask you to fill a "how to ask form" to criticize your care. i can tell by his condition many things need to change. here is a basic care sheet for panthers. PLEASE follow what i am about to post.
he definitely needs a vets attention for the abscess but the rest you should be able to help with a change in care.
Cage:24x24x48' SCREEN cage lots of rope, vines and live plants if you can. live plants will help with the humidity. make sure you cover the soil with screen or large rocks. put cage as high up in the room as you can. not near any vents, fans or windows.
Lighting: 5.0 reptisun or reptiglo linear tube (length depends on cage size)/house hold bulb for basking. the house bulb watt will depend on how far your nearest branch is from the light and your ambient room temps.
***change UVB bulbs every 6 months.
Temps: basking temp around 90* for a male low 80's* for female / ambient temps 72* measure by digital guages.
Hydration: manual spray 2-5 minutes/2-3 times a day. provide a dripper.
Feeders: gutload (24 hours before feeding) with fresh veggies and fruits and once a week with sticky tongues gutload. Crickets, mealworms (as a snack), silkworms, hornworms, dubai roaches, reptiworms, BB flies. NO SUPERWORMS
Supplements: repcal calcium w/o d3 every feeding, repcal calcium w/d3 twice a month, repcal herptivite twice a month (i also rotate herptivite with reptivite)
heres a link to help him get rehydrated. if he has a appetite, he just needs fed the proper amount of food and frequency.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/ataraxia/454-dehydration-solutions-force-fluid-tips.html
Welcome to the forums!
He looks very skinny in addition to his little underbite. And it appears that he's in an exo-terra glass cage judging from the background. How big is his cage? The glass itself isn't usually a problem, however those cages are not big enough for a full grown panther unless you have the biggest model available. He should be in a cage at least 18x18x36" tall but bigger would be better, and screen is preferable.
You need to gutload his crickets better. Unfortunately the commercial cricket diets are not sufficient for gutloading as they do not have the appropriate amount or ratio of vitamins and minerals. Here's some more info on gutloading.
What Alexl said about the swelling is correct. In that area it is a abscess in the sinuses, which oral antibiotics alone will not cure. It needs to be surgically opened, cleaned out and treated by a reptile vet for it to heal.
He looks very skinny in addition to his little underbite. And it appears that he's in an exo-terra glass cage judging from the background. How big is his cage? The glass itself isn't usually a problem, however those cages are not big enough for a full grown panther unless you have the biggest model available. He should be in a cage at least 18x18x36" tall but bigger would be better, and screen is preferable.
You need to gutload his crickets better. Unfortunately the commercial cricket diets are not sufficient for gutloading as they do not have the appropriate amount or ratio of vitamins and minerals. Here's some more info on gutloading.
What Alexl said about the swelling is correct. In that area it is a abscess in the sinuses, which oral antibiotics alone will not cure. It needs to be surgically opened, cleaned out and treated by a reptile vet for it to heal.
Why no superworms ataraxia?
Thanks everyone. I'll be calling a vet tomorrow moring. The cage is the biggest model they make. I live in Minnesota and the people at the vet store said that with our cold DRY winters its hard to keep up the humidity and the glass is better for that! Thanks again for all the information! It was very helpful!!
ataraxia
Avid Member
from his pics i am 100% there is other problems. i understand you are doing your best but it needs some changing.
malnourished: he is not eating enough or being fed with frequency. all of his food needs to be "gut loaded" with fresh veggies and fruits or read sandrachameleons blogs on gut loading. he also need to be on a correct dusting schedule.
dehydrated: he simply is not getting enough water. you may be trying your best at the moment but it needs to also change. this is something that needs to be done daily with no exception. if you go a couple days or every other day depending on a dripper. this is not enough. he needs misted to clean his eyes, hydrate his skin, raise the humidity in the cage and drink from the mist on the leaves.
mbd: from two things. this can be from the lack of proper uvb lighting. your bulb need to be changed every 6 months. they lose there uvb quality over this period. all uvb bulbs are not created equal. some put out not enough from the get go from either factory defect or quality of manufacture. the lack of proper nutrients (calcium). he needs plain phos free calcium every feeding and the rest has been stated in my last post.
good luck with your chameleon. i hope things get better for you 2.
malnourished: he is not eating enough or being fed with frequency. all of his food needs to be "gut loaded" with fresh veggies and fruits or read sandrachameleons blogs on gut loading. he also need to be on a correct dusting schedule.
dehydrated: he simply is not getting enough water. you may be trying your best at the moment but it needs to also change. this is something that needs to be done daily with no exception. if you go a couple days or every other day depending on a dripper. this is not enough. he needs misted to clean his eyes, hydrate his skin, raise the humidity in the cage and drink from the mist on the leaves.
mbd: from two things. this can be from the lack of proper uvb lighting. your bulb need to be changed every 6 months. they lose there uvb quality over this period. all uvb bulbs are not created equal. some put out not enough from the get go from either factory defect or quality of manufacture. the lack of proper nutrients (calcium). he needs plain phos free calcium every feeding and the rest has been stated in my last post.
good luck with your chameleon. i hope things get better for you 2.
ataraxia
Avid Member
from isolated personal experiences with them as a staple. i did not properly gutload. so it was basically off basic superworm dry food with a veggie or fruit for hydration.. with that said without proper gutloading they are probably the worst feeder you can buy next to a lighting bug
i guarantee this. they will cause a chameleon to go off food for some time. if your chameleon was not in tip top shape before this. they will possibly cause the demize of the animal.
from isolated personal experiences with them as a staple. i did not properly gutload. so it was basically off basic superworm dry food with a veggie or fruit for hydration.. with that said without proper gutloading they are probably the worst feeder you can buy next to a lighting bug
Interesting...I dumped mine into some of my dry cricket gutload and fed them good veggies and my chams love them. But you make a good point: feeders are only as good as what they're fed!
Ryan1976
New Member
Ataraxia definitely knows what he's talking about. Like he said, I hope you didn't take his post as rude. He obviously means well. Let's face it... NONE of us were born with the knowledge of how to care for Chameleons!! It's all about experience!
I'm very new to Chameleons as well, but you never want to "mess around" with ANY type of health issue. Just from what I have learned, Chameleons need ALOT of attention and care. Let's face it, they don't really belong in a human's home to begin with Whether you have the funds to get proper care or not, there are ways to get your Chameleon taken care of properly. You may have to do some searching, but it's better than letting the little guy suffer. But I'm sure you know that.
As far as the mouth issue... I'm experienced with raising Bearded Dragons and I've seen the same situation with a few Dragons before. However, it was not a natural deformity. It was from people "force feeding" their dragons when they were fairly young and not eating properly. However, I'm NOT saying that's what happened in your case!! People would force feed them in a manner that caused a permanent overbite. I rescued a dragon that had that exact problem, though it never caused any health issues other than the "overbite" that resulted from the force feeding. If that's what happened with your little one, it's nothing to get worried about. It may "correct" itself, or it may be permanent. Either way, it's not going to hurt them in the long run. It's just a quirky little feature.
If you do take him to a Vet, I hope you will reply and let us know the outcome of the visit. I would love to know what's going on with him. It will help myself and others keep an eye out for that type of issue... seriously, no pun intended!! LOL!! Keep us up-to-date!! And lots of luck to you!
I'm very new to Chameleons as well, but you never want to "mess around" with ANY type of health issue. Just from what I have learned, Chameleons need ALOT of attention and care. Let's face it, they don't really belong in a human's home to begin with
Whether you have the funds to get proper care or not, there are ways to get your Chameleon taken care of properly. You may have to do some searching, but it's better than letting the little guy suffer. But I'm sure you know that.As far as the mouth issue... I'm experienced with raising Bearded Dragons and I've seen the same situation with a few Dragons before. However, it was not a natural deformity. It was from people "force feeding" their dragons when they were fairly young and not eating properly. However, I'm NOT saying that's what happened in your case!! People would force feed them in a manner that caused a permanent overbite. I rescued a dragon that had that exact problem, though it never caused any health issues other than the "overbite" that resulted from the force feeding. If that's what happened with your little one, it's nothing to get worried about. It may "correct" itself, or it may be permanent. Either way, it's not going to hurt them in the long run. It's just a quirky little feature.
If you do take him to a Vet, I hope you will reply and let us know the outcome of the visit. I would love to know what's going on with him. It will help myself and others keep an eye out for that type of issue... seriously, no pun intended!! LOL!!
Keep us up-to-date!! And lots of luck to you!
