Cham in trouble!?

[CobaltTheChameleon]

Ok so I have a concern about my baby veiled, she has 1 sunken/wrinkled eye and it is scaring me. She is a healthy active cham, she can see fine, is active during the day, poop is normal, eats healthy. NO problems. However last night i noticed that she was sleeping with 1 eye open, her right eye. It is the eye that looks wrinkled and sunken, almost lighter too....like she was supposed to shed but it never did. The other one is COMPLETELY fine! What could this be? ALSO: my night light i have on for her (the heat night time bulb) does send out a faint red light could this be the cause??? Should I just shut it off and keep the room black??? more info below. PLEASE HELP!

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon, female, had for a week now. approx 2 months old
Handling - usually once every other day she is so nice now! she knows i wont hurt her and comes right out even though i have only had her for a week!
Feeding - gut loaded pinhead crickets, and occasionally mealworms (i dust all of them with calcium supplement from reptivite)
Supplements - vitaspray everyday and calcium d3 at every feeding.
Watering - I mist the leaves and my cham, also i have a water dripper
Fecal Description - nothing different, long dark brown with a yellow white part attached.
History - Only had her for a week but nothing concerning. I noticed that her right eye was different after her little shed (lasted 2 days)

Cage Info:
Cage Type - open air cage (large) by zoomed
Lighting - UVB 5.0 light on all day (by zoomed as well) and then a night-time heat lamp 60watt (i leave this on during the day for heat then turn the uvb offf at night and leave this cause i know chams need their sleep)
tempurature- Always between 75-85 degrees farenheit
humidity- is around 40-50 i have been trying to get it up...
Location - Connecticut, USA

 

[CobaltTheChameleon]

very urgent!..should i call a vet?

 

[Olimpia]

Two quick things that I notice in your husbandry are watering and supplementing. D3 every day is excessive, and can lead to problems with tissue calcification down the line. It's recommended to use a plain, phosphorous-free calcium every day and then a phosphorous-free calcium with D3 to use twice a month. And you might want to mist more, the yellow part should be white or mostly white - it being yellow means that she's dehydrated. It's like when we're not drinking enough, our urine is very dark yellow, instead of clear like when we're drinking a lot of water.

With her eye, I would go to an experienced cham vet, yes. She may have an infection in that eye or something stuck in it and an experienced person will be able to treat it well. She may just need an ointment for a couple weeks and be good as new.

 

[CobaltTheChameleon]

Two quick things that I notice in your husbandry are watering and supplementing. D3 every day is excessive, and can lead to problems with tissue calcification down the line. It's recommended to use a plain, phosphorous-free calcium every day and then a phosphorous-free calcium with D3 to use twice a month. And you might want to mist more, the yellow part should be white or mostly white - it being yellow means that she's dehydrated. It's like when we're not drinking enough, our urine is very dark yellow, instead of clear like when we're drinking a lot of water.

With her eye, I would go to an experienced cham vet, yes. She may have an infection in that eye or something stuck in it and an experienced person will be able to treat it well. She may just need an ointment for a couple weeks and be good as new.

Ok thank you VERY much! and is there any ointment i can give her???

 

[tdotcham]

Could you show a picture? People may be able to help you better. I'd also suggest using a 60w regular house bulb that you can get at a dollar store for heat, at night have it off so it's dark and she can sleep (as long as its not too cold).

Does she ever open the eye? Try to give a light mist near her so she can clean her eye out. You will know when water hits as they close their eye and bulge it around to clean

 

[Olimpia]

The ointment will have to be prescribed by a vet I believe. The one I've used in the past is a triple ointment called Tri-something. I'm at my parents' house now so I can't find it for you but your vet should know.

Give her lots of water until you can get a hold of a vet on Monday, probably.

 

[kinyonga]

CobaltTheChameleon...a suggestion in the interest of us helping you...please don't make several posts about the same problem with the same chameleon. It makes it difficult for us to get the whole picture.

As for the eye...you could try misting it very gently and if that doesn't work...take it to the vet.

Regarding husbandry...I don't know what vitaspray has in it so I don't know if you are using the right supplement or not. What do you spray it on?? I have never used D3 on a chameleon's food every day...just a couple of times a month. Does the reptivite have D3 in it? See below for information.


Here's some information I hope will help you with things like supplements, gutloading, etc....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

A wide variety of insects that have been well fed and gutloaded should be fed to it.

Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).

If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.
Please note that various supplements have various amounts of D3 and vitamin A and so some can be given more often than others. The idea still is not to overdo the fat soluble vitamins like D3 and prEformed vitamin A.

Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.

 

[Pilotman800]

I had the exact same problem as you. It turns out the eye that I thought was normal was actually swollen, and the eye I thought was too small was normal. In my case it is a tear duct infection which he is being treated for.

Can you upload a photo?