Chameleon’s eyes are closed

My six month old Chameleon has had his eyes closed for most of today. As far as I have seen, this is new. He’s a Panther chameleon, and I’ve had him since September. He’s in a ReptiBreeze XL mesh enclosure, a Reptisun T5 HO 5.0 UVB, ZooMed deep dome halogen 50w heat lamp.

Lately, he’s had a new habit of only eating if I free feed. But he won’t eat from his cup anymore. He seems eager to eat when I let them loose. He eats 10-15 bugs. Dubia Roaches, BSFL, and the occasional superworm (he’s not a huge fan of them). I gutload with sweet potato, carrots, and apples. I use the PangeaCal Calcium without D3 every feed except for when I use Reptivite with D3 on the 1st and 15th. I also use bee pollen about once a week.

His basking spot is 85f, humidity is normally around 45-55 during the day and 90-100 at night, about 70-73f throughout during the day and 60’s at night. With the recent weather in Texas, my humidity has spiked during the day so I have to make changes to my misting schedule which is normally 30 minutes after lights out and before lights on. The go off at 8:00 p.m, turn on at 8:00 a.m. Usually it takes a few hours to get the humidity down. I’m wondering if this is the cause of the issue.

I ordered a new UVB bulb, because it’s been about 6 months since I’ve set up my enclosure, and most likely needs to be replaced. He’s been rather lethargic today, as far as sitting around in one general area. He doesn’t necessarily ‘keep’ his eyes closed all morning, he’s had them open some too. He physically looks fine, other than a little dull coloring, he looks like he’s about to shed. His grip is just fine, and his poop/urates looks healthy. His eyes don’t look sunken in, either.

I’ve also never handled him. I don’t use fragrances anywhere near him. He’s still rather grouchy, and still gets angry when I put my hands in his enclosure. Not sure if that helps. I’m going on vacation the week after next, and someone is coming over to take care of him. I want to take him to the vet this week to see what might be going on with him, but I’m worried. I’m really worried about leaving him with someone else for a week when he appears to be ill. Anything will help, thank you so much!! 😊
 
Hello and welcome! Have you ever had your baby tested for parasties?
I have not! I’m really hoping to get him into the vet tomorrow, and I’ll make sure to get him tested for parasites. I’m really worried about the night, though. He appeared fine yesterday, I’m just afraid that he will rapidly decline through nighttime
 
My six month old Chameleon has had his eyes closed for most of today. As far as I have seen, this is new. He’s a Panther chameleon, and I’ve had him since September. He’s in a ReptiBreeze XL mesh enclosure, a Reptisun T5 HO 5.0 UVB, ZooMed deep dome halogen 50w heat lamp.

Lately, he’s had a new habit of only eating if I free feed. But he won’t eat from his cup anymore. He seems eager to eat when I let them loose. He eats 10-15 bugs. Dubia Roaches, BSFL, and the occasional superworm (he’s not a huge fan of them). I gutload with sweet potato, carrots, and apples. I use the PangeaCal Calcium without D3 every feed except for when I use Reptivite with D3 on the 1st and 15th. I also use bee pollen about once a week.

His basking spot is 85f, humidity is normally around 45-55 during the day and 90-100 at night, about 70-73f throughout during the day and 60’s at night. With the recent weather in Texas, my humidity has spiked during the day so I have to make changes to my misting schedule which is normally 30 minutes after lights out and before lights on. The go off at 8:00 p.m, turn on at 8:00 a.m. Usually it takes a few hours to get the humidity down. I’m wondering if this is the cause of the issue.

I ordered a new UVB bulb, because it’s been about 6 months since I’ve set up my enclosure, and most likely needs to be replaced. He’s been rather lethargic today, as far as sitting around in one general area. He doesn’t necessarily ‘keep’ his eyes closed all morning, he’s had them open some too. He physically looks fine, other than a little dull coloring, he looks like he’s about to shed. His grip is just fine, and his poop/urates looks healthy. His eyes don’t look sunken in, either.

I’ve also never handled him. I don’t use fragrances anywhere near him. He’s still rather grouchy, and still gets angry when I put my hands in his enclosure. Not sure if that helps. I’m going on vacation the week after next, and someone is coming over to take care of him. I want to take him to the vet this week to see what might be going on with him, but I’m worried. I’m really worried about leaving him with someone else for a week when he appears to be ill. Anything will help, thank you so much!! 😊
Have you tried a feeder run of some sort? Your numbers and such look pretty good so I'm not sure why he'd be closing his eyes. Have you heard any popping/crackling sounds from him? Nose pointed upward ("stargazing")? Have you ever had a fecal done for parasites?

I would suggest more greens in your gutloading, like dandelion greens, collard greens, chard. But that shouldn't be contributing to eyes closed.

all in all, a vet visit is the best idea.
 
Have you tried a feeder run of some sort? Your numbers and such look pretty good so I'm not sure why he'd be closing his eyes. Have you heard any popping/crackling sounds from him? Nose pointed upward ("stargazing")? Have you ever had a fecal done for parasites?

I would suggest more greens in your gutloading, like dandelion greens, collard greens, chard. But that shouldn't be contributing to eyes closed.

all in all, a vet visit is the best idea.
What’s a feeder run? I agree, I thought the numbers looked fine too other than the spiked humidity. But I’m able to bring it down for the most part, so I don’t know if that’s really a contributing factor. I’ll be sure to add more greens to gutloading, thank you! I haven’t tested him for parasites yet, but I’m going to bring a fecal sample to the vet with me. But like I said, this is sudden. Hoping and praying that he’s okay
 
What’s a feeder run? I agree, I thought the numbers looked fine too other than the spiked humidity. But I’m able to bring it down for the most part, so I don’t know if that’s really a contributing factor. I’ll be sure to add more greens to gutloading, thank you! I haven’t tested him for parasites yet, but I’m going to bring a fecal sample to the vet with me. But like I said, this is sudden. Hoping and praying that he’s okay
Any chance you can take him in today? Hearing he was fine yesterday and is this bad today I would do my best to get him in somewhere to be seen.
 
What’s a feeder run? I agree, I thought the numbers looked fine too other than the spiked humidity. But I’m able to bring it down for the most part, so I don’t know if that’s really a contributing factor. I’ll be sure to add more greens to gutloading, thank you! I haven’t tested him for parasites yet, but I’m going to bring a fecal sample to the vet with me. But like I said, this is sudden. Hoping and praying that he’s okay
Oh sorry, you'd said that about a fecal above, I missed it - my apologies!

A feeder run is something you can put your feeders in that's much like a cup, but the cham can see them crawling around. So it satisfies the hunting need of the lizard brain but still lets you monitor what he's consuming. Something like this: https://www.rainbowmealworms.net/shooting-gallery-chameleon-feeder/

I actually have one that I'd be willing to ship out to you if you want. I got it and didn't realize it only works with screen cages, and I have a hybrid one....

Once you sort out the immediate issues with your guy, let me know if you'd like me to ship the feeder run. A PM will work. :)
 
Oh sorry, you'd said that about a fecal above, I missed it - my apologies!

A feeder run is something you can put your feeders in that's much like a cup, but the cham can see them crawling around. So it satisfies the hunting need of the lizard brain but still lets you monitor what he's consuming. Something like this: https://www.rainbowmealworms.net/shooting-gallery-chameleon-feeder/

I actually have one that I'd be willing to ship out to you if you want. I got it and didn't realize it only works with screen cages, and I have a hybrid one....

Once you sort out the immediate issues with your guy, let me know if you'd like me to ship the feeder run. A PM will work. :)
Thank you so much for your help!!
 
Darn. Ya just get him in as soon as you can then. Are you open to sharing a photo of him and your enclosure?
They aren’t the best, but here are a few pictures
 

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Have you tried a feeder run of some sort? Your numbers and such look pretty good so I'm not sure why he'd be closing his eyes. Have you heard any popping/crackling sounds from him? Nose pointed upward ("stargazing")? Have you ever had a fecal done for parasites?

I would suggest more greens in your gutloading, like dandelion greens, collard greens, chard. But that shouldn't be contributing to eyes closed.

all in all, a vet visit is the best idea.
I forgot to mention this; I haven’t heard any popping/crackling. His nose isn’t pointed upwards either
 
They aren’t the best, but here are a few pictures
I'm really worried about his weight here. With chameleons, we look at things like casque, cheeks, and legs. Your lovely little guy's casque and cheeks are severely sunken in, his legs are nothing but bones and you shouldn't be able to see the vertebrae of his spine in his tail/back.

What size are the feeders you're giving him? Are they smaller than the space between his eyes? You've seen him consume the 15 or so a day? You haven't found any dead or chewed up feeders in the enclosure? I'm wracking my brain to think of what might cause him to be so underweight if it's not parasites.

I ask a lot of questions out of care for you and your Cham - please don't read it as any sort of judgment or interrogation, as that's not my intent. :)
 
Hi and welcome. You’re getting excellent help and advice and I can’t add anything more other than to stress that your sweet chameleon needs a good vet last week. Being so very emaciated can lead to a host of other problems with his organs. I’m just curious where you got him from.
 
With those pictures, he is EXTREMELY skinny. I'm gonna guess parasites if he's actually been eating 15 feeders a day. Vet ASAP - hopefully you can get him in on Monday. 🤕
Oh poor baby he is extremely skin y
With those pictures, he is EXTREMELY skinny. I'm gonna guess parasites if he's actually been eating 15 feeders a day. Vet ASAP - hopefully you can get him in on Monday. 🤕
Agreed. Baby is very very skinny. You should not see the bones in his tail, arms/legs and head/face. How long ago was this picture taken?
 
I'm really worried about his weight here. With chameleons, we look at things like casque, cheeks, and legs. Your lovely little guy's casque and cheeks are severely sunken in, his legs are nothing but bones and you shouldn't be able to see the vertebrae of his spine in his tail/back.

What size are the feeders you're giving him? Are they smaller than the space between his eyes? You've seen him consume the 15 or so a day? You haven't found any dead or chewed up feeders in the enclosure? I'm wracking my brain to think of what might cause him to be so underweight if it's not parasites.

I ask a lot of questions out of care for you and your Cham - please don't read it as any sort of judgment or interrogation, as that's not my intent. :)
Agreed there is no judgement here at all we all just want to help you and your sweet baby.
 
I'm really worried about his weight here. With chameleons, we look at things like casque, cheeks, and legs. Your lovely little guy's casque and cheeks are severely sunken in, his legs are nothing but bones and you shouldn't be able to see the vertebrae of his spine in his tail/back.

What size are the feeders you're giving him? Are they smaller than the space between his eyes? You've seen him consume the 15 or so a day? You haven't found any dead or chewed up feeders in the enclosure? I'm wracking my brain to think of what might cause him to be so underweight if it's not parasites.

I ask a lot of questions out of care for you and your Cham - please don't read it as any sort of judgment or interrogation, as that's not my intent. :)
No worries, I sincerely appreciate the help. I think I’d accidentally mis-written the issue with his eating. Whoops 🤦🏻‍♀️

I feed him the extra small Dubia roaches, medium BSLF and I believe the small superworms (that he rarely eats). I had been cup feeding him, which he was doing fine with. He eventually stopped eating from the cup, but he will eat if I release them into the enclosure. I had spoken to someone in a Facebook group about this, and was told to stop doing that so that he will get back into cup feeding again. I didn’t do that, because I didn’t want him to starve. I haven’t seen any dead bugs/chewed bugs in the enclosure. Unless they had all somehow ended up buried in the plant soil or underneath the rocks. I want to change to a feeder run as advised previously, then I can monitor that easily.
 
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