Chameleon discharge from eye? Help

[PatChame]

Thanks for checking this out. Today I noticed that my chameleon has had a bit of crust around his eye lid and hes kind of squinting. His other eye is fine and has no crust. Over the last month or so he has been getting a bump between his eyes on his head. at the time I did not think of it as much, just thought maybe he was getting a wart or something. who knows. Now though I feel like the two symptoms are connected. Possible eye infection or sinus infection. He lives in a pretty large cage that is screened. Hard to keep the humidity in it, but I mist him once a day and he drinks straight from the bottle when I put in the cage and have water leak from the tip. Right now so solve the humidity problem I just been running a humidifier by the cage, works well for him and me, being so dry in the winter. He's two years old, and seems healthy otherwise. Can anyone give me some good facts and advise on what to do? Bring him to a reptile vet or something? I don't know what to do, never been in this situation before with a reptile.

-Thank you!!!

 

[PrettyInInk87]

Best thing to do of course would be to take him to a Vet. For the mean time, doing lots of reading, I think a nice LONG warm shower would be good to help him rinse his eyes out and get all of the gunk out. I have no experience with this type of situation but have read a lot around here. Also, I have read that you can put some saline solution in his eye to help him further clean it out. Not the contact lens type but just regular saline solution... Good luck and keep us posted! Also, some pictures would be awesome.

 

[Silkyslim]

For us to give more informed advice you should probably fill out this form here

https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/

Also, some good pics would help very much.

From what you wrote you should be misting him way more than once a day. Ususally 3-5 is pretty normal. A little saline solution might help temporarily. It could be that something got in his eye and now that it is dryer out as you said he could have a hard time getting his eye clean. Perhaps you could try a warm shower or a very extended period of misting so he has a chance to attempt at cleaning his eye out on his own.

 

[PatChame]

Sorry, I didn't notice the thread for that.. heres the info and some picutre I just took.
Your Chameleon - Veiled, Male, about two years.
Handling - Sometimes I can trick him into walking on to my arm with treats. other than that he gets very stressed when handling.
Feeding - Feeding him crickets, and some times superworms. I feed him about 2-3 times a week. about 6-10 large crickets at a time, with superworms in between on the slower weeks.
schedule? I gut load and use cricket feed
Supplements - I use Rep-Cal and dust lightly every meal
Watering - I mist 1-2 times a day, and he drinks straight from the bottle. I just slowly let it drip like a water fountain, and he climbs down and drinks until he has had enough.
Fecal Description - Brown with white tip. Hard to say how often he poops though his cage is kind of large.
Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? No.
History - None.

Cage Info:
Cage Type -Screen, don't have the dementions, but I will upload a photo.
Lighting - I use a dome, with 100Wt bulb in it. Then also a UVB, don't remember what kind it was suggested from the store I bought him from.
Temperature - Lowest over night Temp is probably between 60-70 at Room temp.
Humidity - As I stated before I am using a humdifier by the cage.
Plants - I am using a live plant in the center of the cage, once again don't remember what kind, bought from a reptile store.
Placement -Check photo
Location - Minnesota. So north:]

 

[PrettyInInk87]

One thing I would suggest after looking at your enclosure picture would be to remove all substrate. With the frequent mistings it can be a breeding ground for bacteria, if your little guy got some in his eye it could have been the reason for the discharge. There is also a chance that your cham can miss while shooting at a Cricket and accidentally ingest some of it which can lead to impaction and possible death if not treated. Not to mention, it's A LOT easier to clean the cage and all you have to do is wipe it down.

Again, try showering him once a day for about 30 minutes with warm water, not too hot or too cold. It'll give him a chance to clean his eye out some. Face the shower head toward the wall, let the water bounce off, set your plant in the shower along with your Cham. (Don't know if you have given your little dudes showers before).

 

[PatChame]

Alright good info. Thanks, and no I have never given him a shower, this sounds awkward to do? Also I feed him his crickets in a bowl in the cage so they cant escape and bite him at night, from what I read this can happen, plus it makes feeding him easy. So would I take him out of the cage to get him in a shower lol? I really don't like handling him that much he hisses and gets very stressed, any suggestions for that ?

 

[PrettyInInk87]

You know? I don't have a Veiled myself but I have read that they (or any Cham at that) can be very territorial and once out of their cage, they "chill". I'd say, try grabbing a branch or twig and see if you can get him to climb onto it. If he does you can then take his tree out, place him on the tree, then place both him and the tree in the shower. Some Chams like showers and others don't. Of course you don't want to stress your little guy out but if you want to get him better, he might have to endure a little stress. Try the shower and monitor him while he's in there... If the shower doesn't work, try misting him HEAVILY many times a day. Try the shower first and see how that goes.

 

[kinyonga]

You need to take it to a vet to get the bump cleaned out and have a culture and sensitivity test done on the exudate from the lump so that the chameleon can be put on an antibiotic. Hopefully this will clear up the eye issue too.

 

[carol5208]

A couple of things I would like to add. Can you find out what type of UVB bulb you are using. It is important, such as are you using a tube or a compact, what name brand and also a 2.0, 5.0, 10.0etc. What are your basking temps? 100 watt seems extreme but it depends on how far your branch is away from the basking spot to produce the correct temp. What are your overall temps during the day before the drop at night. What exact supplement are you using? Calcium with d3, without? VERY important also! Also, I would put a horizontal branch for basking and also some other horizontal branches or vines in the cage. Everything is vertical and it looks like he is uncomfortable basking in the picture, if that is what he trying to do. Lastly, as Kinyonga stated you need to have that bump on his nose checked out. how long has that been there?.

 

[PatChame]

Exo Terra Repti Glo 5.0 Compact Tropical I would guess. He's just climbing down from his branch on to a log. He usually looks happy there. most of the time he will sleep there too. The bump has been there for like a month or so. I'm starting to feel bad that I haven't thought much of it. That calcium I use is called Rep-Cal No phosphorous and No Vit D3. is it suppost to have D3 in it then? Because I just got two free samples of repti calcium made by Zoo Med that has it in there. Should I switch to that ? I also put Reptisafe in his water which gives him some electrolytes including Calcium.

 

[Silkyslim]

Here are the 3 supplements you should be using.

 

[carol5208]

Me personally, I would change out the compact for a tube. Some people use the compacts, but it sure is weird that near every time there is an eye issue sure enough it turns out the keeper is using a compact. There was a study done awhile ago about compacts causing eye problems. Not saying that is for sure what is wrong with your cham. The majority of us on here use the Reptisun 5.0 linear tube with no issues whatsoever. i think after you get your cham to a vet, I would change out the bulb. It surely cannot hurt.

 

[Maxhemond]

I had the same problem just last night, noticed my male 2 yr old veiled had the sight in his right eye blocked with eye discharge or "sleep". i put a quarter teaspoon of kosher salt(doesn't have a lot of additives) into 1/2 cup of water to make 9% saline solution. I then dripped the solution into my chams eye until i could see that it was saturated into the eye discharge and kept doing so every time I noticed the saline had dried up. I also tried the steam shower for about 30 mins. I gave him one more eye drop before bed and when i woke up the entire eye had cleared up, no vet trip needed.

 

[carol5208]

I had the same problem just last night, noticed my male 2 yr old veiled had the sight in his right eye blocked with eye discharge or "sleep". i put a quarter teaspoon of kosher salt(doesn't have a lot of additives) into 1/2 cup of water to make 9% saline solution. I then dripped the solution into my chams eye until i could see that it was saturated into the eye discharge and kept doing so every time I noticed the saline had dried up. I also tried the steam shower for about 30 mins. I gave him one more eye drop before bed and when i woke up the entire eye had cleared up, no vet trip needed.

Chameleons don't get sleep in their eyes like we do. I just keep close watch and make sure you do not see it continually happening. It might be the start of an infection.