Chameleon occasionally keeping eyes closed

Senate

New Member
Hello all! My 8 month old panther Cham named Van Gogh has been having some issues for the past month. This is all the information I’ve collected regarding it.

He keeps his eyes closed for a majority of the day, occasionally opening them to get a drink of water. If he feels any sort of vibration, such as tapping on his terrarium, he also opens his eyes.

He has not been eating independently. I’ve been feeding him 7-10 medium sized dubia roaches (smaller than his head) dusted with calcium for the past few months and he seemed to love them. Once a week I give him calcium with d3. I gave him a week after I noticed he wasn’t eating in case he was going into a shed and was just moody, but that isn’t the case. I’ve had to hand feed him reptaboost to keep his weight up and he seems to eat it well.

He has had some eye irritation due to stuck shed in his eye for the past month which is what I thought was causing the issues since he stopped eating when his eye started bothering him. I’ve been using flunkers repta rinse in both eyes which has gotten rid of the stuck shed but the symptoms remain.

He for sure does not have a respiratory infection, no runny nose or fluids dripping from the mouth and no crackling noises when he breathes.

He is 8 months old and weighs roughly 40 grams, he’s never been a great eater. I purchased him from FL Chams (regretfully before I read the complains). He has no parasites, no MBD, and no other symptoms.

His setup is a reptibreeze 24 x 24 x 48 mesh screen terrarium with a reptisun T5 24 inch terrarium hood and light. The average humidity of his enclosure is 65-80% and the average temperature is 75-86 Fahrenheit. He gets misted three times a day to keep up the humidity. He’s usually been handled 1-3 times a week but it’s been everyday now due to having to give him reptaboost.

Any advice is greatly appreciated as I’m having trouble pinning down what could be the cause or if it’s just that eye bothering him still.
 
Welcome to the forum!

Can you please post some photos of your chameleons cage including the lights an some recent photos of your chameleon so we can see all of him.
 
Welcome to the forum!

Can you please post some photos of your chameleons cage including the lights an some recent photos of your chameleon so we can see all of him.
Of course! I forgot to mention, his enclosure is in front of a window for the extra warmth. This window point out to my backyard so there should be nothing to disturb him since it’s gated and there are not feral cats. The bottom half of the window is tinted and the top half has a rainbow film over it.
 

Attachments

  • 39F1359E-8470-4A8D-9789-D1F0131666D2.jpeg
    39F1359E-8470-4A8D-9789-D1F0131666D2.jpeg
    221 KB · Views: 114
  • 4BE0B7E2-7B84-4642-BF3F-030FA4FE4BB5.jpeg
    4BE0B7E2-7B84-4642-BF3F-030FA4FE4BB5.jpeg
    168.1 KB · Views: 123
  • 4D76C242-3854-4177-83AD-7234A459C9ED.jpeg
    4D76C242-3854-4177-83AD-7234A459C9ED.jpeg
    381.8 KB · Views: 109
  • D4BC812E-AEF4-494D-9FFA-612FE0402416.jpeg
    D4BC812E-AEF4-494D-9FFA-612FE0402416.jpeg
    244.8 KB · Views: 118
  • 7296957E-38A7-46D8-B63A-372CF28E4FBB.jpeg
    7296957E-38A7-46D8-B63A-372CF28E4FBB.jpeg
    145.4 KB · Views: 118
That just might be your guy’s problem. I like and use ReptiVite, which will need to be given at one feeding every other week. Since you’re also giving the D3 too often, I’m going to say to make things very simple. Put your calcium with D3 away…you won’t need it. Continue to lightly dust at every feeding with calcium without D3 except for once every other week. Then for that feeding every other week you’ll use ReptiVite with D3. The ReptiVite has preformed vitamin A, which will help your guy’s eyes to improve. It will take a bit of time but can’t be rushed, as preformed vitamin A is fat soluble and having it build up in the body can be just as bad. When I got my panther, he too hadn’t received any multivitamins and had eye issues. After just the first use I saw a little improvement. After about 6-8 months his eyes and other issues were completely resolved.
It will also help him greatly to make sure to keep your insect feeders well fed a variety of fresh produce so that they will be more nutritious for him. Not sure if these graphics will help, but here they are anyhow.
6D6DFEA3-9591-421F-8825-91E1FBBE0EE7.jpeg
A9E748DF-05DA-4D0D-AF53-A1BE85BB3367.jpeg
 
That just might be your guy’s problem. I like and use ReptiVite, which will need to be given at one feeding every other week. Since you’re also giving the D3 too often, I’m going to say to make things very simple. Put your calcium with D3 away…you won’t need it. Continue to lightly dust at every feeding with calcium without D3 except for once every other week. Then for that feeding every other week you’ll use ReptiVite with D3. The ReptiVite has preformed vitamin A, which will help your guy’s eyes to improve. It will take a bit of time but can’t be rushed, as preformed vitamin A is fat soluble and having it build up in the body can be just as bad. When I got my panther, he too hadn’t received any multivitamins and had eye issues. After just the first use I saw a little improvement. After about 6-8 months his eyes and other issues were completely resolved.
It will also help him greatly to make sure to keep your insect feeders well fed a variety of fresh produce so that they will be more nutritious for him. Not sure if these graphics will help, but here they are anyhow.
View attachment 331359View attachment 331360
Thank you so much!
 
Here’s the progression of my guy.
About a week after I first got him.
838963CC-3D92-4C53-908A-133D04FF8473.jpeg

As his eyes were clearing up, he started to lose his color. While some panther chams do go thru a seasonal dulling of colors, I wasn’t sure if it was that or a part of his recovery process. He almost became like a ghost!




04CE25B3-F9F6-4844-81FB-9ECC03D525FA.jpeg

FF891CF9-74ED-4422-A7EF-0D2EBE02E41F.jpeg

After 4-6 months of being super pale, his colors just started to come back almost overnight. His bad eye would still at rare times seem to be a problem, but would clear on it’s own within a day.

64CD700D-7322-440A-B0CA-211296DDE41D.jpeg

This is my guy about a full year after I first got him and how he continues today, another year later.
E888AF31-FF81-45FD-A93B-16396676CB85.jpeg
 
Here’s the progression of my guy.
About a week after I first got him.
View attachment 331362
As his eyes were clearing up, he started to lose his color. While some panther chams do go thru a seasonal dulling of colors, I wasn’t sure if it was that or a part of his recovery process. He almost became like a ghost!




View attachment 331363
View attachment 331364
After 4-6 months of being super pale, his colors just started to come back almost overnight. His bad eye would still at rare times seem to be a problem, but would clear on it’s own within a day.

View attachment 331365
This is my guy about a full year after I first got him and how he continues today, another year later.
View attachment 331366
Wow what a beautiful recovery! Thank you for your advice!
 
Back
Top Bottom