Closed Eyes Climbing/Loosing Weight

[RiftPoint]

Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - Veiled Chameleon, male, ~5months old, I've had him for almost 3 months
Handling - Almost never
Feeding - Crickets (small) gutloaded with Flukers gutloader, feeding cup
Supplements - dusted w/ Ca+D3 once a week, w/ Ca 5-6 days otherwise (both ZooMed)
Watering -Mistking 3x 1 min, 1x 5min and a dripper
Fecal Description - Haven't found droppings in a couple days (cleaned out some dry ones tonight, whitish with orange flakings in it). Never been tested for parasites.
History - Did something like this a couple weeks ago, but immediately began to shed


Cage Info:

Cage Type - Reptibreeze, all screen, 2'x2'x4'
Lighting - Reptiglo 5.0 T5 HO UVB, Phillips 75W flood (clear), 12/12 lighting schedule
Temperature - ~90F around the highest possible basking position, ~70F near the bottom of the cage (1 combo meter, 1 dedicated thermometer)
Humidity - Having trouble getting my hygrometer to read above 25% at all.
Plants - Draceanea, Schlefera, and Golden Pothos. All plants have medium sized stones placed over soil.
Placement -Dining room, in the back corner, top of cage is probably around 7-8' (almost to ceiling)
Location - Dracut, Massachusetts, USA


Current Problem:

He's been keeping his eyes closed mostly for the past week, and I can't tell if he's eaten more than 6 or 7 crickets max in that whole time frame. He's definitely lost weight, and his eyes are somewhat sunken in. I gave him a shower for about 1hr on Monday night and he drank for the last 15 minutes of it (didn't poop though, which I saw a couple of posts state that showering sometimes stimulates them to defecate?). He looked a little better on Tuesday, however its the day I get in late so he was asleep when I saw him.

He still seems strong, he doesn't lose his grip. And even though he keeps his eyes mostly closed he never grabs himself, he's just very methodical about his climbing. He still keeps his green color, and only shifts to brown if I have trouble catching him from the cage or if I need to shift the plants around a little during cleaning.

I've got a vet appointment scheduled for Saturday with a reptile vet in Nashua, but I'm wondering if there's anything I should be doing now. Should I be giving him another shower? Suggestions on trying to get him to eat? I could never get him to eat before, but I should also have some silkworms coming in tomorrow or Friday that maybe he'll have more interest in. I just don't know what to do since he keeps his eyes closed so much.

 

[JGspecial]

man, that sucks dude! i heard that if a cham has an eye problem that it may be a lack of vitamin A. i read it on here i cant remember where. the person put a tiny drop on 1 feeder or put a drop on a q tip and rubbed it on his gum and it helped the issue. you cant use too much or it actually hurts the chameleon. i could be wrong but thats the only thing that comes to mind.

btw, i live in dracut ma too!!! hahaha small world. i got 3 chameleons.

 

[carol5208]

He should be getting a multivitamin a couple of times a month. What do you feed your crickets?? Also 75 watt flood?? That seems strong. What about just using a 75 watt housebulb. Maybe the light is bother his eyes.

 

[RiftPoint]

He should be getting a multivitamin a couple of times a month. What do you feed your crickets?? Also 75 watt flood?? That seems strong. What about just using a 75 watt housebulb. Maybe the light is bother his eyes.

Yeh, I realized my lack of multivitamin the other week. I now have repcal multivitamin for him and dusted his crickets that I gave him this morning, but I don't think he's been eating. The crickets get flukers high calcium feed as well as carrots and kale.

I was originally on a lower "flood" (the type for recessed lighting), but I was only getting 75-80 for a basking temp, so I switched up. Most of what lowes and HD carry these days are all the energy efficient bulbs... I already changed off of my original setup, and changing lighting is fairly easy, so I'm willing to give it a try. But he barely opened his eyes during the shower gave him, and when I can see him hanging out in his plants (completely out of the light) his eyes are closed. Do problems caused by bright lights linger?

 

[RiftPoint]

Well, I got him to the vet today finally, but unfortunately I think that last bit of stress was the last straw... He had still seemed fairly strong up until today, but all the fight went out of him when I got him home from the appointment. The vet was thinking that he had picked up some sort of an eye infection, but she wasn't entirely sure. I managed to get a little critical care into him, and I had antibiotic ointment for his eyes, but I found him later on the bottom of his cage and shortly after that he passed on.

I'm still trying to figure out exactly where I messed up in taking care of him...

 

[carol5208]

Oh, I am so sorry that is passed away. The only thing I can see that might have caused a problem is using a flood light. I do think it could have hurt his eyes, but I don't know about causing his death. If you get another, be sure and switch out the light. Honestly, I am just taking a guess as that is the only thing I see that is out of the ordinary in your set up. My Lowes carries regular white housebulbs. I bought some 75 watt and 60 watt just the other day. The only other thing I was thinking was maybe an intestinal parasite. Always good to get a fecal done and rule that out.