concerned about his eyes

[angelinave12]

hello my chameleons is around 2 years old and today i noticed that he had his eye closed (i could not tell if the other one was closed because it was facing the wall and when i got close he immediately opened his eye) this was the first time i’ve noticed it. I also notice about a week ago that his casque seems to be a bit swollen. he’s still very active, eats regularly, rarely goes to the bottom of his cage, and even though his colors might seem a bit dark that’s the way they’ve always been. I’m super concerned but i can’t afford to take him the the vet i’m 18 and i don’t really have the support of my parents, does anyone know what might be going on with nygma?

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi and welcome back. Is this the same chameleon you had posted about in 2020? I see that your husbandry was reviewed back then, but I do see some issues with your current set up so think it should be done again. Just copy/paste with your answers and we can get your sweet guy back to his best health.
Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

--------------

Please Note:

1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
2. Photos can be very helpful.

 

[angelinave12]

Hi and welcome back. Is this the same chameleon you had posted about in 2020? I see that your husbandry was reviewed back then, but I do see some issues with your current set up so think it should be done again. Just copy/paste with your answers and we can get your sweet guy back to his best health.
Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

--------------

Please Note:

1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
2. Photos can be very helpful.

• Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon, male, around 2 1/2 years old, i’ve had him for 2 years
• Handling - hes not often maybe once a month he’s not to big of a fan of coming out of his cage.
• Feeding - I feed nygma super worms and horned worms as a snack (he’s very picky with what he eats, he’ll eat crickets for 3 days then he’ll reuse to eat them for another month). he eats around 8-12 worms.? I feed him every other day and he gets treats maybe 2 or 3 times every 2 weeks. I’ll gut load with carrots,sometimes oats, and rarely apples.
• Supplements - I use flukes repta calcium that’s vitamin d3 and i dust his worms twice a week.
• Watering - I have a dripper and i mist when he wakes up and i try to mist before 5, i see him drinking, he likes to drip from the plant leaves.
• fecal description - his droppings look normal it’s brown and the urate is a cream white. nygma has never been tested for parasites.
• History - there’s no concerning history about nygma he’s been content with no health issues to my knowledge. he might have been under some stress because i’ve had to board him over thanksgiving and christmas break due to the fact that my parents took me out of town and i had no one to come over and help me out with him.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - He has a mesh cage that is 60x45x90
• Lighting - I have a normal house light 75w for his basking that i recently changed just for good measure and im going to be completely honest i remember i had the wrong compound light and i did get that fixed and bought the correct property light for him but i don’t remember which one i got and i threw away the box i turn on his lights around 9:30am and i try to be consistent with turning them off around 9:30pm but sometimes i slip and don’t turn then off till around 10pm
• Temperature - his ambient temperature is about 75 and his basking is about 86-88. recently i haven’t been keeping track of the temp at night but it hasn’t been cold recently, if it does get cold i turn on his heat emitter. i have a thermometer that i bought on amazon and i also have a temp gun.
• Humidity - The humidity levels are around 45-47 and i maintain by misting his cage, i use the thermometer from amazon to check.
• Plants - I normally have 2 pothos plants but i am by no means have a green thumb and i know they’re “easy to take care of” but they ALWAYS die on me and i have to replace them, i’ve tried very thing to keep them alive and i just can’t.
• Placement - My cage is located on top of a filing cabinet that is just for decoration i only keep his items in the top drawer, he is in the corner of my room but i do have a fan in the middle of my roof, his is not in a high traffic area it’s just me in my room. The top of the cage is at 6’8 1/2
• Location - I’m located w/s florida
• i’m concerned about the fact that I walked into my room and saw that he had his eyes closed momentarily around 8 PM, his casque seemed to be inflamed/swollen I noticed this about two weeks ago shortly after I picked him up from boarding. I did tell the boarding place that he only eat super worms but when I looked in his feeding cup they did serve him crickets I don’t know if that has anything to do with his issue but I have heard that crickets will attack the casque and cause liquid to appear in there casque. If anyone can help me understand what’s going on or give suggestions on how to help his please please please let me know!

 

[MissSkittles]

I’ll be putting my feedback in bold. Since I tend to talk a lot, I’ll break this down into two parts.

• Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon, male, around 2 1/2 years old, i’ve had him for 2 years
• Handling - hes not often maybe once a month he’s not to big of a fan of coming out of his cage.
• Feeding - I feed nygma super worms and horned worms as a snack (he’s very picky with what he eats, he’ll eat crickets for 3 days then he’ll reuse to eat them for another month). That’s odd for a veiled to be so picky. Superworms are not a good staple because they are so fatty. It’s like us eating candy for every meal. You really need to break his habit and get him eating other and better feeders. he eats around 8-12 worms.? That’s a lot of feeders. I give all of my chameleons 3-4 feeders, 3 days a week plus occasional treats. I feed him every other day and he gets treats maybe 2 or 3 times every 2 weeks. I’ll gut load with carrots,sometimes oats, and rarely apples. This keeps your bugs alive, but isn’t enough to make them very nutritious. Attaching feeder and gutload graphics below.
  From the pics, your handsome guy is overweight. Not only is his casque puffy, but his cheeks too. You need to correct his diet asap by providing a variety of healthy staple feeders that have been kept fed a varied diet of fresh produce. I don’t gutload, but I do keep my bugs fed all of the time with things like various squashes, sweet potato, bell pepper, low oxalates greens (dandelion, mustard, turnip, collard) and just a little bit of fruit (usually berries). Crickets, roaches, bsfl, silkworms are great staple feeders. There are some places that sell variety packs of feeders. Being in Florida, try http://www.lindasgonebuggie.com/ She has very good prices for some bugs and is usually quick with shipping. Also check the forum sponsors like https://dubiaroaches.com/ Dubia are illegal here, but we can have discoid roaches.
• Supplements - I use flukes repta calcium that’s vitamin d3 and i dust his worms twice a week. This is a biggie and I’ll guess a good part of the reason for him to be closing his eyes. Chameleons need to have calcium without D3 lightly dusted on every feeding. The calcium with D3 is to be given only one feeding every other week. Then, one feeding every other week he needs a good multivitamin. So on days 1 & 15, he gets calcium with D3 and days 7 & 29 he gets a multivitamin. OR as an alternative and much easier regimen, still the calcium without D3 every feeding, but then one feeding every other week you give a multivitamin/D3 combo such as Repashy calcium plus LoD or Reptivite with D3. I don’t recommend any brands of combos but these two.
  Vitamin D3 is fat soluble, meaning it takes time for the body to process and eliminate it. Because of this, it can build up to toxic levels in the body if given too much. Your guy has a build up of D3 plus he hasn’t been getting any other vitamins or minerals.
• Watering - I have a dripper and i mist when he wakes up and i try to mist before 5, i see him drinking, he likes to drip from the plant leaves. Yes, is ideal to mist for at least 2 minutes, at least twice a day - right before lights on/off. For mid day, you can either set up a dripper for about 15-20 minutes or give a 1 minute misting.
• fecal description - his droppings look normal it’s brown and the urate is a cream white. nygma has never been tested for parasites. It’s always a good idea to have a fecal check for parasites. For all anyone knows, he could not be feeling well from a parasite problem.
• History - there’s no concerning history about nygma he’s been content with no health issues to my knowledge. he might have been under some stress because i’ve had to board him over thanksgiving and christmas break due to the fact that my parents took me out of town and i had no one to come over and help me out with him.
• 
  
  
  To be continued….

 

[MissSkittles]

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - He has a mesh cage that is 60x45x90 That is an unusual measurement. Is that inches or centimeters? It looks like a ReptiBreeze or similar.
• Lighting - I have a normal house light 75w for his basking that i recently changed just for good measure and im going to be completely honest i remember i had the wrong compound light and i did get that fixed and bought the correct property light for him but i don’t remember which one i got and i threw away the box i turn on his lights around 9:30am and i try to be consistent with turning them off around 9:30pm but sometimes i slip and don’t turn then off till around 10pm What about uvb? Back in 2020 you said you had a T5 and were using a 10.0 bulb. What happened to the T5 fixture? That’s what he needs, along with either a 5.0 ReptiSun or 6% Arcadia bulb. Right now he’s getting no uvb, which is another serious problem contributing to his not feeling well. Uvb acts as sunlight and provides our bodies to naturally produce vitamin D3. The natural D3 is different, as it doesn’t build up in the body like the supplement.
• Temperature - his ambient temperature is about 75 and his basking is about 86-88. Ok. I keep my boys around 85. recently i haven’t been keeping track of the temp at night but it hasn’t been cold recently, if it does get cold i turn on his heat emitter. Unless his temps get below around 55F, no need to use additional heat at night. You want to give him a nice cool and preferably humid night. i have a thermometer that i bought on amazon and i also have a temp gun.
• Humidity - The humidity levels are around 45-47 and i maintain by misting his cage, i use the thermometer from amazon to check. That’s a bit at the higher end of the ideal 30-50%, but is ok. If at night you are able to consistently achieve a temp well below 68-70, you can add a cool mist humidifier to boost night humidity all the way up. That simulates the natural hydration of fog in the wild. Being in Florida, it’s very hard to get night temps low enough. I can’t get below 71-72 so don’t run a humidifier at night.
• Plants - I normally have 2 pothos plants but i am by no means have a green thumb and i know they’re “easy to take care of” but they ALWAYS die on me and i have to replace them, i’ve tried very thing to keep them alive and i just can’t. We need to figure out why your plants are dying and correct it. Veileds like to nibble at their plants and it can only take one bite of a fake plant to cause a serious bowel obstruction. My male doesn’t nibble much at all like my females, but I do see a few leaves with his little triangular bite marks. What happens when your plants die? What do they look like? How are you potting them? Let’s figure it out.
• Placement - My cage is located on top of a filing cabinet that is just for decoration i only keep his items in the top drawer, he is in the corner of my room but i do have a fan in the middle of my roof, his is not in a high traffic area it’s just me in my room. The top of the cage is at 6’8 1/2 Perfect!
• Location - I’m located w/s florida Cool! I’m on the space coast.
• i’m concerned about the fact that I walked into my room and saw that he had his eyes closed momentarily around 8 PM, his casque seemed to be inflamed/swollen I noticed this about two weeks ago shortly after I picked him up from boarding. I did tell the boarding place that he only eat super worms but when I looked in his feeding cup they did serve him crickets I don’t know if that has anything to do with his issue but I have heard that crickets will attack the casque and cause liquid to appear in there casque. If anyone can help me understand what’s going on or give suggestions on how to help his please please please let me know!

Crickets, if uneaten and left in an enclosure will bite/try to eat your chameleon unless you provide a small piece of something for them to eat. You would see small bite mark wounds and not necessarily on the casque. I believe the puffiness that you are seeing is just his being overweight. I’m not good at all about seeing certain types of edema, but @Beman is and maybe she can tell. The eyes closed is a serious concern and sign that he is feeling sick. While I’m not a vet, I’m going to guess that it’s the issues I pointed out in your husbandry. He needs correct supplements and uvb ASAP. It’s been difficult lately to find the correct uvb - most places are sold out. Usually, the Arcadia Pro T5 and ReptiSun 24” both will come with a uvb bulb. Just make sure the strength is right. PetSmart has been selling the Arcadia ProT5. I believe it’s about $65-70 with them, which isn’t bad considering you don’t need to pay shipping. I’ll look around and post some links if I find some that aren’t sold out.

 

[MissSkittles]

No idea why, but it’s super hard to find the Arcadia ProT5 with 6% uvb that is 24” long. I’ve seen them in PetSmart stores, but on line it looks like it comes with the 12% bulb, which is too strong for chams. This is the best I can do.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CX5HXI2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=
https://www.pangeareptile.com/colle...o-med-reptisun-t5-hood?variant=26907425734756
https://www.reptilebasics.com/t5-light-fixtures/arcadia-prot5-uvb-kit-24-with-bulb/
https://beanfarm.com/products/prot5...Dc_0_4GVt-FwrQBBWoS7kemqW_3J5vASAo66h9glQJK88

 

[Beman]

I do not see edema but he is holding quite a bit of weight. Everything else you suggested is spot on. Nothing else I can add here.

 

[Gingero]

You've gotten amazing advice!! Here is a video on eye issues that reiterates the advice shared so far in case that's easier to understand that way. If you can make the changes to your care, you should see improvements (pun intended)

 

[angelinave12]

hi everyone thank you so much for your help and advice, i’m sorry i went MIA my home life got very hectic but i changed his food to crickets. i did take take to the vet a few weeks ago and they said he’s completely healthy and i was already on the right track. they said i also needed to change his basking lamp so the temp was hotter other then that he’s okay.again thank you for all the help!!

 

[Bazelthechameleon]

hi everyone thank you so much for your help and advice, i’m sorry i went MIA my home life got very hectic but i changed his food to crickets. i did take take to the vet a few weeks ago and they said he’s completely healthy and i was already on the right track. they said i also needed to change his basking lamp so the temp was hotter other then that he’s okay.again thank you for all the help!!

I would still take the advice given to you here in addition to what the vet said because many exotic vets aren’t very experienced in chameleon husbandry. He’s quite chubby which can affect their lifespan and make them more prone to health issues and the supplementation definitely has to changed to prevent further issues. These peeps here are the experts! Good luck!

 

[kinyonga]

You said…”they said i also needed to change his basking lamp so the temp was hotter”…
IMHO I would not increase the basking temperature…I think it’s already a bit too high.