Tyaeda
Established Member
Unable to find a decent vet, my husband and I have been extremely stressed out about Mr.Pink's condition. We have no clue what's wrong with him, and we are becoming more and more desperate.
I'm going to list his symptoms in the order of which they started to appear. Can one of the very experienced owners, or chameleon vets here please try and help us?!?!
- Right eye closed, able to open it to eat, but remains closed most of the time.
- Began to shed. Took him to the vet who said that he has shed caught in his eye. Prescribed Ciloxan (antibiotic) eye drops (1 drop, 3 times a day) His left eye molted first, he blinked it a lot but it did not stay closed.
- His left eye seemed ok after the shed, little to no improvement in right eye.
- His left eye is almost as bad as his right now. He keeps both eyes closed most of the time, and only opens them to eat, or if we take him out of the cage for his eye drops/ saline rinse. (we are unable to figure out how to fill his eye turret, but after the saline rinse and drops, he swishes it around in his eye) When he washes his eyes he inflates them and moves his eyes around.
- I've noticed that his tongue reach has decreased substantially. He is only able to shoot it out about 2-3 inches.
- He is extremely disturbed by mistings. He normally likes to be misted, but now he runs (sometimes with his eyes closed) away whenever he is exposed to water.
- He seems much less interested in food. I'm only able to get 4-6 crickets in him a day, if anything. I gave him 3 small pieces of strawberry, which he ate, because I was worried about his hydration.
He's hasn't gotten worse in the last 2-3 days, but he is not getting better.
Here is my husbandry form.
Your Chameleon - Male, Veiled. 5 Months old (approx), had him for 2 months.
Handling - Multiple times a day to administer eye drops and rinse with saline.
Feeding - He's eating some crickets but his appetite has decreased significantly in the last week. Yesterday he ate 5 crickets, and 3 pieces of strawberry. He has not eaten yet today.
Supplements - Exoterra calcium without d3 every feeding. Exo terra mult + cal w/ d3 every two weeks.
Watering - I used to see him drink, but now I don't. He is misted manually a few times a day, plus his mister comes on for 60 sec every hour.
Fecal Description - Large poo, with white urate. Looks like he's pooping at least once every 2 days.
History - I bought him from a local reptile specialty store / reptile zoo. They only had him a day, but said he was from a breeder in Russia. Don't know the significance of that, if any.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - 2x2x4' tall, screen enclosure that we built ourselves out of pine 2x2's and aluminum screen.
Lighting - We have a 50W basking light, along with a brand new Repti Glo 5.0 UVB linear tube. We used to have the coil bulb, and a grow light that have both been removed. Before we went with the linear tube we changed his bulb to a 150 UVB coil, his eye closed that day, so we took it out immediately after we noticed the eye problem.
Temperature - Basking is usually 80*F - 85*F, Ambient is usually 70 - 80 during the day. Lowest overnight was 60*. We have two humidity/temp gauges, one near the basking, one near the middle portion on the opposite side from the lights.
Humidity - 20 - 50 % Humidity, maintained through misting system that goes off for 60 seconds, every hour. He used to drink from the spouts when they drip but I haven't seen him do that in a while. I have also been misting manually a lot more since this issue started. I also gave him a few 15 minute showers that pissed him off.
Plants - 2 pothos, and a bunch of fake foliage.
Placement - In the corner, between two windows, in my dining room. I have four cats that don't pay any attention to him. But other than that, it's only my husband and myself.
Location - Ontario, Canada
I'm going to take a series of pictures, and possibly a video. If you have ANY questions that aren't already answered in the post, PLEASE ASK!
I'm going to list his symptoms in the order of which they started to appear. Can one of the very experienced owners, or chameleon vets here please try and help us?!?!
- Right eye closed, able to open it to eat, but remains closed most of the time.
- Began to shed. Took him to the vet who said that he has shed caught in his eye. Prescribed Ciloxan (antibiotic) eye drops (1 drop, 3 times a day) His left eye molted first, he blinked it a lot but it did not stay closed.
- His left eye seemed ok after the shed, little to no improvement in right eye.
- His left eye is almost as bad as his right now. He keeps both eyes closed most of the time, and only opens them to eat, or if we take him out of the cage for his eye drops/ saline rinse. (we are unable to figure out how to fill his eye turret, but after the saline rinse and drops, he swishes it around in his eye) When he washes his eyes he inflates them and moves his eyes around.
- I've noticed that his tongue reach has decreased substantially. He is only able to shoot it out about 2-3 inches.
- He is extremely disturbed by mistings. He normally likes to be misted, but now he runs (sometimes with his eyes closed) away whenever he is exposed to water.
- He seems much less interested in food. I'm only able to get 4-6 crickets in him a day, if anything. I gave him 3 small pieces of strawberry, which he ate, because I was worried about his hydration.
He's hasn't gotten worse in the last 2-3 days, but he is not getting better.
Here is my husbandry form.
Your Chameleon - Male, Veiled. 5 Months old (approx), had him for 2 months.
Handling - Multiple times a day to administer eye drops and rinse with saline.
Feeding - He's eating some crickets but his appetite has decreased significantly in the last week. Yesterday he ate 5 crickets, and 3 pieces of strawberry. He has not eaten yet today.
Supplements - Exoterra calcium without d3 every feeding. Exo terra mult + cal w/ d3 every two weeks.
Watering - I used to see him drink, but now I don't. He is misted manually a few times a day, plus his mister comes on for 60 sec every hour.
Fecal Description - Large poo, with white urate. Looks like he's pooping at least once every 2 days.
History - I bought him from a local reptile specialty store / reptile zoo. They only had him a day, but said he was from a breeder in Russia. Don't know the significance of that, if any.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - 2x2x4' tall, screen enclosure that we built ourselves out of pine 2x2's and aluminum screen.
Lighting - We have a 50W basking light, along with a brand new Repti Glo 5.0 UVB linear tube. We used to have the coil bulb, and a grow light that have both been removed. Before we went with the linear tube we changed his bulb to a 150 UVB coil, his eye closed that day, so we took it out immediately after we noticed the eye problem.
Temperature - Basking is usually 80*F - 85*F, Ambient is usually 70 - 80 during the day. Lowest overnight was 60*. We have two humidity/temp gauges, one near the basking, one near the middle portion on the opposite side from the lights.
Humidity - 20 - 50 % Humidity, maintained through misting system that goes off for 60 seconds, every hour. He used to drink from the spouts when they drip but I haven't seen him do that in a while. I have also been misting manually a lot more since this issue started. I also gave him a few 15 minute showers that pissed him off.
Plants - 2 pothos, and a bunch of fake foliage.
Placement - In the corner, between two windows, in my dining room. I have four cats that don't pay any attention to him. But other than that, it's only my husband and myself.
Location - Ontario, Canada
I'm going to take a series of pictures, and possibly a video. If you have ANY questions that aren't already answered in the post, PLEASE ASK!