Do some chams look dehydrated when they really arent?

[camaleonte82]

my male veiled looks dehydrated but i see him drink and his waste is not yellow or orange or anything and he doesnt look dry he just has eyes that are sunken in slightly and i wondered if maybe thats just how he looks? like some one who looks tired but they just have natural bags under their eyes (like my mom lol)

 

[Elizadolots]

How long have you had him? How old is he?

Ya know...I could ask you a million questions...the best thing would be for you to fill out the https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/ form (copy the questions in that link, paste them into a reply, provide your information). That will cover most of the questions (there will always be more, there always are).

 

[camaleonte82]

How long have you had him? How old is he?

Ya know...I could ask you a million questions...the best thing would be for you to fill out the https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/ form (copy the questions in that link, paste them into a reply, provide your information). That will cover most of the questions (there will always be more, there always are).

well. healthy. i deff will fill it out.
its just that i had the vet look at him and the only symptom of dehydration is the eyes.... hes about 4 months so maybe its a growing thing?
or maybe he was dehydrated and is now not but his eyes havent .... "popped" back out yet lol. its just something that occured to me while i was looking at him. maybe his eyes dont look it.... but to me they do.

 

[Elizadolots]

They aren't puppies...they come into the world with fully developed turrets (that's what the fused eyelids are called).

The thing is, eyes are sort of a general "tell" of a chameleon with a problem. Not unlike humans. I can see when my husband or my daughter has a fever, I don't need a thermometer. It's something about the way their eyelids hang.

So, the fact that you are concerned about your chameleon's eyes suggests there might be some problem completely unrelated to dehydration. That's why I'm suggesting you fill out the form....it might be something really unrelated to eyes or hydration.

 

[Seeco]

Ya I agree it could be something else. Can you post a good pic?

 

[camaleonte82]

bad news - camera is broken (i suspect it was dropped and somebody is hiding the fact they dropped it)
good news (and kinda bad) he was/ is dehydrated and my fiance forgot to tell me. what a genius im engaged to. rehydrating our cham and even posting about it (we share this account) and not telling me urgh lol

 

[Olimpia]

Well, nothing a good shower or two can't fix right up!

I will mention, just for anyone curious, that I've had a panther or two who would sunk in his eyes in fury whenever I handled him. It was just part of his stress ritual, he would get black and his eyes would sink in if we were doing something terrifying like being at the vet or administering medicine. If you let him go again his color would normalize and his eyes would pop right back out to normal. It had nothing to do with his hydration, just his stress.

So chameleons who are feeling stress (either by being unhappy or unwell) will sink in their eyes.

 

[carol5208]

Well, nothing a good shower or two can't fix right up!

I will mention, just for anyone curious, that I've had a panther or two who would sunk in his eyes in fury whenever I handled him. It was just part of his stress ritual, he would get black and his eyes would sink in if we were doing something terrifying like being at the vet or administering medicine. If you let him go again his color would normalize and his eyes would pop right back out to normal. It had nothing to do with his hydration, just his stress.

So chameleons who are feeling stress (either by being unhappy or unwell) will sink in their eyes.

I agree with this. When my one cham saw the other close up he actually sunk his eyes in! I had never seen that before and it kinda freaked me out at first but then they went back to normal!!

 

[camaleonte82]

Well, nothing a good shower or two can't fix right up!

I will mention, just for anyone curious, that I've had a panther or two who would sunk in his eyes in fury whenever I handled him. It was just part of his stress ritual, he would get black and his eyes would sink in if we were doing something terrifying like being at the vet or administering medicine. If you let him go again his color would normalize and his eyes would pop right back out to normal. It had nothing to do with his hydration, just his stress.

So chameleons who are feeling stress (either by being unhappy or unwell) will sink in their eyes.

so thats what that is! my female panther does that. i thought her eye just itched lol. ive seen her eye get really big and her rub it and the vet said it was just an irritant and that she was getting rid of it and so i thought thats what that was

 

[sandrachameleon]

so thats what that is! my female panther does that. i thought her eye just itched lol. ive seen her eye get really big and her rub it and the vet said it was just an irritant and that she was getting rid of it and so i thought thats what that was

your vet is correct. Bulging the eyes out and moving them is one way they clean them, a bit like us blinking

pulling the eyes inwards as a stress response is different

If urate is orange or largely yellow, that's a good indication of dehydration. Count on that if the look of him isnt helpful

 

[camaleonte82]

your vet is correct. Bulging the eyes out and moving them is one way they clean them, a bit like us blinking

pulling the eyes inwards as a stress response is different

If urate is orange or largely yellow, that's a good indication of dehydration. Count on that if the look of him isnt helpful

his urate was orange the other day but i hadnt seen any lately because my fiance has been cleaning the cages. i saw a couple of his today and its white. and his eyes are looking better. we are in the process of making a "Chameleon Board" so we can each write whats going on with each cham from day to day so in case we forget or for the days when our schedules dont allow us to see much of each other. so our cham board will be prolly one next to each cage and will have food, health and over all cage info. and whenever we feed, clean or do anything or notice anything we write it down for the other to see so that way this lack of communication doesnt happen again

 

[sandrachameleon]

...we are in the process of making a "Chameleon Board" so we can each write whats going on with each cham from day to day so in case we forget or for the days when our schedules dont allow us to see much of each other. so our cham board will be prolly one next to each cage and will have food, health and over all cage info. and whenever we feed, clean or do anything or notice anything we write it down for the other to see so that way this lack of communication doesnt happen again

great plan! I used to keep a very detailed daily log of what each chameleon ate, what supplements I used, whether or not there was poop, monthly weights, .... I found it quite useful to refer to.
I'm a little less finatic about it now, but I still keep track of some stuff and watch for changes / concerns.