Eye Irritation?

[Shaner]

Sorry this is so long.

Cage Info:

Cage Type - Home Made open cage made of oak and small chicken wire.

What are the dimensions? 24"(H)x20"(W)x20"(L)

Lighting - Exo-Terra Linear UVB 5.0 Tube and 2 75W heat
lights (our basement is cold in the winter)

What is your daily lighting schedule? 7am-8pm
Temperature - 85 - 90 (basking), Mid cage range 75 - 80 base of cage 70-75, night time 65

Humidity - 60-75%, Drip system, and misting
Plants - Are you using live plants? Live, 1 Ficus posted here https://www.chameleonforums.com/live-plant-approval-21483/ I can't remember the name sorry.

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? Low traffic area and the cage is 5 feet off the floor. No excess noise or fans

Location - Where are you geographically located? Ontario Canada

Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - Female Tamatave, around 7 months old in my care since October of 08, got her as a baby.

Handling - little to none, she gets stressed out and hisses and try's to bite me, never used to be like this (maybe sick??)

Feeding - Super Worms (staple) put 6 in the feeder cup and she eats 4/day. Gut loaded with fruit and oatmeal. She won't eat any other bug tried crix, butters, wax, horn, silks she just ignores them.

Supplements - Zoo Med Calcium Powder without D3. No vitamins (have never tried any). Dusted every feeding. No calcium buildup around the nostrils.

Watering - Drip system and drinks daily.

Fecal Description - brown-black and white urates, never been tested for parasites.

History - Never been to the vet, always been healthy.

Current Problem - Worried about her left eye. I see her with it closed every so often and she rubs it against branches. looks like she is trying to work something out of it. She closes her eye and bulges it outwords (looks like she is trying to pop her eye out of the socket). I suspect maybe some shed got into her eye? She had her eye closed, and then opened it and it looked like something was in there, so she shut her eye again and opened it up again and it was gone. She sheds no problems all skin comes off without issue. I had this with one of my other chams and the vet gave her a shot of vitamin A. Any suggestions or help is appreciated. I may just be worried about nothing but better to be safe than sorry. If I could get her out of the cage without her trying to eat my hand I would try to see if I can coax whatever is in there out with using a Q-tip and gently rubbing the area when her eye is shut.

 

[Shaner]

Hello all,

I brought her into see the vet on Monday. Turns out it was retained shed in the eye. They managed to get the retained shed out. I got a flotation test done and she has coccidia.

So the vet gave her a shot of Baycox 0.05 was the dose, and I will have to get another float test done in a couple of weeks. To help out with the shedding she was also given a shot of vitamin A dose 0.20.

I called the vet again today, as ever since I brought her back from the vet, she has been very lethargic. I have not seen her eat yet but I have seen her drink. She seems to be very dark (my guess is stressed) but she is now sleeping during the day. They noted it and asked me if I wanted to bring her in tomorrow, which I most likely will, but I was wondering, can all of these things cause her to be exhausted?

I can only hope that this is the reason, anyone have any suggestions on what can be the cause of this, or has anyone experienced anything like this after a vet visit?

 

[JackAttack]

was she lethargic before the medicine? did the vet tell you how much coccidia she had in her body? some coccidia can live in the intestines and not affect the cham........some it does. she's probably stressed from the medicine, some meds can affect their appetite....was she healthy/acting normally other than the shed in her eye?

 

[Shaner]

Yeah she was active, running around, eating and drinking, puffing up and hissing at me when my hand got too close to her lol, other than the eye everything seemed good. I got my fiancé to check on her today at noonish, and she was moving around, slowly coming back to colour, she was more like a chocolate brown than black today.

So I called the vet and asked about medicine doing it's thing and all that fun stuff, and she said if it is stress from the meds it will take a few days before she gets back to normal, give it until Monday and if she is still dark and sleeping bring her in.

Called home at 3:30 and she is sleeping again...DAMNIT. Well I will just wait it out until Monday like the vet said and hopefully she will make it through without another visit. Poor thing, she is stressed enough as it is.

 

[JackAttack]

just a little strange they'd give her medicine if the problem was just that something was stuck in her eye thats all ive had some bad experiences recently with a vet medicating my cham unnecessarily its not fun, and they often react not so good to medicine. hopefully your cham gets over the meds quickly, make sure she's getting lots of water.

 

[JackAttack]

also, does she ever get d3 supps?............i had some senior members tell me they should be getting d3 supps about twice a month or so, just dusted on food. i know you said that she ignores all other foods, but you should try her on some crickets, some members here also told me that they are close to the kinds of bugs they'd find in the wild, and arent as fattening as supers. might be easier for her to eat while she's not feeling well???

also, is she closing both eyes? or just the one that is irritated?

 

[Shaner]

Yeah she gets D3 supplementation twice a month. She also just closes the one eye mainly, but sometimes I catch her sleeping. If this continues she is going back in on Monday.

Good luck with your chameleon, I read the thread you posted, poor thing, I hope it all goes well with your cham. Keep us posted on it's status.