Hello, I am new to the forum and a new Chameleon owner with an issue on my chams eye(s).
Here is the my information.
Chameleon Info: •Female, Veiled Chameleon, 3-4 months, about 6 inches long or so with the tail, 6/2/2010
•Handling - Often since I am administering eye drops. But not more then needed. We are trying to handle her as little as possible.
•Feeding - 8-10 small crickets a day (and I was feeding her 5-7 waxworms a day at the direction of the pet store rep. but since I have been reviewing the forum it seems like I should be feeding her those on a regular basis so I haven’t been for the past 2 days. I am feeding the crickets commercial cricket food (Flukers Orange cube complete cricket diet, changing cubes every other day, and collard greens, orange peel)
•Supplements - Reptivite w/ D3 (I have only dusted the crickets once a week, twice so far but I was going to go down to twice a month unless that is to much. Chameleon Dust by T-Rex, it has D3 and I was dusting the crickets with it daily and after reading through the forum realized too much D3 is bad and stopped dusting crickets with it and will do it twice a month unless someone thinks that is too much. I am not sure about the brand. I ordered Rep-Cal Calcium - Phosphorus and Vitamin D3 Free from LLL two days ago and I was not going to dust any crickets until I get that. Our local pet stores don’t sell that brand.
•Watering - I have seen our chameleon drink occasionally. I don’t think she likes doing it when she knows you are watching. I am misting twice a day for about a min or two. Last Friday I made a dripper that drips about one drop every 5 seconds and it last about 5-6hrs. Thinking about getting an automister in the future to help keep humidity up.
•Fecal Description - Brown and gooey when fresh, white area on one end. She goes once a day. We got her test for parasites last week and she is parasite free.
•History - We got her from Petco a little less than two weeks ago. We live in Laguna Niguel, CA.
Cage Info:
•Cage Type - We started off with a glass (Zoo Med Naturalistic Terrarium 12X12X18), Thought that was two small and got the bigger one of the same type that was 18 x 18 x 24. I was researching as much as possible and everything was saying not to have a glass one due to air flow issues and bacteria. So I ordered a screen cage from FL Chams 16X16X30, I am hoping the cage size is okay for now until she gets bigger. I am thinking we may need to go bigger in a month or so. But while I was waiting for the cage to arrive I made a screen door for the glass cage for more air flow. Only problem was that it was loud opening it since I had it attached to the glass cage with Velcro. We have had the screen cage setup for a week now.
•Lighting - Repitsun 5.0 UVB tube, flukers clamp light 2 of them one with a night bulb 75 watts (stopped using that after the first week when after reading the forum it seems there really is no need and they can see the red lighting) and I have 100watts zoo med basking spot lamp (also have them in 75 watts but I though I needed more watts just in case. I have the stand about twelve inches from the basking branches.
•Temperature - Originally we had it at 90 in basking but brought it down to low to mid 80s, overnight lowest is low to mid 60s but usually upper 60s. We have a digital that we leave at basking height. I do check the other areas of the cage with it periodically. I also have an analog temp gage that I leave at middle leave as a rough estimate (I know they are not very reliable). lights are on timers that go 7-7.
•Humidity - Range from 30s-upper 70s. I am trying to keep it above 50 but I am have a hard time. I may not be misting long enough but she doesn’t like it when I mist that much she tries to hid. We also have the reptifogger to help with the humidity but it really only makes and area of the cage humid since it is a screen cage. I only have an analog humidity gage and am planning on getting one tomorrow. Any suggestions on a good one?
•Plants - We had live plants at first in the glass cage but they were just called live plants and I was afraid they could be bad and got them out. We had plastic until today we put in a Hibiscus and we got a Ficus Benjamin but I can only fit one of the plants inside the cage at the moment since the cage is small. We repotted both today and soaked and rinsed them in soapy water to get rid of any pesticides. I am hoping the humidity will go up with the plant inside.
•Placement - The cage is located in our extra bedroom, low traffic, about 6 feet from window, no vents in our apartment. The cage is about 2.5 feet off the floor and probably about 5 ft or so at the tallest.
•Location - Southern California
Please critque me on my husbandry, i want to give her the best life possible. Now about the eye issue, after about three days after we got her home i notice she started closing her left eye of and on through out the day and she started closing it longer and not wanting to open it. I immidiately started researching on what to do. I got some refresh tears eye drops and gave it to her that evening and the following day twice a day. It didn't clear up seemed about the same. So i took her to a vet that has had some Chameleon experience. I may have need to go to a different one but i am not sure. He said that there was very slight irratation in her eye and wanted me to give her drops twice a day for 7 days. He gave me Neomycin and polymyxin B Sulfates and Dexamethasone (long name for one bottle). She seemed like she has been getting better ( I hadn't seen her close her eye after the second day of giving her the drops. But i only see her about 1hr before and 1.5 hrs after i get home from work before her lights go off) and we had her outside on Sunday for a couple of hours in her cage (which she loved, not that this has anything to do with her eye but i just wanted to mention it).
Today when I got home from work I went to check on her and her left eye was really squinted and her right was completely closed. I am not sure if she was tired or something worse (it was about 5:30pm). I hadn't been putting eye drops in her right eye but I did tonight. I read about giving her a shower so we did this tonight and probably will daily until it clears up (I think she feel asleep in the shower). I am worried that it could be really bad. I am hoping i am wrong but I am not sure. When we got her out of the shower she buldged her right eye (it was quite startling i thought it was going to pop out or something and then it went back to normal. I hope that is good) I am going to give it one more day to see if the shower helps. Then i am going back to the vet (maybe a different one not sure if i should give him another chance. Please give me any suggestions i will really appreciate your help. If i am doing something wrong please tell me I don't want her to dye. Oh I almost forgot i saw a little bit a white stuff come out of her nose. not sure if that is normal. I will post picks shortly. I didn't have any pictures from today but from past that shows the enclosure and her left eye closed. Sorry this is long.
Thanks.
Ian
Here is the my information.
Chameleon Info: •Female, Veiled Chameleon, 3-4 months, about 6 inches long or so with the tail, 6/2/2010
•Handling - Often since I am administering eye drops. But not more then needed. We are trying to handle her as little as possible.
•Feeding - 8-10 small crickets a day (and I was feeding her 5-7 waxworms a day at the direction of the pet store rep. but since I have been reviewing the forum it seems like I should be feeding her those on a regular basis so I haven’t been for the past 2 days. I am feeding the crickets commercial cricket food (Flukers Orange cube complete cricket diet, changing cubes every other day, and collard greens, orange peel)
•Supplements - Reptivite w/ D3 (I have only dusted the crickets once a week, twice so far but I was going to go down to twice a month unless that is to much. Chameleon Dust by T-Rex, it has D3 and I was dusting the crickets with it daily and after reading through the forum realized too much D3 is bad and stopped dusting crickets with it and will do it twice a month unless someone thinks that is too much. I am not sure about the brand. I ordered Rep-Cal Calcium - Phosphorus and Vitamin D3 Free from LLL two days ago and I was not going to dust any crickets until I get that. Our local pet stores don’t sell that brand.
•Watering - I have seen our chameleon drink occasionally. I don’t think she likes doing it when she knows you are watching. I am misting twice a day for about a min or two. Last Friday I made a dripper that drips about one drop every 5 seconds and it last about 5-6hrs. Thinking about getting an automister in the future to help keep humidity up.
•Fecal Description - Brown and gooey when fresh, white area on one end. She goes once a day. We got her test for parasites last week and she is parasite free.
•History - We got her from Petco a little less than two weeks ago. We live in Laguna Niguel, CA.
Cage Info:
•Cage Type - We started off with a glass (Zoo Med Naturalistic Terrarium 12X12X18), Thought that was two small and got the bigger one of the same type that was 18 x 18 x 24. I was researching as much as possible and everything was saying not to have a glass one due to air flow issues and bacteria. So I ordered a screen cage from FL Chams 16X16X30, I am hoping the cage size is okay for now until she gets bigger. I am thinking we may need to go bigger in a month or so. But while I was waiting for the cage to arrive I made a screen door for the glass cage for more air flow. Only problem was that it was loud opening it since I had it attached to the glass cage with Velcro. We have had the screen cage setup for a week now.
•Lighting - Repitsun 5.0 UVB tube, flukers clamp light 2 of them one with a night bulb 75 watts (stopped using that after the first week when after reading the forum it seems there really is no need and they can see the red lighting) and I have 100watts zoo med basking spot lamp (also have them in 75 watts but I though I needed more watts just in case. I have the stand about twelve inches from the basking branches.
•Temperature - Originally we had it at 90 in basking but brought it down to low to mid 80s, overnight lowest is low to mid 60s but usually upper 60s. We have a digital that we leave at basking height. I do check the other areas of the cage with it periodically. I also have an analog temp gage that I leave at middle leave as a rough estimate (I know they are not very reliable). lights are on timers that go 7-7.
•Humidity - Range from 30s-upper 70s. I am trying to keep it above 50 but I am have a hard time. I may not be misting long enough but she doesn’t like it when I mist that much she tries to hid. We also have the reptifogger to help with the humidity but it really only makes and area of the cage humid since it is a screen cage. I only have an analog humidity gage and am planning on getting one tomorrow. Any suggestions on a good one?
•Plants - We had live plants at first in the glass cage but they were just called live plants and I was afraid they could be bad and got them out. We had plastic until today we put in a Hibiscus and we got a Ficus Benjamin but I can only fit one of the plants inside the cage at the moment since the cage is small. We repotted both today and soaked and rinsed them in soapy water to get rid of any pesticides. I am hoping the humidity will go up with the plant inside.
•Placement - The cage is located in our extra bedroom, low traffic, about 6 feet from window, no vents in our apartment. The cage is about 2.5 feet off the floor and probably about 5 ft or so at the tallest.
•Location - Southern California
Please critque me on my husbandry, i want to give her the best life possible. Now about the eye issue, after about three days after we got her home i notice she started closing her left eye of and on through out the day and she started closing it longer and not wanting to open it. I immidiately started researching on what to do. I got some refresh tears eye drops and gave it to her that evening and the following day twice a day. It didn't clear up seemed about the same. So i took her to a vet that has had some Chameleon experience. I may have need to go to a different one but i am not sure. He said that there was very slight irratation in her eye and wanted me to give her drops twice a day for 7 days. He gave me Neomycin and polymyxin B Sulfates and Dexamethasone (long name for one bottle). She seemed like she has been getting better ( I hadn't seen her close her eye after the second day of giving her the drops. But i only see her about 1hr before and 1.5 hrs after i get home from work before her lights go off) and we had her outside on Sunday for a couple of hours in her cage (which she loved, not that this has anything to do with her eye but i just wanted to mention it).
Today when I got home from work I went to check on her and her left eye was really squinted and her right was completely closed. I am not sure if she was tired or something worse (it was about 5:30pm). I hadn't been putting eye drops in her right eye but I did tonight. I read about giving her a shower so we did this tonight and probably will daily until it clears up (I think she feel asleep in the shower). I am worried that it could be really bad. I am hoping i am wrong but I am not sure. When we got her out of the shower she buldged her right eye (it was quite startling i thought it was going to pop out or something and then it went back to normal. I hope that is good) I am going to give it one more day to see if the shower helps. Then i am going back to the vet (maybe a different one not sure if i should give him another chance. Please give me any suggestions i will really appreciate your help. If i am doing something wrong please tell me I don't want her to dye. Oh I almost forgot i saw a little bit a white stuff come out of her nose. not sure if that is normal. I will post picks shortly. I didn't have any pictures from today but from past that shows the enclosure and her left eye closed. Sorry this is long.
Thanks.
Ian
