Eye Problem- Please help!

JaclynCali

Member
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care? Panther, male, 7 months old, and he's been in my care 3 months.
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon? Usually every other day to take him outside to sunbathe.
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders? He eats crickets, hornworms, silkies, dubias, and gets giant meal worms twice a wk as a treat. He usually eats 5-6 med crickets along with 2-3 hornworms a day. He hasn't wanted dubias for a wk or so but I usually switch off from crickets to dubias. He eats every morning about an hr after he's been awake and misted. I gut-load with bug burger, fruits, and veggies (papaya, apples, carrots, spinach, collard greens, dandelion greens, and kale.
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule? I dust with Repashy's cal/ vit plus supplement every feeding.
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking? I have a dripper going 12 hrs a day. He gets misted all throughout the day (usually every other hr for 2 mins straight). I see him drink every day off the leaf his dripper drips on.
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites? His stool looks normal and his urates are white but have been really runny the past week. He hasn't 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? Screen cage, 24x24x48
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule? 50w exto terra daylight basking bulb and I recently just switched the UVB bulb from zoomed's 5.0 to the Arcadia T5. Lights on from 7-7.
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps? His basking spot stays between 85-88 degrees. The ambient temp stays around 75 and drops to 70 at night. I have 2 digital thermometers in his cage, one sits to the right of his basking and the other is at the bottom of his cage.
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity? I recently just moved to AZ and we're going through monsoon season right now so the humidity hasn't dropped below 60. It usually fluctuates between 60-75%. I don't have a mister in the cage yet but I do mist all throughout the day and I've been leaving the windows open and letting the humidity from outside come in.
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind? There is a Pothos, Croton, Umbrella, and Ficus in his cage.
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? My chams have their own room, away from the vent/high traffic, and the cage is about 3ft off the floor.
Location - Where are you geographically located? Arizona (an hr out of Vegas)

Current Problem - After I moved (about 3 wks ago) I noticed that his right eye looked weird. He sucks it in and tries to clean it but after he's done, his eyelid looks almost out of shape. When he focuses on food, his right eye looks like it can't stare straight ahead like his left. I started misting a lot more, put him in the shower a few times, and tried flushing his eye out with saline but nothing seemed to help. I thought it might be a vit A deficiency so I bought liquid vit A and started adding 2 tiny drops to his food. A few days later I noticed he was gaping a lot throughout the day and was able to see he had some stringy saliva in his mouth so I took him to a herp vet. His eye of course looked normal at the vets office so she didn't really have much to say about that but did say she suspected him to have the beginning symptoms of a URI so she put him on .4 units of baytril for 10 days (he weighs 89 grams). He's been on it now for 3 days and I feel like his eye is getting worse. He kept it shut most of the day today while his left eye looked perfectly normal. ANY advice is much appreciated! I don't want him to get worse. :(



 
Your guy is beautiful! Did his eye problem start before or after you changed lights? The Arcadia are great lights and I love mine, but you have to keep them further away from your chams as they can cause eye issues. How close to the cham is your light? I don't have much else to offer. Hope he gets better.
 
Your guy is beautiful! Did his eye problem start before or after you changed lights? The Arcadia are great lights and I love mine, but you have to keep them further away from your chams as they can cause eye issues. How close to the cham is your light? I don't have much else to offer. Hope he gets better.

Thank you.. I can't really recall if his eye problem was before or after the light change. It definitely started right around the time they were changed. I just measured his closest branch to the uvb and its around 7 inches away. Is that to close? Should I switch the Arcadia out for the zoomed? I did't even think about the lights being the problem..
 
Keep up with the vit A. Do a search on here there is a preformed vit A gel pill for humans a guy recomended breaking open and using a Qtip. Both my panthers had this problem while both my veilds were fine. It got worse before it got better ended up with both eyes closed and hand feeding and watering for about a week. Both Panthers are totally back to normal. My case was the repti vit i was using only had vit A in beta carotein form not preformed vit A and apperently some panthers cannot convert the beta carotein. There are many others on here alot more knowledgeable than me but this is what I went through...Good luck
 
Keep up with the vit A. Do a search on here there is a preformed vit A gel pill for humans a guy recomended breaking open and using a Qtip. Both my panthers had this problem while both my veilds were fine. It got worse before it got better ended up with both eyes closed and hand feeding and watering for about a week. Both Panthers are totally back to normal. My case was the repti vit i was using only had vit A in beta carotein form not preformed vit A and apperently some panthers cannot convert the beta carotein. There are many others on here alot more knowledgeable than me but this is what I went through...Good luck

Had the same problem! Once it got better I gave it once a month and never had an issue again
 
Do be very careful with preformed vit A. You can easily overdose. There are many owners who do just fine without any preformed vit A, but if you choose to use it, just be sure you are dosing correctly.
 
Do be very careful with preformed vit A. You can easily overdose. There are many owners who do just fine without any preformed vit A, but if you choose to use it, just be sure you are dosing correctly.

Good point. I suggest using it twice a week for two weeks, then once a week for two, then cut off to once a week. We are talking one drop on one feeder. So thats two drops of it per week and so on.

Pigglett, I think the owners that do well without using it is because they have never had a cham with the problem. It's not normal to see this, but not rare either. Thanks for bringing up the overdose issue
 
Once the boys were better I stopped the human Vit A and found another repti Vit powder for every other week that has both the beta carotein and the preformed Vit A in it and have been fine for months now, just remember at least for me it got worse before better i began to think it wasnt working then they turned the corner.
 
I wish I could help, my Aesop is just getting over an eye issue himself so I can relate. I don't know of what it could be other than the lights :( Here's hoping it clears up, he's really gorgeous.
 
Vit a

I have had 2 male panthers have vitamin a issues. They always squint one eye. Five days of oral vitamin a and then again in 2 weeks worked both times for me.
 
Thank you.. I can't really recall if his eye problem was before or after the light change. It definitely started right around the time they were changed. I just measured his closest branch to the uvb and its around 7 inches away. Is that to close? Should I switch the Arcadia out for the zoomed? I did't even think about the lights being the problem..

That is too close, at least, it is from what I remember. Check with our sponser who sells them. He is a much better resource than I am.
 
Thank you for all the replies! I read that cod oil was a good source of vit A. Should I start that and quite the liquid vit A? I contacted Todd and asked for his advice. I will definitely raise the lights tomorrow. Does anyone think I should continue with the Baytril?? He still has 6 more days worth. Thanks again!
 
Vit a

I use the repashy vit a supplement mix with water and that's it. Might be better ways but that has worked for me. Not sure why you would need baytril
 
I use the repashy vit a supplement mix with water and that's it. Might be better ways but that has worked for me. Not sure why you would need baytril

The vet thought he might have a uri because he's been gaping a lot. She looked in his mouth and said his saliva looked stringy so she put him on baytril for 10 days. He's only been on it for 3 days so far..
 
I would stay with the baytril, just make sure he is really well hydrated, also don't be shocked if his desire to eat is down. That is usually a side effect of baytril.
 
He looks so much better today! Of course I have no idea if its the baytril or liquid vit a that helped. His eye looks normal again and no more gaping. You're definitely right Laurie about the baytril affecting his appetite. He wasn't very hungry this morning. Thanks again for everyone's help :)
 

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arcadia lights

I like to read this site about 2-4 hours a day, and have seen a LOT of these vitamin A and arcadia lights mentioned together over the past week. I don't know if i found them all at once, particular problem with a batch of lights, or just coincidence. Something that alarms me. (i don't work for zilla, zoomed, or any other light company!!! before anyone makes a comment)
 
He looks so much better today! Of course I have no idea if its the baytril or liquid vit a that helped. His eye looks normal again and no more gaping. You're definitely right Laurie about the baytril affecting his appetite. He wasn't very hungry this morning. Thanks again for everyone's help :)

Awesome to hear he's doing better! I must say too.. He's stunning. I love his coloring. Such a handsome boy on your hands! ;)
 
Awesome to hear he's doing better! I must say too.. He's stunning. I love his coloring. Such a handsome boy on your hands! ;)

Thank you! He's getting ready to shed and I'm so excited to see his new colors! :D His sire is the amazing Grimbold from Kammerflage.
 

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Thank you! He's getting ready to shed and I'm so excited to see his new colors! :D His sire is the amazing Grimbold from Kammerflage.

Grimbold is definitely amazing as is your little guy! I will have me a Grimbold boy one day! Carol5208's "Boomer" sold me! Haha! I know you're a proud momma! :p
 
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