Eye problems! PLEASE HELP! Long but PLEASE read!

[ahood]

I have a 2.5 yr old male panther cham named Kiwi. XL repti breeze, water from syringe and big dripper, 100W power sun, Arcadia 6% HO bulb, no substrate, currently feeding mealworms w/calcium every meal, herptivite twice a month, cal w/ D3 once a month (feeding solely mealworms because he randomly stopped eating crickets. However, just tried Dubai roaches and it was a success so I will get more of those).
*********EYE PROBLEM*********
He started closing one eye a lot, then started keeping it closed most of the time as well as retracted. I thought it might be a vitamin A deficiency, so I started putting beta carotene on his food. Nothing changed. Took him to an exotic/avian vet. The day befofe I took him in, I noticed he had both eyes closed in the cage. She prescribed an antibiotic and antiinflamatory eye drops to administer 3 times a day 10-15min apart for 10-14 days. I am on day 8 and I have run out of the antibiotic. Only "improvement" I have seen so that he has popped his eye back out to normal protrusion like once every other day for a couple brief moments. Should I buy more? What do I do!? I'm really concerned because the "bad" eye looks like a different color. It's much darker and set back in the eyelid, while his other eye is bright and golden. The "good" eye he still closes when he's just hanging out in his cage, but the eye looks normal. Since I have been giving him the eye drops he has not been interested in taking water from me, so when he eats I try to squirt some in his mouth. I just want to find out what's wrong and fix this situation IMMEDIATLEY. What do I do?? Please help! I don't want to keep spending money at the vet if we're not on the right track.

 

[kinyonga]

First off..Beta carotene (prOformed) isn't the same as prEformed vitamin A... So it wouldn't likely have done anything.
Also...don't squirt water in his mouth...ease it in so he has time to swallow it properly. Otherwise you might get it in his lungs and that won't be good.
Try to get him off meal worms ...they're hard to digest.

Did you change the bulb around the time this started?

 

[ahood]

First off..Beta carotene (prOformed) isn't the same as prEformed vitamin A... So it wouldn't likely have done anything.
Also...don't squirt water in his mouth...ease it in so he has time to swallow it properly. Otherwise you might get it in his lungs and that won't be good.
Try to get him off meal worms ...they're hard to digest.

Did you change the bulb around the time this started?

Yea, like I said I know mealworms aren't the ideal food choice. But, it is the only thing I could interest him in for a while. He liked the Dubai roaches though so I will get some of those. And no, the Arcadia bulb actually burnt out shortly after this started and I immediatley replaced it. The coloring of the eye concerns me and the fact that I don't see the pupil dilating to the light like the other eye, even though it looks like he can see out of it. I guess I should continue the drops for another week. I just feel kind of helpless.

 

[ahood]

First off..Beta carotene (prOformed) isn't the same as prEformed vitamin A... So it wouldn't likely have done anything.
Also...don't squirt water in his mouth...ease it in so he has time to swallow it properly. Otherwise you might get it in his lungs and that won't be good.
Try to get him off meal worms ...they're hard to digest.

Did you change the bulb around the time this started?

Also, I used beta carotene because I know it's very dangerous to give a cham vitamin A, as they can easily overdose on it and it is toxic to them and can kill them.

 

[kinyonga]

You said..."Also, I used beta carotene because I know it's very dangerous to give a cham vitamin A, as they can easily overdose on it and it is toxic to them and can kill them"...I figured that's why you used it. It's controversial though as to whether chameleons can convert beta carotene to vitamin A ...so that's why people give a tiny dose of prEformed vitamin A when they feel a vitamin A shortage might be part of the problem....and some people give a vitamin powder with prEformed vitamin A once in a while to make sure their chameleons have some. I'm just explaining it in case you don't know. I think panther chameleons have more issues with vitamin A than veileds do...but that's just my opinion.

You said..."the Arcadia bulb actually burnt out shortly after this started uand I immediatley replaced it"...with a different brand or the same kind?


You said..."The coloring of the eye concerns me and the fact that I don't see the pupil dilating to the light like the other eye"....what did the vet say about the difference in the eyes?