Littlefoot is a female Dwarf Fishers, about 1 yr 6mo -1 yr 9 mo (former "owners" unsure) I've had her for just over 7 months.
She comes out of her enclosure at her request, she claws at the opening. I attach a vine to the opening and she climbs out. I have a parachute cord "trail" for her that goes from plant hanger to plant hanger and she goes all over it and down into the foilage - all chameleon safe. I check the temperature at the various places along the trail using an electronic laser thermometer. I rarely handle her, but she is not freaked out by it and does not hiss or attempt to jump. If I need to check her out for any reason (like today to check her eye) she is okay with it. I generally let her climb around the rope trail afterwards.
I feed her 4-8 medium crickets depending upon their size once a day. I give her a treat periodically (way periodically like once a month) of a juicy worm. I will pick up 2-3 Super, Wax, or Butter Worms. The crickets are fed with Flukers High Calcium Cricket Diet, Flukers Orange Cubes are dropped into the box, and then I put in a variety of fruits or veggies including carrots, lettuce, collards, green beans, apples and oranges.
I dust with Flukers Calcium with D33 every other week.
The enclosure has a "Little Dripper" which I fill with 1 3/4 cups of purified water 3 times a day. I have a drip catching container I rigged up in the enclosure so the water doesn't slop up the floor or overwater the plants. There is also a Repti-Fogger set up to maintain humidity in the enclosure. I only mist occasionally, as I do watch to see her drink from the dripper every day.
Her poop is generally a puddle with a brown then white turd in the midst of the puddle, which I assume is urine. It looks normal when compared to"normal" as I looked up online.
Littlefoot does have a very strange egg laying history since I've had her. She had dropped about 12-16 eggs per month! She had never used the laying bin until last time - in early January, and then she dug a nice hole and layed 16 eggs. She has not layed since. In November, she layed 12 eggs that either had no shell or just a bit of shell here and there. I thought she was maybe not getting proper calcium, but the next time she layed, the eggs were normal again.
The enclosure is a glass 18X18X24 (Remember, she's a dwarf. I like to say "Little Chameleon" joke)
The lights are a 60 watt Exo-Terra basking and a Repti-Sun 5.0 UVB.
The upper layer is 88-92 degrees - the lower layer is 69-70 degrees, and the humidity is 72-90%. The Repti-Fogger is on a timer 30 min on - 30 min off so it doesn't fog out the enclosure. The brand new Repti-Fogger does not seem to work as far as setting the level of humidity goes. It is either on or off, but will not set to control the humidity.The temp and humidity levels are checked with an electronic indoor/outdoor thermometer/hygrometer with the outdoor sensor taped at the high level.
The live plants are long Pothos vines draped over 40% and a Schefflera Arboricola (Umbrella Plant) covering 25%. They work well together by providing plenty of climbing and hiding places for her while still allowing me to see her, when she isn't hidden better than a Navy SEAL sniper.
The enclosure is in my living room, but because I am single there is no high traffic. The top of the enclosure is 50 inches from the floor with no drafts.
I live in Colorado where the humidity is so low, I absolutely must use a glass enclosure. The highest I can get my indoor relative humidity up to is 17%.
Now the problem.
My female Dwarf Fischers has a problem with her eye. I need to point out that she just finished, and is actually still finishing a full blown shedding. The last full on shed was mid August, and between then and now, she has shed parts here and there, mainly her torso. Anyway, I mention the shedding because this time she shed her head and face, and I saw her rubbing her head and eyes against the branches in her enclosure, I assumed to help peel the dry skin off. I have seen her do this when she was shedding before, where she would crawl back and forth under a junction of 4 branches in the enclosure and the skin would peel off. I am thinking she may have rubbed too hard against a branch and maybe scratched her eye. For the most part, now anyways, 80% of the time she keeps that one eye closed. She does open it at other times, as she did when I turned on a bright light to take the included photos of her face and the affected eye. I added the other photo of her sleeping (in a rather strange position) to show the rest of her body, and a view of her habitat, which is a small jungle.
So I am wondering if there are eye problems, other than scratching herself possibly, that commonly affect chameleons eye health, and then what I need to do about it. Today I got her out of the enclosure and dabbed gently at her eye (exterior eyelid) with a paper towel well soaked with warm water to see if there was any crust or if anything would wipe off onto the paper towel - no results, except she did open her eye directly afterward. I have considered maybe giving her a dose of Repta-Boost if recommended, since she has pretty much been ignoring her crickets the past few days. She is eating,but not when I first put them in her enclosure - as usual. Her poop has been normal, she is drinking water, and she seems otherwise very healthy. So any eye ailments I need to be aware of? Would you recommend the Repta-Boost or is that unnecessary since she is eating and drinking?
In this last photo, the arrow points to the water recovery from the "Little Dripper" It's a pint Mason Jar with a panty hose screen over the top so the cham won't fall in head first if it gets too curious.
She comes out of her enclosure at her request, she claws at the opening. I attach a vine to the opening and she climbs out. I have a parachute cord "trail" for her that goes from plant hanger to plant hanger and she goes all over it and down into the foilage - all chameleon safe. I check the temperature at the various places along the trail using an electronic laser thermometer. I rarely handle her, but she is not freaked out by it and does not hiss or attempt to jump. If I need to check her out for any reason (like today to check her eye) she is okay with it. I generally let her climb around the rope trail afterwards.
I feed her 4-8 medium crickets depending upon their size once a day. I give her a treat periodically (way periodically like once a month) of a juicy worm. I will pick up 2-3 Super, Wax, or Butter Worms. The crickets are fed with Flukers High Calcium Cricket Diet, Flukers Orange Cubes are dropped into the box, and then I put in a variety of fruits or veggies including carrots, lettuce, collards, green beans, apples and oranges.
I dust with Flukers Calcium with D33 every other week.
The enclosure has a "Little Dripper" which I fill with 1 3/4 cups of purified water 3 times a day. I have a drip catching container I rigged up in the enclosure so the water doesn't slop up the floor or overwater the plants. There is also a Repti-Fogger set up to maintain humidity in the enclosure. I only mist occasionally, as I do watch to see her drink from the dripper every day.
Her poop is generally a puddle with a brown then white turd in the midst of the puddle, which I assume is urine. It looks normal when compared to"normal" as I looked up online.
Littlefoot does have a very strange egg laying history since I've had her. She had dropped about 12-16 eggs per month! She had never used the laying bin until last time - in early January, and then she dug a nice hole and layed 16 eggs. She has not layed since. In November, she layed 12 eggs that either had no shell or just a bit of shell here and there. I thought she was maybe not getting proper calcium, but the next time she layed, the eggs were normal again.
The enclosure is a glass 18X18X24 (Remember, she's a dwarf. I like to say "Little Chameleon" joke)
The lights are a 60 watt Exo-Terra basking and a Repti-Sun 5.0 UVB.
The upper layer is 88-92 degrees - the lower layer is 69-70 degrees, and the humidity is 72-90%. The Repti-Fogger is on a timer 30 min on - 30 min off so it doesn't fog out the enclosure. The brand new Repti-Fogger does not seem to work as far as setting the level of humidity goes. It is either on or off, but will not set to control the humidity.The temp and humidity levels are checked with an electronic indoor/outdoor thermometer/hygrometer with the outdoor sensor taped at the high level.
The live plants are long Pothos vines draped over 40% and a Schefflera Arboricola (Umbrella Plant) covering 25%. They work well together by providing plenty of climbing and hiding places for her while still allowing me to see her, when she isn't hidden better than a Navy SEAL sniper.
The enclosure is in my living room, but because I am single there is no high traffic. The top of the enclosure is 50 inches from the floor with no drafts.
I live in Colorado where the humidity is so low, I absolutely must use a glass enclosure. The highest I can get my indoor relative humidity up to is 17%.
Now the problem.
My female Dwarf Fischers has a problem with her eye. I need to point out that she just finished, and is actually still finishing a full blown shedding. The last full on shed was mid August, and between then and now, she has shed parts here and there, mainly her torso. Anyway, I mention the shedding because this time she shed her head and face, and I saw her rubbing her head and eyes against the branches in her enclosure, I assumed to help peel the dry skin off. I have seen her do this when she was shedding before, where she would crawl back and forth under a junction of 4 branches in the enclosure and the skin would peel off. I am thinking she may have rubbed too hard against a branch and maybe scratched her eye. For the most part, now anyways, 80% of the time she keeps that one eye closed. She does open it at other times, as she did when I turned on a bright light to take the included photos of her face and the affected eye. I added the other photo of her sleeping (in a rather strange position) to show the rest of her body, and a view of her habitat, which is a small jungle.
So I am wondering if there are eye problems, other than scratching herself possibly, that commonly affect chameleons eye health, and then what I need to do about it. Today I got her out of the enclosure and dabbed gently at her eye (exterior eyelid) with a paper towel well soaked with warm water to see if there was any crust or if anything would wipe off onto the paper towel - no results, except she did open her eye directly afterward. I have considered maybe giving her a dose of Repta-Boost if recommended, since she has pretty much been ignoring her crickets the past few days. She is eating,but not when I first put them in her enclosure - as usual. Her poop has been normal, she is drinking water, and she seems otherwise very healthy. So any eye ailments I need to be aware of? Would you recommend the Repta-Boost or is that unnecessary since she is eating and drinking?
