Eye questions - should I worry?

werecat

Established Member
Hi all. In the last 4-5 days I've been noticing my chameleon's left eye is closed once in a while. He is not sleeping since the other eye is open and he is walking around. The eye is open more often than not, but I have been keeping tabs on the times it is closed. Today I took him out to get a better look at him. I noticed that on the eye that is sometimes closed the pupil is much more constricted.
1. Do chameleon eyes dilate and constrict independently of each other or should both pupils be the same size at all times?

2. Is a pupil that does not dilate indicative of a specific problem or illness?
 
A smaller pupil could indicate pain in that eye, or an infection of the eye. Here's some more information on eye problems: https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/healthx/head-neck/

One Eye Squinting or Closed
Sleeping during the day is often an indication of an underlying illness or disease, but having just one eye closed usually means there is a problem with the eye itself. It may be as simple as some debris (dust, dirt, etc) in the eye causing irritation and inflammation, or injury or infection. Additional misting sessions and flushing of the eye with saline will help flush out debris if present. If there is crusting or discharge from the eye that is an indication of infection.
 
Oh thank you! I will read through this link. Also, forgot to post all this info:


Chameleon Info:
•Your Chameleon – Nosy Be panther, male, 17 months old; In our care for 1.5 months
•Handling – Have only handled him twice for short periods since we got him. Am working to handle him more often, but only for short periods.
•Feeding – Crickets as staple; superworms; occasional hormworms. He was consuming 5-8 feeders per feeding which is every other day but has recently in the past few days been consuming less (but still eating). I was not worried about this since I know they go through periods like this. Gutload was Nature Zone Total Bites supplemented with various fresh foods including: arugula, carrot, almond, alfalfa, mango, flax seed, and basil, but in the last week we switched to cricket crack instead of the Total bites (still using the veggies too).
•Supplements – Schedule until 1 week ago:
Sticky Tounge Miner-all every other feeding; Zoomed Repti Calcium (no D3) every other feeding.
New Schedule since being informed that Miner-all is not a multi:
Repashy Calcium Plus 3x per week. Zoomed ReptiCalcium (no D3) the rest of the time. Debating whether to increase or decrease the Repashy as I’ve been told that it is ok for every day, but have also read about over-supplementation.
•Watering – Raindome, which goes for 1min 30 sec – 1min 45 sec every two hours (6 times/day). I see him drink almost every morning after the first rain.
•Fecal Description – Brown with white little trail. Looks normal per photos I’ve compared to. Frequency seems to be 2-3 times per week. Was tested for parasites by previous owner in November. Was clean.
•History – He was well cared for by previous owner and very healthy. He was let out for supervised free range in the sun about 1-2 times per week. We have not done this so far since he’s taken a while to acclimate to us. We are working on hand feeding and beginning to handle him briefly.

Cage Info:
•Cage Type – Screen, 24”x16”x30” (KK Forever Cage)
•Lighting - 1 18" Zoomed Reptisun 5.0; 1 100W reptile basking bulb on a dimmer which is dimmed to maintain basking area at about 85-90 degrees F. Lights are 12 hours on/12 off.
•Temperature – Basking spot hovers around 85 F and gets up to 89 F sometimes. Rest of cage remains about 75-80 F. Measure ambient temp with digital room thermometer and basking spot with digital probe thermometer. Also use a temp gun but it does not seem as accurate. Lowest temp at night is probably 65-70. Our apartment temp does not fluctuate much but we leave the window open a bit so I believe very late at night he does get a temp drop.
•Humidity – Between 55-80% created/maintained by regular raindome mistings and live plants. Use a digital room hygrometer for ambient humidity and an in cage analogue hygrometer.
•Plants – Live plants include a ficus, a (very small) schefflera, an asparagus fern, and a tillandsia
•Placement – Located in the lowest traffic room (art room) and is near the window but does not receive direct sunlight. Top of cage is 60” from floor. We are trying to find a stand to place it higher.
Location – We are in Los Angeles.
 
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