Eye Swollen

sammseals

sammseals

New Member
Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - Male, Approximately 6 months. Ambanja and Ambilobe mix. I bought him in November 2012. This has been going on for about a month. Gave him showers which clear it up a little but not all the way.

Handling - Every day - Every few days.

Feeding - Crickets. Approximately 10 large every other day. Gut loading crickets with Fluker's High Calcium Diet & Fluker's Orange Cubes.

Supplements - Rep-Cal Calcium with Vit D 2x a month, Rep-Cal Herptivite 2x a month. (Just ordered calcium without Vit D for every feeding, my pet stores don't carry it)

Watering - Misting system, sprays 90 seconds every 3 hours. Also have a travel ultrasonic cool mist humidifier I just bought yesterday because I have trouble keeping the humidity up. He is drinking fine.

Cage Info:

Cage Type - Screened 20"H 16"L 16"W

Lighting - Zilla 5.0 UVB, Zoo Med Daylight Blue Bulb 75 W, Sun Glo Daylight Bulb 60 W. Lights on usually from 10am- 10pm.

Temperature - Basking spot 95, Other side of the cage ranges between 77-85. Night temp between 75-80.

Humidity - Having a lot of trouble keeping humidity up. Ranges between 15-50%. 50% is when misters are going off. 15% after about 2 hours after misting. I have a thermometer in my cage that tells me humidity.

Plants - 2 scheffleras, 1 Pothos, 1 Croton, 1 ficus/rubber tree, 2 creeping ficus.

Placement - Not near any vents or anything. Bottom of cage is a little less than 2 feet from the floor. Just high enough to have a plastic bin underneath for water draining. Cage is on a metal stand.

Location - I am in Warren, Ohio. (USA)

Current Problem - Eye Problem. Swollen, Itchy. Ordered Terramycin Eye Ointment and saline solution from LLL Reptile, waiting for it to make it to my house.

ANY SUGGESTIONS? ANY IDEAS OF WHATS WRONG?
 

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You have a lot of lights there. Why do you use a blue bulb? His eyes could be irritated by them. He could have some debris in his eyes. Is there any discharge? If this has been going on for a month I think it is time you sought vet advice as it could be the start of an infection in his sinuses. I would drop your temps to mid 80s as they are quite high.:)
 
I have 3 lights because I was told it was suppose to be a hot spot of 95 and 75-85 everywhere else. I had 2 lights before and I couldn't get the temp up. And I was told I had to use a blue light. His eye never looked like it had a discharge or anything, he never even itched it until today. Today I looked at him and he was itching his eye on a branch so I took him out of the cage and noticed his pupil was clouded over so I gave him a shower and it cleared up. The closest vet for reptiles for me is 1 1/2 hours away and when I called to ask about his eye, they seemed like they had no clue what to say. Don't want to take him to the vet for them not to do anything. I ordered Terramycin from LLL Reptile. Will that help?
 
As far as the basking temp, I bask mine around 95 and they seem fine with it. They are also out in the hot florida sun and do well. If you see your chameleon constantly gaping (with mouth open) then I would lower the basking temp. Just my opinion. Now I do agree with Kate that your cham has been having an issue for over a month so it is time to get him into a vet.
 
He never gasps, the heat doesn't seem to bother him at all. He does hate water though. He will drink water off the leaves in his cage but he wont go by the mist from the humidifier and he runs away from the misters when they go off. When the misters go off he cleans his eye over and over. (The bulging thing chameleons do to clean their eyes out)
 
sammseals said:
I have 3 lights because I was told it was suppose to be a hot spot of 95 and 75-85 everywhere else. I had 2 lights before and I couldn't get the temp up. And I was told I had to use a blue light. His eye never looked like it had a discharge or anything, he never even itched it until today. Today I looked at him and he was itching his eye on a branch so I took him out of the cage and noticed his pupil was clouded over so I gave him a shower and it cleared up. The closest vet for reptiles for me is 1 1/2 hours away and when I called to ask about his eye, they seemed like they had no clue what to say. Don't want to take him to the vet for them not to do anything. I ordered Terramycin from LLL Reptile. Will that help?
Click to expand...

i also think its time to seek a vet as it could be an infection since its gone on for so long. is the vet you mentioned experienced in reptiles? i would recommend going to one that is as reptiles, chameleons in particular are much different then other animals! you may be able to find a closer vet that is experienced in reptiles on this site http://www.arav.org/find-a-vet/ it is a site for reptile and amphibian vets and you can search by state :)
 
The vet I called is off that website. Thank you though. I will look into more vets around me. What about the Terramycin Eye Ointment though? If it is an eye infection, would that clear it up? Just asking because I have already ordered it.
 
Looks like he's growing a pearl inside the eye socket. If not stationary, you might be able to careful move this mass over and out. But a trip to a vet would be better option.
 
carol5208 said:
As far as the basking temp, I bask mine around 95 and they seem fine with it. They are also out in the hot florida sun and do well. If you see your chameleon constantly gaping (with mouth open) then I would lower the basking temp. Just my opinion. Now I do agree with Kate that your cham has been having an issue for over a month so it is time to get him into a vet.
Click to expand...

I was going on the new care sheets. Up to 9 months 82f. I have mine around 85f and that's fine for me . With your outside temps so high I can see why you keep yours at 95f. We have no chance of outside temps like Florida.:(
 
sammseals said:
The vet I called is off that website. Thank you though. I will look into more vets around me. What about the Terramycin Eye Ointment though? If it is an eye infection, would that clear it up? Just asking because I have already ordered it.
Click to expand...

You would need to get advice about the eye ointment from a vet I'm afraid.:)
 
I have tried to touch it before but he is so active he doesn't sit still. haha but I just called a place on that website and made an appointment for Tuesday so hopefully they can help.
 
I took him to the vet and the vet gave me antibiotics to hopefully help. He gave me Ofloxacin Ophthalmic Solution. I put a drop on his eye twice a day for 2 weeks. Vet said its probably either an infection or debris. Hopefully the med works. :)
 
I started to give Leo the medicine on Tuesday 16th. Today is Sunday the 21st and his eye looked worse this morning than before I started the medicine so I picked him up and used a q-tip to try and see if I could push out whatever was in his eye and it worked!! :) When I pulled it out, it looked like a tiny ball of wax. So I believe it was just debris and his body kept making it bigger to try to push it out. But anyways, I got it out and rinsed his eye out really good with a long shower and his eye is good as new!!!! SO HAPPY !!
 
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