eyes closed for about a month

[r.a.n.g.o]

Hello. I have a male chameleon named rango, he is about 5 months old. About 2 months ago, one eye was beginning to look sunk in. After reading, I figured it was dehydration. I have a dripper and mist him 3 times a day and often see him drinking out of the dripper so I am not really sure how he would get dehydrated. I started giving him showers as well. Shortly after, the sunk in eye closed and then he began to close the other eye. I made him an appointment as soon as they were available, like a week after he closed his eyes. They said he had a respiratory infection. So we started him with antibiotics, his last round of 5 is on Tuesday. The vet said that the tank may be too humid.. i have him in a mesh tank with a clear shower curtain around 3 sides to keep humidity in. I removed that and it stays at about 50.. a little higher at night. I also have eyedrops the vet gave me to help with opening his eyes.. even though she said his eyes looked good. I guess I am just wondering if anyone has been in this situation and how long it takes to recover? I have been force feeding him meal worms and crickets because he will not hunt for his food. I dust with flukers calcium without d3 3 times a week and vitamin supplement once a week. He opens one eye every now and then but its just a little crack.

Any advice is appreciated. Im doing everything I can to help him get better but also dont want him to suffer.

 

[Gloriawood]

Welcome to both you and Rango! You’re in a great place for advice. I’m no expert, and I believe it depends on the species. But your vitamins may be off. That can sometimes cause eye issues. What species is your baby? For veileds you should be using the calcium without d3 at every feeding and the multivitamin only twice a month. I do the 1st and 15th. I would suggest a husbandry review if you are open to it. I won’t be the one reviewing the information as I do no have enough knowledge. But if you want to do one, I can post the form and you can fill it out.

 

[r.a.n.g.o]

Welcome to both you and Rango! You’re in a great place for advice. I’m no expert, and I believe it depends on the species. But your vitamins may be off. That can sometimes cause eye issues. What species is your baby? For veileds you should be using the calcium without d3 at every feeding and the multivitamin only twice a month. I do the 1st and 15th. I would suggest a husbandry review if you are open to it. I won’t be the one reviewing the information as I do no have enough knowledge. But if you want to do one, I can post the form and you can fill it out.

He is a veiled. I will definitely fix my vitamin doses. I read a bunch of mixed stuff online before I got him so I was honestly not completely sure of the doses. The form would be great, thank you!

 

[Gloriawood]

He is a veiled. I will definitely fix my vitamin doses. I read a bunch of mixed stuff online before I got him so I was honestly not completely sure of the doses. The form would be great, thank you!

Not a problem! Yea there is a ton of mixed and outdated info out there! My guy was not in great shape when I got him and the lovely people here helped me get him back in good health.

Just copy and paste the form below and fill it out with as much info as possible. @MissSkittles could you review this for them or tag someone who can?


Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever 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?
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• 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?
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.



--------------



Please Note:

1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
2. Photos can be very helpful.

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi and welcome! I’m sorry that your chameleon has been having some health concerns. Hopefully we can figure out what may be going on and get your guy feeling better. Answering all of the above questions and including pics of your chameleon and entire enclosure will help us get all of that started.

 

[r.a.n.g.o]

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?

veiled chameleon, male, 5-6 months. i have had him for 5 months and he was only a couple weeks old when i got him.

• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?

very rarely. once a week, if that.

• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?

crickets, superworms, meal worms, and wax worms are the ones i rotate through. mainly superworms and crickets, wax worms as a treat and mealworms if im out of his food and have to borrow from my beardie. crickets - 12 at a time, he usually eats them all. superworms, ill feed him as much as he will eat in a 10 minute period, he usually eats about 5-6. for gutloading, I cant think of the name right now, but its like a green jelly cut into squares.

• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?

flukers calcium without d3, 3 times per week. reptivite once a week.

• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?

dripper - i see him drinking at least once a day. i hand mist 3 times a day until i see water dripping off the plants.

• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?

normally, light/dark brown with white on the tip. not runny but not firm. most recently he hasnt pooped much but finally went a couple days ago and it was runnier than usual but not super runny. still with the white.

• 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?

zoo med reptibreeze mesh enclosure. 18x18x36

• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?

i do not recall the brand of the heat lamp. i have a reptisun bulb for the uvb (i know i need to get a strip light ) 8am-8pm he is also by a window so i open the curtain during the day so he can see the world.

• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?

85-90 for basking, 75-80 for lowest. i do not have a digital thermometer. lowest temp ar night would be around 70.

• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?

i had a plastic curtain around the cage to keep humidity in but the vet advised me to remove it for airflow. humidity is around 50 during the day and gets to 70 at night

• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?

fake plants and a golden pathos at the bottom.

• 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?

it is in my bedroom in front of a window. low traffic area. there is a fan in the room but it is much higher than his cage. the cage is probably like 2 feet off the floor and a little taller than i am (im 5'3)

• Location - Where are you geographically located?

central florida


Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

this is all in the original post

i appreciate the help!!

 

[r.a.n.g.o]

 

[cadet21345]

Your chameleon is very Dehydrated I don't want you to take it personally but your chameleon is Dehydrated I would suggest investing in fogger and automatic mister. Drip every other day onto leaves so they can see the droplets. And you should start slowing down his food since he's growing up.

 

[cadet21345]

Please send poop pics

 

[r.a.n.g.o]

Please send poop pics

this is the only one i have because i just cleaned out his cage a couple of days ago. this was yesterdays

i appreciate any help so nothing is taken personally! just want the best for my cham.

 

[elizaann2]

Hello and welcome! Give me a few minutes to go over your husbandry.

I don't think I would give showers just because there are better ways to hydrate your little guy.

 

[elizaann2]

See my answers below in red

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?

veiled chameleon, male, 5-6 months. i have had him for 5 months and he was only a couple weeks old when i got him.

• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?

very rarely. once a week, if that. Chameleons are shy chameleons and are often stressed from handling. I personally do not handle my chameleons unless I am doing a physical check or I am taking them to the vet. View them like a pet fish, you look at them but you don't touch them.

• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?

crickets, superworms, meal worms, and wax worms are the ones i rotate through. mainly superworms and crickets, wax worms as a treat and mealworms if im out of his food and have to borrow from my beardie. crickets - 12 at a time, he usually eats them all. superworms, ill feed him as much as he will eat in a 10 minute period, he usually eats about 5-6. for gutloading, I cant think of the name right now, but its like a green jelly cut into squares. Attaching a document with great feeder bug examples for you to check out. Super worms and wax worms are both treat bugs so I would only feed those once a week at most. I am not sure where you are from but BSFL and roaches are excellent staple feeders to rotate with crickets to give your guy something different. Silk worms are also excellent as well. Meal worms are not high in nutritional value and so they are not recommended as feeders. I don't know what gut load you are using but I just use fresh fruits and veggies from the list I attached for you here. I also make the frozen gut load recipe and freeze about a month's worth at a time to feed my bugs along with the fresh veggies.

• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?

flukers calcium without d3, 3 times per week. reptivite once a week. Is the Flukers Calcium without phosphorus? Doe the reptivite have D3?

• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?

dripper - i see him drinking at least once a day. i hand mist 3 times a day until i see water dripping off the plants. Ideally you should not see your chameleon drinking, lets see if we can fix this with your humidity levels...

• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?

normally, light/dark brown with white on the tip. not runny but not firm. most recently he hasnt pooped much but finally went a couple days ago and it was runnier than usual but not super runny. still with the white. I would strongly consider getting him tested for parasites if you haven't already. Runny poop can be a sign of parasites. Do you see orange in your urates when they are fresh or are they all white?

• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

 

[elizaann2]

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?

zoo med reptibreeze mesh enclosure. 18x18x36. Unfortunately this is too small for your beautiful boy. He should be in a minimum size of 24x24x48. I think since both his eyes are closed keep the size you currently have but once he opens his eyes he needs a much much bigger enclosure.

• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?

i do not recall the brand of the heat lamp. i have a reptisun bulb for the uvb (i know i need to get a strip light ) 8am-8pm he is also by a window so i open the curtain during the day so he can see the world. It looks like you bought a chameleon kit from a pet store, is this correct? Unfortunately the UVB that comes with this kit does not give out the strength of UVB that our chameleons need. Your boy needs a T5HO 5.0 or 6% linear UVB right away. Without proper UVB their bodies cannot use the calcium in their body and they develop health problems such as MBD which is basically rickets for reptiles. I'll link what you need below, this is super super important, please get this as soon as possible.

Pangea Light Fixture
UVB Light

• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?

85-90 for basking, 75-80 for lowest. i do not have a digital thermometer. lowest temp ar night would be around 70. Chameleons need a specific environment to thrive and be healthy, its super important to make sure you have your temps and humidy where they need it to be. For a veiled you need a gradient temp from 78 degrees near the top of the enclosure to 72 degrees at the bottom. The basking branch temp should be 80-85 degrees, but nothing higher. At night your baby boy needs a temp drop so he can get deep sleep, aim for 68 degrees or lower at night. You need to get something to know what the temps are. I use a prope thermometer from the chameleon kit and then for the rest of the enclosure I use the Govee sensors and put one near the top of my enclousre and one near the bottom, just avoid direct spray when misting the enclosure. (FYI those cheap temp/humidity gages you have in your boys enclosure are not accurate at all)

Govee sensors

• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?

i had a plastic curtain around the cage to keep humidity in but the vet advised me to remove it for airflow. humidity is around 50 during the day and gets to 70 at night. Great since you are in Florida

• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?

fake plants and a golden pathos at the bottom. Baby needs all live plants. Veiled chameleons have a habit of eating the plants in their enclosure and fake plants have a risk of impaction. I'll attach a list of safe plants to use, this needs to be updated as soon as you can

• 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?

it is in my bedroom in front of a window. low traffic area. there is a fan in the room but it is much higher than his cage. the cage is probably like 2 feet off the floor and a little taller than i am (im 5'3). I would be cautious with having the open window, that may cause stress due to seeing birds or other potential predators, also with the sun shining in the enclosure your sweet baby boy could be getting too hot at times

• Location - Where are you geographically located?

central florida

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

this is all in the original post

i appreciate the help!!

Knowing you need the correct lighting and enclosure I would suggest getting this kit below made by a chameleon enthusiast that is also a sponsor on this site and is very active in the community. This has all the right stuff you need to keep your baby healthy and since it all comes together it removes the guess work.


Neptune Basic Chameleon Kit

Lastly your sweet boy needs far more branches and coverage in his enclosure. He should not be using the screen to get around the enclosure. I'll attach a picture of one of my enclousres to give you an idea of how much coverage your baby should be getting.
You can get sticks from outside, give them a good scrub in your bathtub with soap and hot water, rinse them very well and let them dry in the sun.

This video will give you an idea of how to attach branches to your enclosure, you can also buy dragon ledges as well. The dragon strand ledges help attach branches and pots without putting any strain on your screen.

Dragon Strand ledges

This is the care sheet I follow for my veiled chameleon. Knowing you live in Florida you might not need to purchase a fog machine since you live somewhere that is already super humid. Just add some extra misting sessions at night to spike up your humidity and see how that helps.

Let me know what other questions you have!

 

[MissSkittles]

You’ve gotten some great advice from @elizaann2. Looking at your guys pics, a couple of things stand out and I really think you should see a vet for. The first is what appears to be swelling by his nostril. The other is his jaw looks misaligned. I use Dr Bruce in Orlando https://myavho.com/ for all of my chams and he is great! I have a bit of a drive, but he’s well worth it.

 

[elizaann2]

Just realized I didn't post a pic of my enclosure for an example of what you want both for sticks and plant coverage.

 

[MissSkittles]

Just realized I didn't post a pic of my enclosure for an example of what you want both for sticks and plant coverage.

I laugh only because I always am forgetting to attach stuff.

 

[cadet21345]

this is the only one i have because i just cleaned out his cage a couple of days ago. this was yesterdays

i appreciate any help so nothing is taken personally! just want the best for my cham.

Ya he's dehydrated

 

[elizaann2]

I laugh only because I always am forgetting to attach stuff.

I was so tired last night I wouldn't be surprised if I forgot more than attaching stuff

 

[r.a.n.g.o]

thank you all!! i will be getting my baby some new stuff

 

[r.a.n.g.o]

You’ve gotten some great advice from @elizaann2. Looking at your guys pics, a couple of things stand out and I really think you should see a vet for. The first is what appears to be swelling by his nostril. The other is his jaw looks misaligned. I use Dr Bruce in Orlando https://myavho.com/ for all of my chams and he is great! I have a bit of a drive, but he’s well worth it.

I am suprised the vet did not say anything about this. The vet I saw had great recommendations but I was still nervous that something still was not right being that he has been getting his antibiotics and still not doing better. That is why I came here. Thank you so much!