Chameleon Info:
My Chameleon - Flapneck (chamaeleo dilepis) male, I'm assuming around 1 year. He's about 6 to 7 inches from snout to the base of his tail. I received him from 3/11/2015, so I've only had him for about 2 weeks.
Handling - Before he began showing problems, I only handled him to get him into the cage. Since then, at least once a day to administer medicine.
Feeding - I attempt to feed him mealworms, crickets, and extra-large fruit flies both by letting him hunt and cupfeeding, though he has only eaten crickets, and only by hunting. The vendor said he was fed on crickets. For greens, I put collard greens and romaine in his cage but he wasn't interested in it at all. I gutload my crickets with collards, carrots, Fluker's high calcium cricket diet, oats (rarely), and water them by the paper towel method.
As far as how much, I feed him about three crickets a day, which seems to be his magic number. Any more and he ignores them and I would prefer they don't linger in the cage and lose their nutritional value. Or crawl on him.
Supplements - I dust his crickets with Herptivite and Fluker's calcium dust (it has D3 and I'm trying to find a new calcium without it in the area). I dust three times a week, only once with the calcium.
Watering - I use a Monsoon misting system that runs 4 to 6 times a day, DURING the day for about 30 seconds at a time. Some days he doesn't drink, others he'll sit and drink for around 20 minutes.
Fecal Description - Fecal matter is grey-brown, mostly solid but a little runny-looking. Urates look normal, chalky white to orange-yellow. More recent urates have been a chalky white.
History - Bought from snakesatsunset in Miami. Very confident he is a wild caught, not captive bred.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Reptibreeze, 18x18x36"
Lighting - SunGLO 120v basking lamp, 5.0 UVB 18" full spectrum bulb.
Temperature - 100F directly under the basking lamp to around 75F at the cage bottom.
Humidity - Humidity around 70%. I use a Monsoon for misting/watering four times a day for 30 seconds each time. Measure temp and humidity with dual dial thermo-hygrometer.
Plants - The only live plant in the cage is a dwarf schefflera. Only the soil of the plant is covered by cypress bark. The cage is also accessorized with fake vines and leaves, plastic/rubber and silk.
Placement - The cage is in a bedroom about 8 feet from a window, 3 feet from the door, low traffic. I'm the only one to go in and out, and that isn't very frequent.
Location - Southeast Louisiana, USA.
Current Problem - Essentially, the problem is eye irritation, which is causing the both of us a lot of stress and worry for me. About two days after he arrived, he began closing one eye at a time for extended periods, and now he keeps both of them closed most of the time. Last week he also began rubbing them on branches/vines. This has translated to him not being visually stimulated by food movement or water hitting/dripping off of the leaves, so his eating/drinking schedule has been interrupted. He still has a healthy appetite and hunts and drinks from leaves but he isn't readily stimulable.
His eyes themselves look normal and there's no visible issue except for the irritation. I was initially convinced it was a Vitamin A deficiency so I supplemented the crickets with some Vit A retinyl palmitate. No luck there. I took him to the exotics vet a week ago--they were a little stumped. They ran some bloodwork and came back saying it was some kind of infection--of what, they weren't sure. They have me giving him 0.02cc ciprofloxin (12.5 mg/ml) every other day, but one week into the treatment and I still see him rubbing his eyes on branches. Though he has kept his eyes open for longer periods of time than before, he doesn't seem to be truly getting better.
I've considered giving him eye drops but I am not sure if I should wait until I go back in a week for his re-evaluation or if this treatment is even an effective one. Any input or reassurance would be appreciated--I just wanna see my lil guy in top form.
My Chameleon - Flapneck (chamaeleo dilepis) male, I'm assuming around 1 year. He's about 6 to 7 inches from snout to the base of his tail. I received him from 3/11/2015, so I've only had him for about 2 weeks.
Handling - Before he began showing problems, I only handled him to get him into the cage. Since then, at least once a day to administer medicine.
Feeding - I attempt to feed him mealworms, crickets, and extra-large fruit flies both by letting him hunt and cupfeeding, though he has only eaten crickets, and only by hunting. The vendor said he was fed on crickets. For greens, I put collard greens and romaine in his cage but he wasn't interested in it at all. I gutload my crickets with collards, carrots, Fluker's high calcium cricket diet, oats (rarely), and water them by the paper towel method.
As far as how much, I feed him about three crickets a day, which seems to be his magic number. Any more and he ignores them and I would prefer they don't linger in the cage and lose their nutritional value. Or crawl on him.
Supplements - I dust his crickets with Herptivite and Fluker's calcium dust (it has D3 and I'm trying to find a new calcium without it in the area). I dust three times a week, only once with the calcium.
Watering - I use a Monsoon misting system that runs 4 to 6 times a day, DURING the day for about 30 seconds at a time. Some days he doesn't drink, others he'll sit and drink for around 20 minutes.
Fecal Description - Fecal matter is grey-brown, mostly solid but a little runny-looking. Urates look normal, chalky white to orange-yellow. More recent urates have been a chalky white.
History - Bought from snakesatsunset in Miami. Very confident he is a wild caught, not captive bred.
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Reptibreeze, 18x18x36"
Lighting - SunGLO 120v basking lamp, 5.0 UVB 18" full spectrum bulb.
Temperature - 100F directly under the basking lamp to around 75F at the cage bottom.
Humidity - Humidity around 70%. I use a Monsoon for misting/watering four times a day for 30 seconds each time. Measure temp and humidity with dual dial thermo-hygrometer.
Plants - The only live plant in the cage is a dwarf schefflera. Only the soil of the plant is covered by cypress bark. The cage is also accessorized with fake vines and leaves, plastic/rubber and silk.
Placement - The cage is in a bedroom about 8 feet from a window, 3 feet from the door, low traffic. I'm the only one to go in and out, and that isn't very frequent.
Location - Southeast Louisiana, USA.
Current Problem - Essentially, the problem is eye irritation, which is causing the both of us a lot of stress and worry for me. About two days after he arrived, he began closing one eye at a time for extended periods, and now he keeps both of them closed most of the time. Last week he also began rubbing them on branches/vines. This has translated to him not being visually stimulated by food movement or water hitting/dripping off of the leaves, so his eating/drinking schedule has been interrupted. He still has a healthy appetite and hunts and drinks from leaves but he isn't readily stimulable.
His eyes themselves look normal and there's no visible issue except for the irritation. I was initially convinced it was a Vitamin A deficiency so I supplemented the crickets with some Vit A retinyl palmitate. No luck there. I took him to the exotics vet a week ago--they were a little stumped. They ran some bloodwork and came back saying it was some kind of infection--of what, they weren't sure. They have me giving him 0.02cc ciprofloxin (12.5 mg/ml) every other day, but one week into the treatment and I still see him rubbing his eyes on branches. Though he has kept his eyes open for longer periods of time than before, he doesn't seem to be truly getting better.
I've considered giving him eye drops but I am not sure if I should wait until I go back in a week for his re-evaluation or if this treatment is even an effective one. Any input or reassurance would be appreciated--I just wanna see my lil guy in top form.
