"Gunk" on eye, always blinking / pulling it "in" (right eye only)

EvilLost

New Member
Hey all,

So I've now had Clark for roughly 2 weeks from LanceCham and he's starting to color up so fast!! Since I got him I noticed that he regularly blinks his right eye; when I say blink I mean that he closes it and also "pulls it in" (into the socket) for a second. He does this relatively often but only in his right eye. I'm guessing the blink is because he feels like he has something in his eye (the gunk, see below) and he's trying to get it out. He is my first chameleon and I have not seen him do the "pulling into the socket" thing when blinking in his left eye (he will blink his left eye like normal, but i have not seen him "pull it in", it merely opens and closes) so I just wanted to make sure that it was a normal way of blinking for them.

About a week ago, I witnessed him rub his right eye on the end of a stick as if he was poking himself with the end of the stick almost. He did this for a few seconds and seemingly hard so I got worried and brought my hand near him which made him stop. I have not seen him do it again except that one time.

Last night, while he was sleeping, I was looking at him and it looked as if his right eye was open while he was fast asleep (AND BOY IS HE A SOUND SLEEPER!!) Upon closer examination, it turns out that his eyes were both closed, but there was a small eyeball sized amount of gunk on the midfront of his right eye (which created the illusion of his eye being open).
This morning I checked on him again and the gunk was certainly noticeable on his right eye. I observed him a few hours and he was constantly sitting with his right eye closed. I then took a Q-tip and *VERY* gently rubbed it along his eye (I was so worried about the pressure that the Q-tip barely even touched him). I also used it to easily remove 2 pieces of skin leftover from his last shed from before I got him. I was unable to remove the gunk from his eye but I managed to "roll" it forward enough that it is now no longer directly on his eye but rather JUST to the side of it. His right eye is open again but he is still blinking occasionally. Usually when he blinks he'll do it multiple times in succession (like 3-5 times) and then not do it again for awhile.

EDIT: The gunk looks very similar to the stuff that forms in the corner of our eyes when we sleep.

Onto the generic:


Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - 3.5months; from LanceCham; PC; I've had him for about 2 weeks.
Handling - Once or twice a day, I try to handfeed him. He takes one or two sometimes.
Feeding - Primarily crickets (switching to roaches soon as they arrive ;D). 1/4" crickets: 10 in his cup in the morning at 9am and about 5 in his cup in the afternoon around 4pm.
Supplements - Calcium powder daily; +d3 / multivitamin alternating on sundays. RepCal.
Watering - Little Dripper always dripping slowly. I handmist garden mister at least 2times a day sometimes a little more. I have never seen him drink anything and he runs away when I mist (see the issue for description)
Fecal Description - Looks good; solid brown chunk with white piece. Once a day.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Currently in an 18"x24"x18" enclosure. Screen top, plastic opaque sides (I use a fan to vent it). I remove the screen when I am home and connect it to a ficus via fake vines.
Lighting - 24W 18" Reptisun 5.0; 75W basking bulb daylight
Temperature - Basking Spot 85F; Cooler Spots 70F // Nightime temps are always around 70F at the COLDEST 65F. Digital Thermometer both mounted in tub and point and shoot style.
Humidity - Digital. Pretty consistently at 50%.
Plants - Hibiscus inside. Free range him on a larger ficus.
Placement - Computer desk; very low traffic area. Tub is located ~4feet off the floor total but since the sides are solid you can't see out of it. In that sense, the maximum height in relation to the floor is 18". The ficus is setup 1foot higher and is taller, so when he climbs over to that he is ~6' off the ground.
Location - Southern California


Sorry no pics, my cameraphone can't get a worthy pic and the gf took our camera on a trip for the weekend :\
 
You could try some warm showers and clean his eye with an eye wash or saline solution and use some Gentamicin or Terramycin ointment. He could have an infection and require a vet visit.
 
Evil all is not lost. Sorry I just had to start that way.:) Jann is correct about the showers and the rinsing his eye with saline solution. I would also go to the classified section - chameleon supplies and order some terramicin from TylerStewart. That might do the trick for his eye. I have a couple if chams who do the pull the eye thing in but it is the gunk in his eye that is worrisome. That is all I can think of that I would do, hope it helps, let us know.
 
Thanks for the responses. I decided to attempt the Q-tip approach one more time and I managed to remove the gunk from his eyes last night. As of then, I have not seen him blink or pick at his eye at all. I'm going to order some of the drops just in case (never hurts to have things like that on hand anyway), but the gunk has (at least as of today) not returned.

If it comes back again I'll make sure to snap a pic of it. Hopefully I'll never see it again :)
 
UPDATE:

Ok, his eye definitely has an issue. Today, I noticed it EXTREMELY swollen (easily 3-4x the size of his other eye). He seemed to be pulling it "into" the socket again and rubbing it against a stick.

There was a huge amount of inflammation under his right eye (it looked like there was a huge bulge in the front half of it). I tried repeatedly to take pictures but nothing would come out noticeable....when looking at him from directly in front however the bulge is HUGE!! He rubbed his eye on the stick again as I had seem him do in the past, and now the bulge is gone and his eye is back to normal????

I am ordering the eyedrops right now, but it just seems odd that something like this would come out so fast and go away so fast and be only in one eye...? His eye had bulged up SUBSTANTIALLY though, it was really really noticeable.


What could this be???
 
My veiled made me worry when he was shedding, he was rubbing his eye to a stick, and it got 2-3X bigger, but it was only helping the shed.
 
It could be any number of things. An irritant in the enclosure is the most likely source. ( I see you use ficus.) They have been known to emit a white sappy stuff that can irritate a chams eyes. I would start by ditching the ficus and trying a schefflerra or a hibiscus or pothos/ivy. The terrmyacin should clear up the eye when used correctly. When you get it put a nice sized glob over each eye opening and let it set there and the cham will move it around. I would go ahead and try and flush the eye with plain saline in the meantime. Shoot a stream into the affected eye turret fill it with fluid and let the stuff drain out. If its an object causing this it should flush it away. There is something that is causing this eye issue though and that needs to be addressed while treating the eye. Otherwise you will just have the same problem over and over.
 
hmm I will look into ditching the ficus. I have a hibiscus as well but its very small and not leafy enough so I put the ficus and hibiscus next to eachtoher; he spends all his time in the ficus.

i also bought him a pothos, but the leaves seem to be too weak to support his tiny body...they bend tremendously when he climbs them, it makes me really uneasy.

i looked at him more closely and there is definitely something in his eye. I am going to try and flush it out today
 
I have purchased Terramycin and applied it to his eye. The gunk in his eye has cleaned out, but this morning again his eye is inflamed and he "pulls it in". Starting to worry me, although he is eating and drinking just fine.... (i see him drinking daily now and he's eating at least 10, often 15 crickets a day)
 
You should cut back on the calcium with d3 everyday. D3 should be used like once every two weeks. Get calcium without d3 Miner-all O doesn't have d3 and works well. Use it once a day or every other day. For what's in his eye try warm showers for 20 mins a day for three or four days.
 
@Hugh: I think you misread my original post. I give him calcium (withOUT d3) daily and calcium+d3 every other sunday



Update:

He still has the eye issue. It went away a few days after applying the terramycin but has since returned. It seems to come and go and be very sporadic. I am not too concerned about it as he isn't showing any other problematic signs and it is really come and go, it is most likely something in his eyes. Still trying to figure out WHAT is causing it on and off though...

I have updated his free range and now he has a hibiscus, a pothos, and several long sticks.


Also, I have tried to shower him but he does the same thing he does when I mist him, only to a more extreme degree. Whenever I mist him, he closes BOTH eyes and just starts moving (rapidly). He often does not even make sure he has a solid grip and slips alot while being misted that I have to be very careful while I mist him. When I showered him (I only tried it once) he closed his eyes, ran to the top of the tree like usual and kept "running up" with eyes closed....resulting in him falling off the tree. I was ready to catch him of course so it was fine but had I not been there he would have fallen to the floor of the tub.

In general he HATES getting wet, rapidly runs away misting with both eyes closed!
 
my cham's eyes are buldging

hello my panther chameleon has been sleeping all day but it started with the right eye. he was pulling his eye into his socket and bulging the skin around it then he would rub it on a stick i took him to the vet and they gave me drops. then a couple days later the left eye started doing the same thing. I took him back to the vet and they gave him fluids cause he wasn't drinking on eating. I don't know what to do he keeps his eyes closed 24/7 and doesn't move. he responds to my touch but will not open his eyes. i read one of the threads about the ficus i recently put a ficus in the cage a couple weeks after he started getting irritated with his eye. What should I do?
 
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