Help— Eyes are Closed!

[Rango_TheManEater]

Hey, everybody!

I recently came home and noticed that Rango had been lying in the same spot with both of his eyes closed. I figured that, since it was just before bedtime, he was winding down early.

But now, I’m genuinely worried. He’s still lying in the same spot all day with his eyes closed. He’s been doing this for maybe 3 days now.

Do I need to take him to an emergency vet??

 

[nightanole]

Hes showing stress colors but doesnt look under weight nor dehydrated. Many of us feel taking to the vet stresses them even more. Id just up the hydration attempts and monitor the situation for more sick signs. I assume he has no discharge from various orifices and poo is normal. Now if he had slobber or eye crusties or poopy vent /runny stool, well that would another sign.

 

[Motherlode Chameleon]

Rango looks to be in healthy condition. If his eyes lids are fused you can up the misting in his enclosure and check if his eyes become unfused on their own. Or use a moist Q-Tip and have a go at unfusing Rango's eyes yourself. If that does not work then you can take Rango to the vet.

Best Regards
Jeremy A. Rich

 

[kinyonga]

Has anything changed with your husbandry lately? Supplements? Lighting? Temperatures?

 

[ehdee6]

Where you said:

He also received oral de-worming medication, which I had no idea he needed.

Was he tested for worms?

Otherwise I agree with the others, he looks healthy. You just recently had him in for eye issues, he might need a gentle wash/whipe. It looks like he recently shed, was it just his back or his head too?

also, you just gave him a new home alteration; which he may just be adjusting to.

 

[Rango_TheManEater]

Has anything changed with your husbandry lately? Supplements? Lighting? Temperatures?

Recently, I have changed the husbandry in his cage. I’ve added (now) six plants, which i quarantined and sprayed with citrus to keep spiders/other bugs off of it. He immediately took a bite of a pothos after I set it in his cage, but i otherwise didn’t notice any particular difference in his behavior.

Also, I realized that his heat bulb had finally died. I immediately went out (today) and bought one, so maybe the issue was that his temperature was not high enough? Maybe he’s adjusting to his new plants/environment?

 

[Beman]

Just a note... I noticed in the picture you submitted for the photo contest that he was closing his eyes. How long ago was that one taken? Because this really is not normal behavior of a healthy cham. While the heat bulb may play a role if your ambient temps are still in the low 70's this in my opinion would not cause a cham to start closing eyes during the day. Him just staying in one place is worrisome as well.

His turrets do look to be a bit sunk in as well. Between the staying in one place, turrets slightly sunk in, and closing of the eyes. All of these point to a health issue. My worry would be something is either off in husbandry (you can see this with UVB issues) or perhaps he has something else like a parasite load or illness.

 

[Rango_TheManEater]

Just a note... I noticed in the picture you submitted for the photo contest that he was closing his eyes. How long ago was that one taken? Because this really is not normal behavior of a healthy cham. While the heat bulb may play a role if your ambient temps are still in the low 70's this in my opinion would not cause a cham to start closing eyes during the day. Him just staying in one place is worrisome as well.

His turrets do look to be a bit sunk in as well. Between the staying in one place, turrets slightly sunk in, and closing of the eyes. All of these point to a health issue. My worry would be something is either off in husbandry (you can see this with UVB issues) or perhaps he has something else like a parasite load or illness.

The photo I had taken for the contest was captured last Wednesday. Initially, I only noticed his eyes because I would mist him (when I could) about 5-10 minutes before his lights would shut off. He’s often wound down early when I go to water him since it’s colder outside, so I didn’t think much of it at first.

But I started paying more attention to him and peeking in several times throughout the day. I would even gently tap his screen to see if he would react to movement, but he hasn’t been able to for about 4-5 days now.

I discussed the parasite issue with my dad, and we have no idea how he could have gotten one. While it’s probably not likely, we think that there may have been a parasite in a bug I’ve fed him or one may have snuck in on his plants.

Since I changed his heat bulb yesterday, I noticed he immediately moved himself to the closest branch under it and he’s just perched himself there. I’m not sure if this is a symptom of anything, but I’m really worried about him either way.

I think I’m going to find a better, more experienced vet this time around. The last vet I took Rango to not only didn’t tell me what the issue was after flushing his eye, but I asked for an age estimate and they brushed me off. They also cut off his “stuck shed” (it was NOT stuck and was actually fresh)!

 

[ehdee6]

Oh yikes, I would call around to see if there's another vet. It's best if you can get his poops tested, if you can bring them a fresh sample too. I know it might be quite the drive to find a good exotic vet, mine is a six hour round trip to see... But it's worth having someone experienced to care for them.

 

[Rango_TheManEater]

UPDATE (I forgot to mention this!):

I took a q-tip and ran it under some warm water before gently rubbing at Rango’s eyes. All I managed to get out was a tiny speck of something black (shed?), and his eyes still haven’t opened.

Yeah… this is definitely gonna be a vet trip. Unfortunately, I am currently stuck in a blizzard, so this may have to wait.

 

[Carlton]

The photo I had taken for the contest was captured last Wednesday. Initially, I only noticed his eyes because I would mist him (when I could) about 5-10 minutes before his lights would shut off. He’s often wound down early when I go to water him since it’s colder outside, so I didn’t think much of it at first.

But I started paying more attention to him and peeking in several times throughout the day. I would even gently tap his screen to see if he would react to movement, but he hasn’t been able to for about 4-5 days now.

I discussed the parasite issue with my dad, and we have no idea how he could have gotten one. While it’s probably not likely, we think that there may have been a parasite in a bug I’ve fed him or one may have snuck in on his plants.

Since I changed his heat bulb yesterday, I noticed he immediately moved himself to the closest branch under it and he’s just perched himself there. I’m not sure if this is a symptom of anything, but I’m really worried about him either way.

I think I’m going to find a better, more experienced vet this time around. The last vet I took Rango to not only didn’t tell me what the issue was after flushing his eye, but I asked for an age estimate and they brushed me off. They also cut off his “stuck shed” (it was NOT stuck and was actually fresh)!

Chams can definitely pick up parasites from their insect prey. You're never going to get rid of every single one. BUT, a healthy insectivore can tolerate some parasites....they need to because they're ubiquitous in the environment. An otherwise healthy host can handle a low parasite burden, but if that host ends up weakened from another problem parasites can bloom and get the upper hand. Something has probably been brewing with him for a while, but we all know how good chams are at hiding their vulnerabilities. Their whole approach to life is to go unnoticed. I think people forget that minor health problems rarely occur in isolation. They tend to form cascades of events. Little subtle things that go unnoticed accumulate until one can't help but notice. An eye problem could be a secondary symptom of something else. One of those "which came first, the chicken or the egg" questions.

If he was generally too cold or his heat spot was gradually weakening, he might have been spending more of his day chilled than you think. Which will affect eating, drinking, activity, ability to get nutrition out of his food. Which will affect overall nutrition, which will affect overall health. Our captive environments tend to produce one isolated cone of warmth in an otherwise too cool room. I'm not suggesting his entire room needs to be kept tropically warm, just that the contrast between a basking area and the rest of the enclosure could be more significant in winter than you realize and that will affect his daily behavior and how well he maintains himself. Once his weaker basking bulb got replaced, he just crouched under it. If the rest of his cage is borderline too cool for him, it could lead him to sit in one spot instead of moving around. Which meant he wasn't drinking, or eating, or maintaining himself normally.

You need an experienced vet with the tools to dig into this. Bloodwork for organ problems or infections, parasite sampling, bloodwork, maybe xrays to detect some internal abnormality, etc.