Chameleon87
New Member
Milton “the Monster: is a 3 yr 4 month old male panther chameleon. His right eye is completely black, you can't see the iris. He can see out of it and track movements and everything I just think it agitates him if he uses it too much. Look at the attached pictures!!!
His eye had problems around 1 year ago and I took him to a vet and they gave me Prednisone anti-inflammatory eye drops to put in, they helped him for a while but he has started closing his eye frequently again lately.
I took him to the vet yesterday, the vet was not very experienced with chameleons but had treated a few before. He believed he had "anterior synechia" which means the iris has attached to the cornea, had a build up of pressure and causes closed angle vision (similar to glaucoma). He is having me administer Atropine Sulfate in order to dilate the eye, if the eye dilates enough the condition should reverse itself. At first he seemed to open the eye more, but today after 2 drops the skin seemed black and he is reluctant more than usual to open it. I don't want to cause further damage, am hoping it is just because it's dilated and sensitive to the light.
PLEASE if anyone knows of any articles, web sites, or anything dealing with chameleon eye issue or have any ideas let me know!!! I have researched this online, find all sorts of things in humans, but absolutely nothing on chameleons. Also if anyone knows of a good herp vet around Las Cruces, NM or El Paso, TX please let me know.
Thank you everyone who chimes in to help out Milton.
Below is the health forum background info.
I handle him fairly often, he likes to come out of his cage and go on the ficus tree I have to put him outside in order for him to get some natural sunlight.
Primarily crickets and superworms. He has not eaten very much lately, been sporadic. I gutload the crickets with lettuce and carrots and started using collard greens lately. I have ordered silkworms, hornworms, phoenix worms and wax worms before but he barely eats them.
Rep cal. Calcium (5 times/week), Calcium w/ D3 (1 time/week), Herptavite multivitamins (1/week). Concerned that since he hasn’t been eating as often not getting the proper amount of vitamins.
Yes I see him drinking in the morning when I start the water dripper, I don’t mist by hand put have a mist king that goes on 5 cycles per day for 3-4 minutes each time.
He has had irregular bowl movements for the last 2 weeks, probably only seen two. Each one has been extremely runny, almost like a glob of mucous. Urates are slightly orange sometimes, other times normal. Plan on getting the next fecal tested.
Unfortunately about 1.5 years ago something happened to his eye, I took him to the vet after it didn’t get any better and the vet rx some prednisone eye drops which seemed to help him but I have run out. The vet didn’t see any function problems with his eye but it is alarming that his eye is all black now, you can see no pupil. He still occasionally closes it =(
Screen cage, used to be metal mesh then I recently built a new cage that uses plastic mesh. The cage is 24x24x48. The bottom is mesh and below I have a 5 gal bucket to catch the water.
Reptisun 5.0 UVB linear 24” tube recently added two 48” fluorescent lights hanging above the cage to add more fluorescent type light to the cage. Have 1 100w basking lamp above the cage and two 100W irricadescent on the top sides. Recently upped the lighting schedule to 7:00 am – 7:00 pm due to the change in season and light.
90-95 F at top of cage, basking spot is several inches below however so it is slightly cooler. Over night the temps get in the low 70’s. I have a digital thermometer w/ probe.
Have a heated humidifier in the room to the bottom left of the cage, I use a regular humidity gauge to measure the humidity. Ranges from 40-60% depending on if the door is closed to the room.
The cage is located on a stand about 3.5 feet off the floor and nearly extends to the ceiling. He is in a separate room out of the high traffic areas, unfortunately it doesn’t receive as much natural light as the rest of my house.
His eye had problems around 1 year ago and I took him to a vet and they gave me Prednisone anti-inflammatory eye drops to put in, they helped him for a while but he has started closing his eye frequently again lately.
I took him to the vet yesterday, the vet was not very experienced with chameleons but had treated a few before. He believed he had "anterior synechia" which means the iris has attached to the cornea, had a build up of pressure and causes closed angle vision (similar to glaucoma). He is having me administer Atropine Sulfate in order to dilate the eye, if the eye dilates enough the condition should reverse itself. At first he seemed to open the eye more, but today after 2 drops the skin seemed black and he is reluctant more than usual to open it. I don't want to cause further damage, am hoping it is just because it's dilated and sensitive to the light.
PLEASE if anyone knows of any articles, web sites, or anything dealing with chameleon eye issue or have any ideas let me know!!! I have researched this online, find all sorts of things in humans, but absolutely nothing on chameleons. Also if anyone knows of a good herp vet around Las Cruces, NM or El Paso, TX please let me know.
Thank you everyone who chimes in to help out Milton.
Below is the health forum background info.
I handle him fairly often, he likes to come out of his cage and go on the ficus tree I have to put him outside in order for him to get some natural sunlight.
Primarily crickets and superworms. He has not eaten very much lately, been sporadic. I gutload the crickets with lettuce and carrots and started using collard greens lately. I have ordered silkworms, hornworms, phoenix worms and wax worms before but he barely eats them.
Rep cal. Calcium (5 times/week), Calcium w/ D3 (1 time/week), Herptavite multivitamins (1/week). Concerned that since he hasn’t been eating as often not getting the proper amount of vitamins.
Yes I see him drinking in the morning when I start the water dripper, I don’t mist by hand put have a mist king that goes on 5 cycles per day for 3-4 minutes each time.
He has had irregular bowl movements for the last 2 weeks, probably only seen two. Each one has been extremely runny, almost like a glob of mucous. Urates are slightly orange sometimes, other times normal. Plan on getting the next fecal tested.
Unfortunately about 1.5 years ago something happened to his eye, I took him to the vet after it didn’t get any better and the vet rx some prednisone eye drops which seemed to help him but I have run out. The vet didn’t see any function problems with his eye but it is alarming that his eye is all black now, you can see no pupil. He still occasionally closes it =(
Screen cage, used to be metal mesh then I recently built a new cage that uses plastic mesh. The cage is 24x24x48. The bottom is mesh and below I have a 5 gal bucket to catch the water.
Reptisun 5.0 UVB linear 24” tube recently added two 48” fluorescent lights hanging above the cage to add more fluorescent type light to the cage. Have 1 100w basking lamp above the cage and two 100W irricadescent on the top sides. Recently upped the lighting schedule to 7:00 am – 7:00 pm due to the change in season and light.
90-95 F at top of cage, basking spot is several inches below however so it is slightly cooler. Over night the temps get in the low 70’s. I have a digital thermometer w/ probe.
Have a heated humidifier in the room to the bottom left of the cage, I use a regular humidity gauge to measure the humidity. Ranges from 40-60% depending on if the door is closed to the room.
The cage is located on a stand about 3.5 feet off the floor and nearly extends to the ceiling. He is in a separate room out of the high traffic areas, unfortunately it doesn’t receive as much natural light as the rest of my house.