Help!!! Female Veiled eye closed!!!

[ForrestJungle]

ok so at first i thought nothing of it but through out they day she as kept it closed. It is her right eye and it seems to be the eye that is pointing to the lights. She has stayed under the same lights, at the same hight. What do you think i should do?

 

[AngieL]

How old is she and what strength UVB do you have? Are there live plants or substrate in her enclosure, if so what kind?

 

[ForrestJungle]

she is 4.5 months old. She has a 5.0 Repti sun in her cage. There is a pothos and a ficus tree. There is no substrate since there are rocks on top of it.

 

[AngieL]

Is the uv tube inside or outside and is it brand new? Have any branches been broken off the ficus lately?

It's common for young chameleons eyes to be sensitive to new UVB tubes but 5.0 isn't that high. Also sap from certain plants can irritate eyes. Does it look swollen at all?

 

[ForrestJungle]

its not new. and no branches have been broken. it doesn't seem swollen, but almost deflated. Its like she is sucking it in.

 

[AngieL]

Sounds like she may have something in it. Try some nice long warm mistings for a couple of days. If it is that then you will see her sucking it in and bulging it out a lot during the mist and may even see the red inner part of her eye!

However, if this does not improve soon then a vet visit will be in order. It could be that she can't get whatever it is out of her eye or it could be an infection or something else! I hope she is all better soon

 

[ForrestJungle]

here are some pictures! Can anyone else put some input on this? Anyone

 

[ForrestJungle]

please someone help!!!

 

[Dr O]

hi forrest-

unfortunately there is nothing that can be seen from your photos, and even if i did see a large, focused picture of a squinting chameleon it still wouldn’t tell me why it’s squinting.

this can be an untold number of issues. hopefully it’s something more minor like something got in his eye and he will flush it out. but UV bulbs, respiratory infections, parasites, bacteria, plugged ducts, scratched corneas, and many more issues will do this. the only way to get this looked at is by a vet. if you want to guess and put antibiotic drops on it, that’s your call. but unless he fixes it himself, you have to decide what to do.

i don’t mean to come off as harsh, but i’m just putting the plain facts down in front of you since you seem desperate for help from the internet, which unfortunately won’t happen at this point.

dr o—

 

[mcbdz]

Sorry your buddy is having this issue but, what Dr. O said is your best advise. The only things to try with one eye being closed is shower or rinsing with saline. If that doesn't show improvement you need a vet. Good Luck and keep us updated on yalls progress.

 

[Dr O]

to put things in perspective, in vet med i just do NOT play around with eye issues. eyes are pretty unique organs, they certainly do not regrow, and can be permanently damaged in all sorts of ways. for any creature that has lost partial or full vision the consequences are lifelong. so i urge any cham owner with an eye issue to move a competent vet visit to the top of their list quickly, as opposed to let’s say a skin lesion. i did underline that word here specifically; most know by now what it takes to find a good reptile vet, but on top of that the eyes of reptiles work very differently than mammals. many of the diagnostic tools and eyedrops for a complete eye exam that are at most hospitals just don’t work on chameleon eyes, we often need neuromuscular-blocking agents like curare or d-tubocurarine which are not easy to come by. (excellent article here explaining anatomy and physiology: http://en.wikivet.net/Lizard_Eye

in practice, if someone called at closing time with a skin issue we would generally schedule them for the next day. but if it was an eye issue, it was “get here ASAP”. too much at stake imo.