Help! My Chameleon seems blind and is not eating
Hi,
My little guy is an almost 6 month old male ambilobe panther chameleon. A few weeks ago he started becoming more and more lethargic and kept his eyes closed most of the day and stopped eating. His color became very dark and he drastically lost weight. I took him to reptile specialist vet and he thought he might have an issue with his eyes and prescribed NeoPolyBac ointment. Despite that treatment, he seemed to get worse so I brought him back and they had to force feed him a specially formulated reptile diet via syringe. He thought perhaps he has some kind of virus in addition to eye issue. He gained some weight back but still seemed very lethargic and completely not interested in crickets. The vet kept him at his animal hosp for about 2 wks (he got lots of privacy and he was in his cage with all of his things since I brought all of his stuff from home). He received antibiotics, critical care diet, fluids, etc. and moderately improved. Since he's been home, I've noticed his eyes are def open much more now, but he seems blind when he moves around. Sometimes, he flinches if I approach him, but many times he doesn't. I am still feeding him the critical care supplement via syringe bc I haven't seen him eat any crickets at all. He seems to have something in his eyes because he's constantly bulging them out and rubbing them against the screen. I started giving him showers 3 days ago and he really seems to enjoy those. I also started putting him in the sun for a little bit every day. His color has definitely brightened, he's no longer dark and he started molting yesterday. My concern is that I don't think he is sick, I think he has something in his eyes causing irritation and inflammation, which is why he can't see very well and why he is not eating, but I don't know how to get it out. I take him back to the vet this Monday.
Has anyone had a similar issue and how did it resolve itself?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!
Chameleon Info:
Chameleon - almost 6 month old male ambilobe panther. I've had his since April.
Handling - a little bit daily since I have to feed him
Feeding - when healthy, he was eating approx 15-20 1/4in crickets daily. I dusted them every other day with Herptivite multivitamins and Rep-Cal calcium with vit D. I also gut load crickets with fresh fruits and veggies
Watering - I have monsoon mister that goes off every 4 hrs for 30 sec
Fecal Description - brown with white tip...never tested for parasites
Cage Info:
Cage Type - Reptibreeze small screen enclosure 16x16x20
Lighting - lights 13 hrs/day...ReptiSun 5.0 and dome with bulb for heat
Temperature - temp ranges from 75 - 90 degrees depending on where he is in cage and how close to heat source
Humidity - it stays at a constant 40%
Plants - not using live plants
Placement - He is on a counter top by a window in corner of kitchen. moderate traffic flow
Location - Boca Raton, FL
