Help with Panther eye problem

[Juxocyde]

Here goes...

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Ambilobe/Nosy Be Cross Panther Female, 10 Mo old, been in my possession for 7 Mo.
Handling - Almost Never unless im cleaning out the cage or trying to care for her eye
Feeding - 10 - 5/8 Crickets/day Calc Dusting on most days, Multivite once a week. Feeders each dry gutload mix of oats and grains
Supplements - Reptical Herptivite once a week, Reptivite Calc w/ D3 on all the other days, sometimes i skip a dusting here and there as to not over calc them.
Watering - Promist every two hours, for 1 minute, very fine mist, i see them drinking. sick one i have been hand spraying water since she never opens her eyes.
Fecal Description - Fecal is normal, just like the other two i have
History - Tried giving them a shower for a few days on and off throughout the day to help her eye clean out itself. Went to the vet and got a saline type solution and have been putting that into her eyes ever since, didnt do anything, if anything before she would open her eyes and now there almost permanently shut. Used a wet Q-tip to clean her eyes and it gets her to open them a little bit.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screen 18X18X36
Lighting - Repti sun 5.0 linear bulbs in a zoo med fixture, 20 in fixture 18 in bulb
Temperature - Cage floor stays about 77-80 basking is around 87-90. use a digital thermometer with a probe
Humidity - Zoo med humidity gauge is almost constantly at 55-65. got the misters going and i got ficus in all the cages.
Plants - Ficus from lll
Placement - Cages are located in my room. Fans never on and the one that is is not pointed in their general direction. Not a high traffic area, there is a vent. the highs of the top of the cage in question is 5 foot above the ground.
Location - Aiken, SC

Current Problem - One of my female chams are having some kind of eye problem. i called screameleons and they told me to give her a shower on and off for a few days and it should help her clean it out herself. did this. it was good for a week then went back to the same way. Went to the vet, they gave me a solution of vetrachloracin to put into her eyes three times a day. at first i did it for 3-4 times a day but cut back a little because of the constant stress of taking her out and applying the medicine that i cut back to 2-3 times a day but without handling her. hasnt gotten better since. now she doesnt even bother opening her eyes, she looks like a holocaust victim from lack of eating and i have to force her to drink water but she still never opens her eyes. i recently used a qtip to rub her eyes with water and got her to open her eyes for a bit and tried to get her to eat but havent seen her eat but there are less crickets in the cage when i wake up. i see her walk around at night and stay stationary during the day. please i need help i think she is coming down to her last limb and i have no idea what else i can do to help her. Only real suggestions please, this is a real crisis i dont want this to turn into a post about whether giving a chameleon a shower is more stressful than good or anything like that. ill post pictures soon when i get a chance. thank you

 

[sandrachameleon]

What did the vet say the problem was? Did the vet do any bloodwork or discuss your husbandry? did the vet do a fecal test?

Is there discharge from the eyes? are they crusted shut, or does she just appear to not open them? Are they sunken?

How long since she last ate? drank? Do you know how to force feed, if it comes to that?

It sounds like your gutload it is lacking fruits and vegetables. It is possible that there is a (lack of) vitamin issue, even though you are using herptivite and teh zoo med reptivite (which contains vitamin A).

It also sounds like you are only providing crickets, rather than a variety of prey items. I personally feel a chameleons well being is tied to getting a variety of well gutloaded prey. This may not be whatsoever related to her issue, but.... couldnt hurt to add in additional feeder types.

Your temps are higher than I would have, but that's not likely to hurt her eyes. It is strange she is walking around at night and stationary during the day.

Do you use only a supplement that contains D3? never a plain calcium?

 

[reptoman]

You say you use calc w\D3 most every feeding. Calcium with D3 should be used twice a month. You are most likely overdosing her with D3. You should be using calcium without D3 most every feeding and calcium with D3 twice a month alternating with your herpevite. Do a search on D3 and you will find numerous threads on supplementing and specifically problems assiciated with over supplementing with D3. From what I understand, D3 can build up in the system and impede calcium absorbtion leading to MBD (metabolic bone disease).

 

[kinyonga]

Although the D3 is being overdone IMHO...I don't know that it has anything to do with the eye trouble.

"In reptiles, too much vitamin D added to the diet leads to hypervitaminosis-D, which causes kidney damage, calcification of the soft tissues, including the major blood vessels, and premature death"....
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/vitdpathway.htm

 

[Elizadolots]

Does she have a laying bin? She may need to lay eggs and, sorry to say, they'll die rather than lay in less than acceptable circumstances.

 

[Juxocyde]

her eyes are sunken, does not seem to have discharge or crust just not opening them, she drank a ton yeaterday and im not exactly sure when she last ate since there are still crickets in her cage that havent been eaten, and i dont know how to force feed. I do mix it up every once in a while with pheonix or butter worms but mostly stick to crickets since they dont seem to like mealworms too much and the butter worms are their favorite but their really expensive for a few. Vet didnt say anything perticular about the chameleons eyes problem except that it should go away after a few days with the saline solution that he provided. He did ask a ton of questions about husbandry but did not do a blood test of fecal smear

i puit her in the "sand box" a week ago and she did not seem too interested in laying any eggs so after 2 days in there i moved her back to her cage.

 

[kinyonga]

Can you post some pictures please?
Does she sit at the bottom of her cage? Does she sit with her mouth open at all?

 

[Juxocyde]