Sick Veiled

candjstevenson

New Member
I am not sure if anyone can help me.... but I will willing to try anything at this point. I have a female veiled chameleon, I purchased her about four months ago at a local petstore... she was eating at growing like a bad weed up till this week. It all started when I took her to the vet. She was having some type of problem with her right eye. It looked like it would pop out of socket almost. She would rub it on the veins or leaves and it would go back to normal. I thought she might have something in her eye so I made an appointment and drove an hour to the closest Herp vet. He said there was nothing wrong with her complemented me on how good she looked and that was it....
Well about two days later she started shedding... but acting really weird. She seemed to get week and she stoped eating. The next day she wouldnt open her eyes. (She had finished shedding ) I have been holding her and running water over her and she is drinking when she feels it on her face. Her eyes have been closed now for three days. She has not eat anything solid in five days and the earliest any vet can see her is the 25. I can't find anything on the web anywhere about the mixture of things going on with her.
Anyone have any ideas??? :(
 
It is not always easy to diagnose a chameleon problem, and unfortunately they are such delicate creatures that by the time signs of illness occur it is sometimes too late.

She was having some type of problem with her right eye. It looked like it would pop out of socket almost. She would rub it on the veins or leaves and it would go back to normal. I thought she might have something in her eye
From what you describe, it does sound like she had something in her eye. Could have been a piece of dead skin from shedding or some other small particle. The swollen eye bulging sounds like the natural process chameleons have to help clean the eye and remove any foreign particles. If she had something in her eye, she would definitely do what you describe. Usually a chameleon will be able to clear their eye and recover. If your chameleon has had both eyes closed for three days, that is not good.

At this point you need to keep her nourished and strong so she might have a chance at fighting off the problem. I would recommend giving her a small amount of pedialyte via eye dropper. Letting her sit in a shower where the water does not directly hit her could help. I don't recall the exact recipe, but a cricket/pedialyte mix is what you should try feeding her. You mix the dead crickets or other insect (mealworm would be good) with pedialyte into a paste. You can find pedialyte in the baby section at most grocery stores.

How do the eyes look? Is there a secretion or something on the outside of the eyes? This could be a sign of infection. Are the eyes sunken in more than normal? This is a sign of dehydration. Are the eye(s) swollen? Do you have a camera phone or some way of showing us a picture?
 
There are two ways that I know of to show pictures in your posts. You can upload the image to the forum using the 'Manage Attachments' button when posting. Or you can provide a link to the image like this:
your-image.gif


hope this helps
 
Yes, as Mr Green said there are two ways to post images.

1.) Upload the image to the forum. To do this, you press the 'Manage Attachments' button while posting a message. It is located in the 'Additional Options' section.

2.) If your image is already online somewhere you can show it in your messages by using the

You put that in your message.

It is possible you have already done one of these and are still having problems. Let me know please. I have plans to make the whole image process more user friendly and offer more options as well. I have had to put that off for a few weeks due to some work related projects.
 
How is she doing? Has she made any progress? If her eyes are still closed, try taking a closer picture of her eyes; otherwise that might be too stressfull for her. Another area I like to look at is the tail. Is she still rubing her eye(s) on branches and leaves?
 
I will try and get my camera to co-operate and get a closer picture of camille's eyes and tail and get it posted on here today. Her tail is still plump and full at the base, her eyes are still closed and I am still feeding from a syringe (pedialite, calcium & babyfood mixture). She is still strong and moving all about her inclosure very well for her eyes being closed. I have not seen her rubbing her eyes on anything in the last couple of days...
I will post some pics tonight... TY for your help!!
 
Good to hear she is roaming the cage. Also great to hear you have been able to feed and water her. I'll check back later today to see if you have posted some pics.
 
My veiled chameleon/sick

I also have a female veiled chameleon and she is sick too. I actually have 2 females and that is why it is so easy to tell that one of them is clearly not feeling well. All except for the thing about the eye coming out, she is displaying the same symptoms as the previous blog. Also, her tongue is swollen and not expanding out as far as it used to. She turns a very dark brownish/black color when she is extremely lethargic. Anyone, could she have an obstruction in her mouth or stomach? These pets belong to my 5 year old son and 11 year daughter. My daughter is freaking out. Also, she seems clumsy and unbalanced. Although she is moving, she falls off the branches and moves about like she is drunk. She is eating and drinking.
 
Howdy,

I understand why you linked to this 3.5 yr-old thread and before we started with more linkage to it, now would be a good time to start a fresh thread of your own :).

A great way to start that new helath-related thread would be to cut/paste the questions from: https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/ and fill-in as many answers as you can. You could also refer with a link back to this thread for reference if you want.

Also, what part of the world are you located?

My quickie lunch break is over so I'll leave it to others to continue until tonight :eek:.
 
im not sure if this is the problem or not but i was just informed yesterday, that the twist in style UVB lights can do harm to your chameleons. being lethargic and closed eyes were two of the biggest problems with these lights.

For more info go here
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/phototherapyphosphor.htm

dont know if this will be any help or not but i hope so, & good luck with your little friend
 
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