Turn off the black light
Welcome to the forum!
Sorry your cham is having problems.
Don't give up on misting him and please continue to use the dripper, too.
He may prefer that the water is lukewarm, so it isn't as startling.
Mist him for a few minutes at a time---because many chams don't start to drink until they've been misted continually for 5 minutes or so.
You can read more about chameleons and water here:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/water/
Fountains usually aren't used for chameleons, since they can easily become full of bacteria unless cleaned thoroughly every day and most chams will not drink from them.
Honestly, it sounds like whomever sold the chameleon to you did not give you the right information about what he/she needs---probably because they really do not know.
The same thing has happened to plenty of people on these forums, so we understand.
It is good that you've now found the right place for good info about chameleons.
We will help you get everything sorted out.
We can help you so you know which things should be changed and which are good for him, so that your chameleon then has everything the way that he needs it to be.
Please turn off that black light starting now, keep it off and then get a regular household light bulb that gives off regular white light.
You want to have an area for your cham to bask under where the temperature is 85 degrees.
What wattage light bulb will do that depends on how warm the room is and how close to the basking spot the light fixture is.
Typically a regular 40 watt or 60 watt bulb does the trick
His eyes should improve within a few days of keeping those lights off.
Chameleons should
not have black lights.
Not for heat or for light or for UVB--because they do not emit any UVB, which chams need.
Reptisun 5.0 bulbs are commonly used to provide UVB.
With his eyes so irritated right now, I would not use any bulb other than a regular household bulb until he feels better in a few days.
The lights you have been using have most likely irritated his eyes so badly that he will not eat or drink because
his eyes hurt .
When a chameleon has its eyes closed during the day, it means that he is either sick or his eyes are very irritated from the lights that are being used--or both.
Your chameleon has been bulging out its eyes because that is the way chameleons clean their eyes--they rinse them and bulge them out.
Rubbing eyes on branches is another way they get debris out of their eyes.
However, a chameleon which rubs its eyes throughout the day and/or has its eyes bulged all the time has an eye problem.
Pet store medications simply don't help chameleon eye troubles.
You must turn off
all the lights at night.
A chameleon needs darkness at night.
Chameleons can see UV light that is invisible to our eyes and it
will keep the cham awake at night.
For some more info, here is the forum's excellent Veiled caresheet
https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/caresheets/veiled/
If you cut and paste the questions from here
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/
and then add all of your answers--we can help you better.
The more completely you answers those questions, the better the quality that the advice can be.
