Strange Eye Gunk

[MasterRango2012]

I recently got a young Veiled Chameleon, Rango, and everything was great. He ate well, never got upset when I moved something in his enclosure. Multiple mistings per day, never on him of course. I noticed recently that he often would keep one of his eyes closed, but only every few days. The other eye has brown splotches near it and a gunk on it. I have rubbed it off before and once there was even a white screen over his eye. He still eats and moves around fine, I am just concerned.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/841/photoon20130106at0018.jpg/

 

[carol5208]

your pics did not show up but if your chameleon has a discharge coming out of his eye he most likely has some sort of infection. He should be seen by a vet and he will give you drops or the proper antibiotic.

 

[MasterRango2012]

I got one to work. Still having trouble with the whole forum thing.

 

[carol5208]

the one eye looks fine, and the other I do not see any of the "gunk" present. It sounds like conjunctivitis in people where the eye produces discharge sporadically. If it continues, I would take him to a vet. You can try some PLAIN saline drops to wash the eye out which you can buy over the counter and see if that helps. If not, and the problem persists, them you need to have him seen by a vet.

 

[MasterRango2012]

Thank you. Yes, the gunk isn't particularly viewable in those shots. Yesterday I flushed both eyes with warm water and patted them down with a Q-tip. Then I applied neosporin to the outside lids. It was perfect after that. I am just confused about the one that is closed.

 

[Lovereps]

It does take a bit of time to get used to things on the forum.

Carol5208 is absolutely right.
There aren't any effective home remedies for eye infections.
You know that eyes are very important for chams to be able to aim at bugs and eat with their tongues.

When their eye gets irritated by an infection, they often close it frequently or keep it closed.

Unless you already know a vet who is very knowledgeable about chameleons, you can have a look here to find a vet.

Have a look here:
http://www.arav.org/find-a-vet/
And here:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/veterinarian-resources-67/

 

[MasterRango2012]

I am extremely concerned because about 6 years ago I had another Veiled. We had him for about 2 months until his eyes closed and he died. This endeavor with my current chameleon is far more stressful for me than it is for him.

 

[Lovereps]

Besides taking him to the vet to help him recover from the infection, you can cut and paste the https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/ questions and add your answers, so that if anything is not right in his care, you will know it soon enough for it to make a difference.
Many of us here were told the wrong things about cham cage or sold the wrong things for their care.

There is plenty of good information here and plenty of helpful people who would like you to succeed in your dream of raising a healthy Veiled cham.

Here is one good care sheet with plenty of accurate and useful information:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/chameleonsinmyhouse/395-veiled-chameleon-care-sheet.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...e/396-veiled-chameleon-care-sheet-part-2.html

 

[spencer451]

My Panther Buddy has the same problem periodically, had him checked out by the Vet and no infection. She gave me the same advise, rinse with saline solution and dab away the mucus with a wet q-tip. I've noticed that since I raised the humidity the problem has occurred less frequently. As a side note, if I don't clear the mucus he can't triangulate to shoot and misses his crickets by a mile.

 

[MasterRango2012]

Thanks a lot spencer451, that makes me feel a lot better. I already do the q-tip thing, so I will start on the saline as soon as possible.

 

[Lovereps]

MasterRango2012, I too have used sterile saline to flush out chams' eyes but there's good reason I didn't suggest it for your cham.

I did not suggest saline rinses is because I strongly suspect that your cham has an eye infection, not just an eye irritation.
Spencer451's new chameleon had an eye irritation which was diagnosed by a vet.
The important difference with your cham is the discharge from the eye.
An irritated eye typically would be closed periodically or kept closed until the irritant is removed--and could become an infection if the irritant wasn't flushed out soon enough.

An infected eye would have "gook" in it, or the eyelid may be swollen, eye puffy, etc.
The cham first closes it periodically, then closes it more and more often as the infection gets worse.
Eye infections are very often the only visible signs of a deeper infection in the sinuses.
This is why a seemingly simple infection can take longer to cure than one might expect.

If you decide to try the rinses for a couple of days and the gunk keeps coming back, then I hope you will take your cham to the vet right away.

I hope you won't stay stressed over your new cham.
They're not difficult to keep alive and healthy if you make sure that everything is set up for them the way they need it to be.
The key is to be sure things are right from early on--and it very often is not the way you were told to do things by the place that sold thim to you.

That's why I posted:
Besides taking him to the vet to help him recover from the infection, you can cut and paste the https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/ questions and add your answers, so that if anything is not right in his care, you will know it soon enough for it to make a difference.
Many of us here were told the wrong things about cham cage or sold the wrong things for their care.

There is plenty of good information here and plenty of helpful people who would like you to succeed in your dream of raising a healthy Veiled cham.

Here is one good care sheet with plenty of accurate and useful information:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs...are-sheet.html
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs...et-part-2.html