Swollen Eye?

BugzNelson

Member
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Yato is a Male Panther Chameleon, 7 months old. I've had him for 4 months.
  • Handling - At least once every 2 weeks to clean his cage, no more than once a week.
  • Feeding-
    • Normally: 5-10bugs/day. Varied selection of BSFL, Dubia roaches, crickets and the occasional super worm. Crickets were the primary staple.
    • In the last month: 2-5 crickets OR 1-2 Dubias every other day. Most of the time he ignores his food. He will only eat more if its a worm (hornworm, silkworm, superworm, mealworm, or waxworm).
    • Gutload:
      • Dubias and Mealworms are fed butternut squash and collard greens. If we have any produce that goes bad, we also give that to them. Repashy superload if I'm low on produce.
      • Crickets are fed Repashy superload and Repashy bug burger.
  • Supplements - RepCal Calcium no Phosphorus no vitamin D3, dusted daily. Reptivite (with D3) dusted once a month.
  • Watering - I have a Mistking setup on an automatic timer, twice a day a for 2-3 minutes, early morning and late night. Also, a little dripper when needed.
  • Fecal Description - The last fresh poop I found was very long and pale, the urine was washed away. Other than that, I usually find dark brown turds that are dried up on leaves, or still a little soft under the leaves. Last time I saw urine, it was white with a few lines of orange.
Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - 2ft x 2ft x 4ft. Mix of PVC, screen mesh at the top and bottom, and a plexi-glass door.
  • Lighting - Arcadia 6% UVB T5 HO; Zoo Med 100W basking bulb on a dimmer, though I've not needed it recently. Sansi LED 70W Grow Light.
  • Temperature- I read the top temp with an inkbird thermometer and the bottom temp with a Govee Thermometer/hydrometer
    • Top/Basking:
      • Week Average (Day and Night) Temp: 75.5 F
        • Max (Day) Temp: 91.3 F
        • Min (Night) Temp: 57.3 F (bought a heating pad to stop it from dropping this low at night again, though it does stay in the low 60s).
    • Bottom:
      • Week Average (Day and Night) Temp: 64.7 F
        • Max (Day) Temp: 71.6 F
        • Min (Night) Temp: 56.7 F
  • Humidity
    • Average: 68.4%
      • Max (Night): 82.8%
      • Min (Day): 53.6%
  • Plants - Pathos x2; Rubber Tree Plant, Bromiliad, Pilea, common/poet's jasmine, coleus, fern.
  • Placement - It's a low traffic room without a fan and the vent is closed. Window occasionally open though. The top of the cage stands roughly 6.5ft from the floor (4ft cage+~2.5ft table).
  • Location - California, valley not coastal.

Current Problem - I'm concerned about Yato's eye, more his right eye than his left. It's starting to look swollen and baggy. When I first noticed, I read that it could be a lack of vitamin A so I gave him his multivitamin twice that month. It has since calmed down a little, but still looks puffy. Yato doesn't like to be out of his cage, it stresses him out, even when it's just for a little bit. However, the nearest exotic/reptile vet is over an hour away, so I don't want to drag him out unless it's unavoidable to keep him healthy. Below is a picture history of his eye.
  • History:
    • September 9th, Normal Eye:
      DSCF5086 (2).JPG
    • October 13th, still looks normal:
      IMG-6368.jpg
    • October 29th, starts to get a little baggy:
      IMG-6449.jpg
    • November 9th, more bags:
      IMG-6472.jpg
    • November 20th, Yato had puffed out his eye and looked very irritated, these pictures were taken right after that happened. I tried to change his diet (more Vit A) to see if that was the cause. I have not seen it puffed out since, but there is still some swelling.
      IMG-6713.PNG
      IMG-6714.PNG
      IMG-6712.PNG
    • These where from today.
      • Left Eye:
        IMG-6698.jpg
      • Right Eye:
        IMG-6711.jpg
        IMG-6702.jpg
 
Have you ever seen Yato washing his eyes in misting sessions, for which i have 3 mistings a day and an extra long one on a Friday so as to let my panther get enough time too really get eyes in and cleaned out. Some peeps take too shower and bounce water off a wall to get a good eye clean.
 
Have you ever seen Yato washing his eyes in misting sessions, for which i have 3 mistings a day and an extra long one on a Friday so as to let my panther get enough time too really get eyes in and cleaned out. Some peeps take too shower and bounce water off a wall to get a good eye clean.
I have not caught him misting his own eyes, but I haven't been around for the misting in some time. I have a nice fine hand mister so I've sprayed a little above him before to see if I could help him flush his eyes a little. He blinked a lot, but didn't seem bothered by the water.
 
So your husbandry looks very on point for the most part. The puffy would not be Vitamin A deficiency. I would honestly look at this being more of a sinus issue. I would go to a very good reptile vet and have them take a look at it.

Now my only other question would be do you have any exo terra vines in there. IF so they could be the culprit. A piece could have come off and gotten into the eye if he was rubbing on them. This could then cause issues with the eye if he was not able to clear it.
 
"Reptivite (with D3) dusted once a month"...this should be used twice a month IMHO.

You said you have a rubber tree plant...the juices from it can be irritating to the chameleons eye.
 
"Reptivite (with D3) dusted once a month"...this should be used twice a month IMHO.

You said you have a rubber tree plant...the juices from it can be irritating to the chameleons eye.
I used it twice last month and he's improved a little. I'll consider making it part of his regular schedule. Thank you!
 
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