The vet told me nothing is wrong with him, but he's scratching his eyes like crazy.

[prisecheck]

Just took Charles to the vet yesterday. Vet says he seems very healthy. Charles has been scratching his eyes on his branches every day, multiple times a day. His right eye seems kind of sunken in and he's occasionally keeping it closed. Vet prescribed a 7day stint of anti-inflammatories.

He recently had an incomplete shed, and I'm not sure if his eyes shed at all, so I'm wondering if this might be an issue?

I just got a new 24x24x48 reptibreeze. I did not wipe the enclosure before assembling. I've also just put new plants in the enclosure. I made sure to clean the plants before incorporating them. I have a dracaena, a creeping fig, and a Japanese aralia, which I've read all are safe. He'd also been scratching for a while before the plants were put in.

I'm going to take some rubbing alcohol and wipe down his branches and the surfaces of his enclosure today.

Any ideas on what might be the problem?

 

[Beman]

I would not use alcohol on the cage items... Could you please fill out this form with detail and provide pics of Charles and the entire cage lights down so we can help.

Here is some recommended information to include when asking for help in the health clinic forum. By providing this information you will receive more accurate and beneficial responses. It might not be necessary to answer all these questions, but the more you provide the better. Please remember that even the most knowledgeable person can only guess at what your problem may be. Only an experienced reptile veterinarian who can directly examine your animal can give a true diagnosis of your chameleon's health.


Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

--------------

Please Note:

1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
2. Photos can be very helpful.

 

[prisecheck]

Your Chameleon - Male panther, about 1.5 years old. I have had him since October of last year.

Handling - frequent (daily) handling with clean hands. He's a very social little guy and he likes to go outside/hang out in his free-roam area.

Feeding - He gets about 4 horn/silk worms per week and lives on a diet of crickets and superworms. ~4 crickets/worms per day. Crickets are gutloaded with reptashy bug burger.

Supplements - 4-5 days a week 50/50 Repticalcium without D3 and Exoterra multivitamin (though the doc told me this is too much multivitamin, so I will now only incorporate it into his diet once a week), one day Repticalcium with D3.

Watering - monsoon mister on for 1.5 minutes every 4 hours, fogger/humidifier on 12-16 hours a night, though I've been keeping it on most of the day lately as well to encourage the rest of the shed and to make sure he's getting hydrated because I haven't seen him physically drink in a while. Sometimes I hand mist, sometimes I take him into the shower for a steam.

Fecal Description - yesterday he passed a sizeable stool, mostly white urea, solid, single piece. Though I brought the sample to the vet it doesn't seem like they did anything with it. Looked healthy. If he poops today I'll take a picture and post it.

History - no known health issues thus far. He had a bout of gaping recently but a two week stint of shower steams has alleviated the gaping. Vet also says his breathing seems normal and doesn't detect any respiratory issues.

Cage Info:

Cage Type - 24x24x48 reptibreeze, full mesh screens.

Lighting - Arcadia Jungle dawn 6500k led bar. Dual t5 6% uvb+6500k fluorescent from lightyourreptiles.com. 65w basking bulb. 18in LED Bar from biodude. 12 on 12 off timer from 8am-8pm.

Temperature - basking spot varies between 83-89, low daytime temps range from 70-75. Lowest overnight temp is 65. I have two thermometer/hygrometers in the enclosure measuring basking/ambient temps. I have a thermometer/hygrometer in my bedroom to gauge ambient temp/humidity of the entire room.

Humidity - humidity stays between 20 (low humidity spots when fogger is off) and 80 (high humidity spots when fogger is on) percent, but averages at about 50%. Humidity is created through a fogger/mister setup and maintained by live plants in the enclosure.hat are your humidity levels?

Plants - center plant is a ficus benjamina, which he's had since I got him. I just incorporated two cane dracaena, one Japanese aralia, and a creeping fig. There is also a pothos.
Placement - cage is in my bedroom. There is minimal traffic and there are no vents in this room other than a window AC unit that I use when/if it gets too hot. Top of cage is 76 inches off of the floor.

Location - Eugene Oregon. Moderate weather.


Attached are images of the enclosure, lighting setup, and Charles.
His eyes definitely look irritated and a bit sunken in. They're normally more smooth and round. They look more wrinkly than normal and look a little...bumpy?

 

[nightanole]

That paper plant ( Japanese aralia ) has sap that causes contact dermatitis, same with the creeping fig. The dracaena is a good choice, but the other two, while nontoxic, have bad sap. And roughing up the bark causes more sap, so when he rubs on the plant...

 

[prisecheck]

Thanks for the insight, it's definitely something I'll keep an eye on. Thus far I don't believe he's made contact with either of those plants, they sit pretty low at the bottom of the enclosure and I haven't seen him go down that far or make physical contact with either of those plants. I spend a good portion of my time outside of work in my bedroom with him, so he's pretty closely monitored. His eyes were also starting to get itchy before the addition of the new plants... But if I see him contact the aralea or creeping fig I'll remove them from his enclosure.

 

[Beman]

Supplements - 4-5 days a week 50/50 Repticalcium without D3 and Exoterra multivitamin (though the doc told me this is too much multivitamin, so I will now only incorporate it into his diet once a week), one day Repticalcium with D3.

Watering - monsoon mister on for 1.5 minutes every 4 hours, fogger/humidifier on 12-16 hours a night, though I've been keeping it on most of the day lately as well to encourage the rest of the shed and to make sure he's getting hydrated because I haven't seen him physically drink in a while. Sometimes I hand mist, sometimes I take him into the shower for a steam.

For the supplements you want repticalcium without D3 at every feeding except two times a month you give the multivitamin and two times a month you give the calcium with D3 these two get rotated week to week say on a Saturday. You need to check your multivitamin because I believe that one contains D3...

You should not use a humidifier running into a cage during the day. This with the lights is a recipe for him developing a respiratory infection. He should never be taken into the shower for steam. Same thing... Hot wet air is not good for them to breathe. running the cool mist humidifier at night when all lights are off is great.

If you are trying to up your ambient humidity levels in the room to get them to 50% daytime then you can run a cool mist humidifier for the room sitting away from the cage. Not pointing into the cage.

History - no known health issues thus far. He had a bout of gaping recently but a two week stint of shower steams has alleviated the gaping. Vet also says his breathing seems normal and doesn't detect any respiratory issues.

Again I think the steaming is a bad idea...

Looks like the scratching could be a plant issue I agree with the above on that. here is a plant list but I would stay away from the fig since he has that now and could be sensitive to it. https://chameleonacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Chameleon-Plants-122819.pdf

But you are also over supplementing quite a bit. Could be an issue of toxicity from you mixing the multivitamin in with the calcium no D3. Especially since the Multi has vitamin A in it and I am pretty sure that one contains D3 as well.

 

[prisecheck]

Thank you. I will change his supplement regimen right away!

I will also refrain from steaming.
I generally only use the fogger at night, on from 8pm to 8am, but have recently kept it on more to try to encourage shed. I will go back to off during the day, hand misting leaves if necessary, and letting the monsoon do its thing.

I will also keep and eye on and remove the plants. He hasn't made any contact with them, could their presence in the enclosure alone affect him, or does he need to contact/touch them? He really just doesn't go that low into his enclosure, even when he's on patrol.

 

[BenjiTheCham]

Thank you. I will change his supplement regimen right away!

I will also refrain from steaming.
I generally only use the fogger at night, on from 8pm to 8am, but have recently kept it on more to try to encourage shed. I will go back to off during the day, hand misting leaves if necessary, and letting the monsoon do its thing.

I will also keep and eye on and remove the plants. He hasn't made any contact with them, could their presence in the enclosure alone affect him, or does he need to contact/touch them? He really just doesn't go that low into his enclosure, even when he's on patrol.

Im pretty sure chameleons are dry shedders, so they don’t need to be wet for them to shed. I might be wrong, so someone correct me if I am

 

[Beman]

Im pretty sure chameleons are dry shedders, so they don’t need to be wet for them to shed. I might be wrong, so someone correct me if I am

They are dry shedders which is why nothing additional should be done for that. This is where correct supplementation, gutloading correctly and ambient humidity play their part.