Veiled chameleon closed eye

emmadavies

emmadavies

New Member
Hi guys im new to this forum. I bought a baby male veiled chameleon 3 weeks ago. appetite has been up and down since ive had him and now one of his eyes is closed shut. Theres nothing running out of it, it just seems stuck. can anyone give me advice as dont want it getting any worse or the other eye starting to go. He gets fed dusted crickets but like i said he has never had a great appetite. the most he has ate in one day is 5 small ones with a few days of not being interested in anything and his enclosure gets misted 3 times a day and has a dripper sytem in place so humidity sits around 50% or higher if i have just misted it . The temperature sits from 30c at basking spot to around 20c at bottom of aboreal vivarium. If theres any other info needed ill be happy to answer. Many thanks
 
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There's definately a problem. Do you have a reptile vet? At 3 months old he should be eatting 15 or so feeders a day. If he were mine I'd get the vet to check him out and do a fecal. Mean time please post some photos of him and his enclosure. If you fill out the ask for help forum below giving as much detail as you can with your answers, we can see if you have everything set up correctly for your veiled.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/
 
yeah we have a reptile vet about 20 mins away, i just wanted to see if it was something i was doing first. Ill get this all filled out with pics when im home later this evening. Thanks for replying :)
 
Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - I think around 3 months old male veiled cham and only had him 3 weeks
Feeding - i was feeding him to start off with meal worms but learnt these arent good and changed to crickets. im letting him feed as much as he can as his appetite isnt great and since ive had him on one occasion he has ate 5 crickets in one day, the other days its been 2-3, sometimes none, and i try and feed him 2-3 times a day because of this. im gut loading with Prorep Bug Grub every couple of days
Supplements - i use Nutrobal calcium and multivitamin supplement, all in one calcium and vitamin balancer for dusting live food with ( using once a week ) and Komodo Cricket Dust, 99% pure calcium carbonate with no added vitamin D3, (daily).
Watering - i mist 3 times a day for a few minutes each time and i also have a dripper system installed. I have seen him drinking from the dripper and from the leaves
Fecal Description - colours are dark brown with a bit of white at the end and consistency would be softish but not runny and never been tested for parasites.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - mesh Reptibreeze vivarium 76x41x41cm
Lighting - im using a coil 10.0 uvb bulb and and exo terra 75w basking spot, both are on for 12 hrs a day (im thinking one problem might be that i have the coil bulb in the cage with him so that is getting taken out tonight and turned off for a day or two and im going to change it to something else so it can sit on top beside the heat lamp)
Temperature - temp ranges from just below basking spot at about 32c to the bottom at about 21c and at night it would stay around 18-20c which is measured with a digital thermometer
Humidity - humidity ranges from high 40's to mid 60's depending if i have just sprayed everywhere, which i do 3 times a day for several minutes. i also have a dripper system installed and the humidity is also measured using a digital hygrometer
Plants - i have one live ficus benjamina and other fake plants and vines with a natural 3d background
Placement - cage is placed in an alcove on top of a tall chest of drawers not near any fans, air vents or hgih traffic. and it sits roughly 4 ft off the ground, having the top of the cage about 6 ft from the floor
Location - i am located in belfast, northern ireland

Current Problem - one eye seems stuck closed and not a great appetite since ive had him


will get pics posted later of viv and of the wee man
 
Everything is looking pretty good, glad you are changing the uvb 10 bulb out. I think he may have been ill when you got him. Pics will really help otherwise the best will be a vet to check it out. Sure others will give their recommendations soon.
 
I have a veiled cham also. mine did the same thing with the coil bulbs. now that i have switched to a t5 lighting system i haven't seen his eye close at all. he seems more alert and he also eats more. My little dude is getting some color in him.oh and the only other thing i changed was how big his cage is. i had to go big. he seems to like it.
 
Yes, take the coil out ASAP. You should never have any lighting in the cage at all. I too second the notion of getting a new UVB light. Try the t8 reptisun 5.0, that should work better.
 
His eye is looking a lot better today though I have taken out the coil UVB bulb and will leave it off for a day or two then I'll replace it with an arcadia d3 flood unit. Oh and I plan to get him a larger cage once he has gotten bigger..this is only his baby stage viv :) how do I attach pics please?
 
emmadavies said:
His eye is looking a lot better today though I have taken out the coil UVB bulb and will leave it off for a day or two then I'll replace it with an arcadia d3 flood unit. Oh and I plan to get him a larger cage once he has gotten bigger..this is only his baby stage viv :) how do I attach pics please?
Click to expand...

I highly recommend the Reptisun 5.0 tube style bulb. Anything putting out allot UV can causes babies to close their eyes. Here's a link for new keeper form my blog. This is how I have has success with babies.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blo...-keepers-young-veiled-panther-chameleons.html

Here's a link telling you how to post photos:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-post-photos-video-3609/
 
loki 8.jpg

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loki 10.jpg

ok ill have a look at the reptisun 5.0 :) Here are a few pics. his bad eye doesnt look too bad in them, its his right hand side eye as if he was sitting with his back to you
 
Cute little cham :) how is his eye with removing the uvb? The Reptisun 5.0 or Arcadia would be advisable. Hope all is good soon for your little one. :)
 
I really like your enclosure, it looks good and plenty place to move around for now. Whe your little one grows you can then look at a bigger home.
 
It seems to be stuck closed in the mornings so I have been giving him showers to help open it, which he is then able to do. But still has no real appetite in the mornings either. Thanks rodcham, yeah I plan to get a bigger one once he's up a bit :)
 
I got the reptisun UVB tube and unit yesterday so hopefully I will start to see a change in the next few days. If not then the vets it is
 
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