Veiled Chameleon eyes completely shut - help!

S

slippy420

New Member
Background: 2 weeks ago i ordered a Male and female veiled chameleon off king snake. They are from seperate clutches and range to be 2-3 months old. Up until about 2 days ago the female's eyes are completely shut. She is climbing just fine but can't see which then makes her fall. She hasn't eaten in 2 days. Within the last hour of this post i started to force feed her wax worms. I opened her mouth and she did eat 2 wax worms. Her eyes don't seem to be sunken in. Her tail doesn't seem to be raping around any branches like usual. Now the male is completely fine. I get my crickets and wax worms from pet-smart. I gut load them and dust them with reptical calcium and a multivitamin every time they eat crickets. I have both in a 12x12x18 screen enclosure with a 100watt uva/uvb zoomed bulb. i use a 60 watt (red) bulb for heat at night. Temps are as followed: Daytime basking range 85-95 and at night 75 to 85 (usually around 80). she has taken some pretty bad falls. what should i do for her eyes. should i consult a herp vet immediately? Any suggestions would help, thank you. Following link are some pics... Click Here or

http://yfrog.com/60005vmfjx
 
FIRST Off, get that red bulb off at night, your heat is probably WAY to high, for babies, 85 is the hottest you want, at night down into the 70's
i don't see a UVB bulb(you got the combo bulb , your chameleon is suffering from MBD already, probably is suffering from dehydration along with a multitude of other problems.
100watt UVA ? what rating is that, it seems far to high, the UVB light could be damaging her eyes, and you need to get a tube style reptisun 5.0 UVB bulb, and use a 60 watt house bulb for heat.

your enclosure has no live plants,
how many times a day are you misting your chameleons.
eventually you will need to get the female into her own enclosure, she is probably experiencing some territorial behavior from the male, even at that age.


contact a vet, but from the blurry photos i can see, i don't see a long future in your pets life.

Fill this out ASAP.




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?


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.
* Current Problem - The current problem that you are concerned about.
 
with the red bulb. its only 80 degrees usually. that is too high at night? uvb bulb is set 9am to 9pm and yes look closer its there. i might heavily twice a day and have the habba mist going when i goto work. (3to11). my male is perfectly healthy. what is wrong with the female. please explain your self when you use abbreviations like "mbd". thank you
 
MBD, metabolic bone disease, its from lack of UVB absorption, the bones appear to not be taking in calcium and are becoming bendy *Could be, photos are tuff to see with you holding her like that, would be easier to tell if she was on a stick, and i could see how she holds her self. even if its not MBD, you still have a slew of other problems to deal with.


the 100watt UVA/UVB bulb, i don't know enough about them, just seems rather high.

and yes, you DO NOT NEED the red light at night, temp drops into the 60's are OK for vieleds.
you said your temps are in the 80-95, and that is for a rather large area, and there doesn't appear to much area for escape from those temps.


you really need to add some live plants to that.


PLEASE READ ALL DETAIL, within this blog
http://raisingkittytheveiledchameleon.blogspot.com/
please provide photos of your male as well.
 
Welcome to the forum!

I don't see any bends in the arms or other signs of MBD but then it would be better if I could see the whole chameleon.

You don't need any heat source at night as long as the temperature doesn't drop below 68F. 80 to 85F is warm enough for babies during the day in the warmest area of the cage.

Exposure to UVB allows the chameleon to produce D3 which allows it to use the calcium in its system. There should be no glass or plastic between the UVB light and the chameleon. I don't use the type of UVB bulb you use...I use Repti-sun 5.0's (long linear tube type) for a source of UVB and combine it with a regular fluorescent light which makes the baby cages warm enough in my house. Some lights can cause problems with the eyes though. You could try turning it off for a day or so and see if it makes a difference. If this doesn't make a difference quickly then it would be a good idea IMHO to take it to a vet. They can go down hill quite quickly.

Since most insects we use as feeders have a poor ratio of calcium to phos. I dust with Rep-cal, phos.-free calcium powder. I dust twice a month with Herptivite and twice a month lightly with Rep-cal/D3.

What substrate do you use (from the picture I can't tell what you have on the bottom of the cage)?
 
I think you light may actually be just a heat light. If you have the box still I would suggest posting the pic to that. She for sure does not look good. Also with baby veileds they do not need much heat at all. That 100 watt bulb is way too hut for a 18 inch tall cage. I barely even use a 50 watt on my babies. Her back ankles look to be swollen and the way she has her back huntched like that leads me to think the start of mbd.
 
hmm yes. I know of people who use this bulb with sucess with dragons, but have not heard of anyone using them for chams. Anyone have any further info on these? I see no uv level content on the info provided for the bulb....?
I would say fill out the info above so people can help you easier, but for sure no night light needed and I would say no 100 watt bulb either. Not on tiny babies in that small cage.
 
Welcome to the boards Slippy,


Sounds like you may have got some poor info from the get go. I'm sure by now you know to get rid of the red night light and that the temps overall are too hot.

The bulb you are using for UvB, is it a PowerSun 100 watt?

The bulb is usable but not really the best for your needs. I started out with one for my first veiled. Although I had not issues and all turned out fine, there are several better and safer ways to provide proper UvB and heat.

Problems arise when using the PowerSun 100 watt for chameleons, in many forms.

The bulb needs to be close enough to the animal to deliver off the propper amount of UvB, yet also provide the proper temperature range. That is very dificult to achieve with chameleons, and especially young chameleons. Chameleons don't require that much heat. If the basking area gets to hot you have to create a greater distance between the basking area and the bulb, and while this lowers the temps it also lowers the amount of UvB available for the chameleon to absorb.(looses its intensity with distance)

An easy fix is to get 2 seperate bulbs/fixtures, to work together to get the proper amount of UvB and heat.

Ideal set-up would be:

ZooMed ReptiSun Linear 5.0 tube 18-24" with the proper fixture

Incadescant Household bulb (25-75 watts, depending on the ambient room/temps)

The ReptiSun for UvB and the house bulb for UvA and heat.

For a Veiled of that age you should be at 82-85 degrees in the basking area and not hotter. You may need to try different wattage bulbs to achieve this. I keep my youngsters basking spots right around 83 degrees.

You also need to create a temperature gradiant to allow the chameleon to excape the heat to ensure they don't become overheated. ie:83 degrees in the hot spot, 78 at mid cage and say 74 at the bottom. That way if they get to hot that can choose to cool off as needed.

The use of proper lighting and live plants will achieve the best results. It will create humidity and cover for the chameleons. Humidity isn't as big of a concern for Veileds as some of the other species, yet does aid in hydration and help during times where the chameleon is shedding thier skin. So I would advise the use of live plants over artificial any day.

I would discontinue the use of the Powersun all togeather and replace it with a regular house bulb that can provide the proper 82-85 range in the basking area. Your chameleons will survive a day or two without UvB. Go out and get the proper lighting I recommended above.

Your chameleons will be ready if not already for seperate housing very soon, you might want to get an extra cage and lighting set-up while your out. Once they pass 3-4 months keeping them together will eventually cause death for one of them, through stress and or physical injury. They are solitary animals, and are very teritorial.

Sang posted the raisingkitty weblink above, it is a much needed read and will explain how to properly raise veiled chameleons.


We want nothing more on this forum then to see chameleons thrive in captivity, and we will help as much as we can. You as the owner need to put the advise into action to ensure the chameleons live a happy healty life.:)

-Jay
 
Fill out that form please. It will help us a lot. take the time to fill it out, and dont reply 5 more times. we are trying to help.
 
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