Veiled Chameleon One Eye Opened, Other Closed.

[CreepyCookie]

Your Chameleon - Most likely female veiled chameleon, around 3 1/2 months old.
Handling - Three times a week for ten minutes.
Feeding - crickets coated with calcium, gut loaded with orange cubes.
Supplements - Repticalcium daily.
Watering - Dripper system, on daily, automatic mister that goes off for 12 seconds once an hour. Sometimes hand misting.
Fecal Description - Urate is white and poop is mildly runny (not soupy or anything)
history-pet store cham, born at the pet store, I've had for for about two weeks.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - screen 18x18x24
Lighting - 60 watt both lights, one red light which is on at all times, stick light is left on at daytime.
Temperature - 80 basking, about 75 mid cage.
Humidity - 50-60% with dial measurements.
Plants - Two large fake plants, one 'bush' fake plant, and large sticks.
Placement - Located in a bedroom, very low traffic, about 3-4 feet off ground, by window.
Location - Michigan

problem- one eye closed periodically, she will move the eye around, seems like she's trying to get something out of it.

 

[Peachypink]

First of all, she is very cute. If you can get a picture of the back of her back feet we can tell you if it is male or female.

Secondly, I see a few things in your husbandry that need to be addressed immediately.

1. The biggest thing that I see is that you have a light on at all times. At night there should be no lights. It is perfectly ok and good for them to have a drop in temperature at night. There is no need for a night heat light. Chams are very sensitive to light and need the darkness at night to get the proper amount of sleep. Any type of light, even the red ones with disrupt their sleep and cause issues. For day time, you can eerily just use a regular house bulb and just experiment with the wattage to find the one that gives the right basking tamps.

2. Please explain a bit more about your other light. You said "stick light"....is it a tube UVB light? If so what strength is it? Is it a 5.0 or 10.0 UVB? UVB is essential for them to process their D3 calcium.

3. The Reticalcium? Is it a calcium with no D3 or with D3? Supplementing schedule should be Calcium with NO D3 every feeding(lightly dusted feeders), calcium with D3 twice a month and a multivitamin twice a month. Eye issues could be the result of improper supplementation and substandard nutrition.

4. Your gut loading could use a little help. The orange cubes really don't offer much nutrition for the cham. Use collard greens, mustard greens, kale, apples. Also, a little variety in the feeders is great too. Try phoenix worms, black soldier fly larva, wax worms, horn worms, dubia roaches. Variety is the spice of life!

5. I would venture to say that you need to up your mistings. Give her at least 2 mistings a day that are at least 4 minutes...the longer times encourage her to drink and help her to flush and clean out her eyes. Then set the rest anywhere from 30-60 seconds to keep the humidity.

One thing you could start with right now is giver her a warm shower to help her clear out that eye. Put a good sturdy plant in the shower and pint the spray at the wall so that it is the spray off that hits the plant. Let her shower for about 20 minutes.....make sure she is supervised surfing this time as well. Sit in the bathroom with her and read through the care sheet at the top of this forum. There is a wealth of information here that will help you to make sure this baby has a nice long and healthy life.

Also, nothing can replace a good vet visit. Always, if you feel there is something to be worried about, get her to a good herp vet. It would be a good idea anyway to get a fecal done anyway.

Good luck, and please keep asking questions. We are all here to help!

 

[CreepyCookie]

First of all, she is very cute. If you can get a picture of the back of her back feet we can tell you if it is male or female.

Secondly, I see a few things in your husbandry that need to be addressed immediately.

1. The biggest thing that I see is that you have a light on at all times. At night there should be no lights. It is perfectly ok and good for them to have a drop in temperature at night. There is no need for a night heat light. Chams are very sensitive to light and need the darkness at night to get the proper amount of sleep. Any type of light, even the red ones with disrupt their sleep and cause issues. For day time, you can eerily just use a regular house bulb and just experiment with the wattage to find the one that gives the right basking tamps.

2. Please explain a bit more about your other light. You said "stick light"....is it a tube UVB light? If so what strength is it? Is it a 5.0 or 10.0 UVB? UVB is essential for them to process their D3 calcium.

3. The Reticalcium? Is it a calcium with no D3 or with D3? Supplementing schedule should be Calcium with NO D3 every feeding(lightly dusted feeders), calcium with D3 twice a month and a multivitamin twice a month. Eye issues could be the result of improper supplementation and substandard nutrition.

4. Your gut loading could use a little help. The orange cubes really don't offer much nutrition for the cham. Use collard greens, mustard greens, kale, apples. Also, a little variety in the feeders is great too. Try phoenix worms, black soldier fly larva, wax worms, horn worms, dubia roaches. Variety is the spice of life!

5. I would venture to say that you need to up your mistings. Give her at least 2 mistings a day that are at least 4 minutes...the longer times encourage her to drink and help her to flush and clean out her eyes. Then set the rest anywhere from 30-60 seconds to keep the humidity.

One thing you could start with right now is giver her a warm shower to help her clear out that eye. Put a good sturdy plant in the shower and pint the spray at the wall so that it is the spray off that hits the plant. Let her shower for about 20 minutes.....make sure she is supervised surfing this time as well. Sit in the bathroom with her and read through the care sheet at the top of this forum. There is a wealth of information here that will help you to make sure this baby has a nice long and healthy life.

Also, nothing can replace a good vet visit. Always, if you feel there is something to be worried about, get her to a good herp vet. It would be a good idea anyway to get a fecal done anyway.

Good luck, and please keep asking questions. We are all here to help!

Hi! Thanks for the help! I'll be sure to upload a photo soon c: so I'll start which your first point. I'll be sure to try that tonight, the guy at petco told me the red light should be fine but I'm open to trying. Also, her crickets are dusted every feeding with Repti-Calcium with no D3, that's all I've been using. Now; I'm willing to feeding her more than crickets but will I need to gutload and keep a separate cage for the worms as well? And by stick like I meant a UVB tube light, which I believe is 5.0. Thanks for the help!

 

[Virgil1972]

Hi! Thanks for the help! I'll be sure to upload a photo soon c: so I'll start which your first point. I'll be sure to try that tonight, the guy at petco told me the red light should be fine but I'm open to trying. Also, her crickets are dusted every feeding with Repti-Calcium with no D3, that's all I've been using. Now; I'm willing to feeding her more than crickets but will I need to gutload and keep a separate cage for the worms as well? And by stick like I meant a UVB tube light, which I believe is 5.0. Thanks for the help!

They guy at petco does not know what he is talking about, No lights on at night. A veiled will be fine even if temps get down to 50 to 55 degrees F. Make sure to change your UVB light every six months. Even though it still emits light it stops emitting UVB.

 

[Peachypink]

Hi! Thanks for the help! I'll be sure to upload a photo soon c: so I'll start which your first point. I'll be sure to try that tonight, the guy at petco told me the red light should be fine but I'm open to trying. Also, her crickets are dusted every feeding with Repti-Calcium with no D3, that's all I've been using. Now; I'm willing to feeding her more than crickets but will I need to gutload and keep a separate cage for the worms as well? And by stick like I meant a UVB tube light, which I believe is 5.0. Thanks for the help!

Perfect. A 5.0 is great. There is a lot of misinformation out there, I have even seen some sites that still say the red light is fine. It's just not true. Chameleons are a diurnal lizard and have what's referred to as a "third eye". It is basically a scale on their forehead that uses the light to set their internal clock, control hormone levels and to determine activity level. Lighting is key to behavior and health. They need a day/night schedule and a nice bright, white light to heat up under during the daylight hours. Don't listen to the guy at petco for anything. Every once in a while they will have someone working there who is knowledgeable but most times not and if you are new and not able to pick out the bad information yet, just don't ask them there. I would start pouring over the care sheets here, these were created by people who know what they are talking about and are successful keepers.

With other feeders you can use the same veggies to gut load with... under the resources tab there is a guide to gut load as well. And yes, you will need a separate container. Most worms come in a tub that you can just keep them in. Look at the bottom of the forums for some of our site sponsors, they are a great resource for feeders. I'm about to order from mulberry farms myself. Don'e hesitate to email and ask the supplier for help on choosing feeders and how to keep them. There are lots of threads on here as well, just type in the feeder name in the search box and BOOM, all the info you will need.