won't open his eyes

Nancy

New Member
veiled cham, about 4 mo old, is too drowsy to eat yesterday and today. he is in a net cage, handled about daily (more now that school is out), feed crickets rolled in heptavite, but he hasn't been eating lately. he likes the flies that come out of the calicworm box and the occasional house fly. He did have an issue with digging in the dirt of the pothos and ficus we have in the cage, but we covered these with rocks and haven't had this problem in several weeks. we have had him about 2 mo. we mist him at least twice a day, we have a waterfall in the cage also.

Any thoughts on how I can get nutrition in him?

thanks! We are so worried about him :(
 
Hi, we would need to know a little more about how he is cared for to determine what might be the cause. Be prepared to change somethings within your care.

Closing of the eyes can be from a variety of things Example: Improper/defective lighting, nutrition, hydration, illness, etc..

Please fill this out: https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-ask-help-66/
 
Sorry to hear your little one is having problems. As requested, please fill out the form. I can tell you right now, you should not be using herptivite on a regular basis. That is a multivitamin and you can overdose your chameleon if used too often. I am not saying that is causing the eye problems, but it can be an issue in addition to what is going on. You need a plain calcium with no d3 to dust your feeders. Use the multi a couple of times a month.
 
I'm sorry - I can't seem to pull up the form to fill in, I tried to put as much info as I could. I will try to post a picture. what other info would be useful.
 

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I know he looks very ill, it is just today he looks like that, I know he ate two days ago at latest - we mist all the time and he has a waterfall. is there anything I can do? thank you
(when I click on the link, there is no form, just the list of questions, most of which I tried to answer in original post - but if there are other details that would be helpful .. .)
 
Nancy your chameleon has a serious thing called Metabolic Bone Disease. You stated you have been dusting with herptivite. I am assuming you have not used calcium at all? How long have you had your chameleon? Do you see the way your chameleons front legs are curvy? They should not be like that. Do you have a uvb light??? If not, that is another issue that adds to the bone disease. Your chameleon is in very bad shape right now I hate to say.
 
Im sorry to hear about your little one.. What does his fecal look like? Waterfalls are never a good idea for cham enclosures, they create mold that can make your chams very ill.
 
Im sorry to hear about your little one.. What does his fecal look like? Waterfalls are never a good idea for cham enclosures, they create mold that can make your chams very ill.

I think the Metabolic Bone Disease is the major problem here.
 
I know he looks very ill, it is just today he looks like that, I know he ate two days ago at latest - we mist all the time and he has a waterfall. is there anything I can do? thank you
(when I click on the link, there is no form, just the list of questions, most of which I tried to answer in original post - but if there are other details that would be helpful .. .)

Honestly, a vets attention is probably this little guys only hope. http://www.arav.org/find-a-vet/

I strongly recommend you reading this. https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/chameleons/
 
thank you all - we thought we were giving him calcium, I'm of course feeling terrible we weren't giving him enough. I have two heat lights (daytime and night time) and will double check there is UVB. - We are giving him water - had been misting, but doing so more aggressively (dripping on his nose) and his activity levels have perked up and he is opening his mouth to receive - so will keep it up . I doubt I'll find a vet open tomorrow - but will definitely try and get some Ca drops +/- vet asap!
 
you don't need any type of light for night time. They should have total darkness to sleep. No heat at night either unless your temps are going to drop below 50 degrees or low 50's. You can use a ceramic heater bulb if that is the case. It is imperative that you get a uvb light. If you find out that you do not have one, unfortunately that coupled with the lack of calcium is the cause of your chameleons bone disease. A vet can give him calcium injections. If you read the link on the disease you will learn that you cannot reverse the damage that is already done, but you can halt the progression. Get him out into the sun as much as possible also but make sure he is given shade and somewhere to cool off. The uvb from the sun is the best that you can provide.
 
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