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I have a 6 month old male veiled chameleon. He, the other day, was rubbing his head on the branches like he was scratching himself. Now his eye is very swollen. He is fed gut-loaded crickets and sprayed with bottled water. Any help will be appreciated. Thank you, Amanda

Chams rub their eyes for lots of reasons in addition to infections. If they are dehydrated their eyes can get irritated and they will rub them trying to ease it. What's the humidity level in your cage? Don't guess, measure it. Does he spend a lot of time rubbing and cleaning his eyes when you spray? They can have eye trouble due to vitamin overdoses or deficiencies. What type of supplementation do you do (vitamins as well as calcium) and how often do you do it? What brand and type of lighting are you using? How old are the bulbs? The wrong amount of UVB can cause deficiencies and most "full spectrum" bulbs on the market are pretty useless. If the eye is swollen there may well be an infection or injury and you will need a vet's help. They should be able to look closely at the iris with a scope to look for injuries or inflammation. If there is an scratch or infection they will be able to prescribe the appropriate antibiotic. If you haven't worked with a herp vet you will need to establish a good working relationship with one regardless how far away it is. Don't take chances with eyes, and don't try self treating it unless you know what the problem is. In the mean time you can soothe his eye by flushing it with warm sterile saline solution (contact lense rinse). It won't sting like water.

Hi Amanda,

Take everything Carlton said into consideration. Another thought is preparing for a shed. Cyrus (9 months) had been bulging and rubbing one eye for a few days. I gave him extra mistings and dripper water. Yesterday he began to show shed on that eye and one loeg. Now he is shedding in bits and pieces - poor guy is miserable

They shed a lot when they are young so make sure you keep the humidity at a good level (misting for a minute or two a couple times a day is not sufficient) and that he gets plenty of water.

Posting your entire setup, feeding and supplementation regime would be helpful.

lele
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info
1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleon - Cyrus
0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
1.1.1 Side-blotched lizards - Ana and Stan and Stan Jr.!
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skippy
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh, Died 4/21/06
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha, donated to science 4/4/06
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

he may have scratched his eye, my advice is to let him heal and if things get worse talk to the vet for an ointment.
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1 CB Female BRB
1 CB Jayapura GTP
1 CB panther chameleon
2 WC scottish terriers

He is doing better today. The swelling has gone down about half and he's able to move and use his eye now. I was advised he might be vitamin deficient so I cleaned out the cricket cage and calcium dusted, which I had only been doing every other week. I also think I need something better for keeping the humidity at the right levels. I spray him and the hole cage 3-4 times daily but maybe that's not enough. We gut-load with Fluker's and occasionally I throw a half an orange or tomato or potato in. Is there anything else that would be better suited for gut-loading the crickets? He's in a 60 gallon screen closer that temps vary from 85 degrees in his basking spot to 77 degrees in the bottom during the day but drops to about 73 at night. Is this warm or cold enough? I love this little guy and I thought I did enough research to take care of him but when this happened I've lost a lot of faith in myself. Thanks to all.
Amanda

Sounds like you are working to really ensure that you have proper care (husbandry) for your cham. I know how attached you can get to them.

Shedding is usually one of the main reasons for "eye rubbing". I notice my juvinile cham (8 months) old doing it prior and during shed. Occasionally the will become a little swollen.
You can purchase an ointment call "terramycin" over the counter. As my breeder put it..."its a must have for every reptile owner". I have used this with good results.

The humidity is important to assist with shed and for overall health. A lot of us folks shower our chams every 2 - 3 weeks. I have attached some fake vines in the shower, then run it fairly warm so that the water bounces up and the humidity gets high, usually for 20-30 minutes. You can also use plastic sheeting on the outside of the enclosure (make sure that you still have adequate air flow) to help increase the humidity inside the cage. Of course, natural foliage helps with this as well. Rememember that the air-con and heater take humidity out of the air.

As for the gut load, leafy greens, oranges, strawberrys and whole grains are great crix food. There are several links above that will get you direct information on this.

Good Luck.

Kris

Here are my shed pics..the most recent in July, and then his second shed as a baby, and his very first shed (looks like baggy clothes LOL)

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2.1 Black Labs Tucker, Raider and Lacey
1.0 Lepoard Gecko Kumar (Another lost pet RIP and party on with Harold!)
2.0 Horses Smoothie and Rocky
1.0 Husbands (he puts up with me)
1.2 Kids-Trevor (congrats c/o 2006), Logan and Rylie
1.1 Ferrets Tank and Ellie (The fun fuzzies)
1.1 Veiled Chams Squiggy and Pudge (may she RIP)
0.1 Snowflake Cornsnake Lucky

Did you say you dusted with calcium? Calcium DOES NOT provide vitamins other than D3 (if it is a type of calcium powder with D3 added...check the label). You are simply adding yet more minerals, not vitamins. You need a separate vitamin dust in addition to the calcium dust. Don't mix the two...they degrade each other if stored together. Your gutload is the safest way to give vitamins and the dust is just a gap filler. Sounds as if your gutload needs to be better too. The occasional potato is just not enough. I use fortified cereal grain like Total, fresh dark leafy greens (not spinach), and chunks of fruit like orange. Bee pollen is great too. A good herp vitamin powder is Herptivite with beta carotene instead of preformed Vit. A. Vit A can be easily overdosed and some over the counter herp vitamins are much too high in A for chams. Vitamin dusting should be done about once a month. If you have not provided any vitamins by dusting there may be a slight deficiency starting. Go easy, change your gutload and get the vitamin dust but don't try to "make up for lost time" with it. You can cause other problems if you overdose. Hope this helps!

The eye is now 100% recovered, I now have 2 cricket tubs I rotate weekly cleaning the other when I get more crickets, Along with the flukers (orange) gut load 2x weekly I suppliment with Romaine, Apples,Carrots,Green bell pepper,We also spray at least 4x a day and it seems he enjoys drinking off the plastic plants and screen, Also I dust 2x wk with calcium w/d3 herpvite with the pink label? Any suggestions on a better or more complete comercial gut load ? He in a 60gal screen cage and this week I will increase his basking lights wattage.His substrate is paper towels which are changed a minimum of 2x weekly. We live in South FL and I plan to outdoor him on the weekend during the day (not in direct sun light)
Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks again

Doing well so far. Check out the sites and links that other members have been posting. There are tons of side links to gut load recipes and husbandry sections. Kinyonga posted adcham.com earlier today and there are many more then just that. You can even goggle or yahoo and see what there is. Think of your crickets as complete health freaks that want to eat the healthiest and most beneficial food there is. Good luck and good job so far

Everything sounds really good - he's one lucky chameleon to have such a dedicated keeper. The only thing I'd change is the plastic plants to live ones. Sometimes a chameleon, especially a veiled, will chomp on or zap the fake leaves and ingest bits of plastic or fabric - not good. Real plants will help with the humidity and also veileds do eat vegetation, so putting in some pothos for him to munch on would be good. At six months old, he ought to be getting interested in greens.

Great news that his eye is better - whew!

Sounds like he could use a little more heat for his basking spot. Veileds need a spot between 90 and 100 degrees. Perhaps moving his bulb a little closer or increasing the wattage just a bit would boost that.

I'm glad to see you've been doing a lot of research and asking for advice. Chameleons are such cool critters. Keep at it!