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I recently purchased a pair of veiled chameleons from a pet store both are sub-adults. The female is doing great however the male has not opened his eyes since we've taken him out of the box when we got him home. The humidity is about 85-90% and he is sprayed constantly the temp is about 85 with about a 5 degree drop at night. The male is housed in a glass tank with screen sides in an effort to hold in more humidity. I had seen both chams eat while in the store but did not get a chance to closely examine either one before they were boxed up. I had contacted the store and they say he was doing great when he was there and they were there for a while. Neither eye is swollen or puffed out at all, he just doesnt open them, its been about 2 weeks and we have been force feeding him every other day. He drinks everytime we spray him and occasionally it looks like he's trying to open them but cant. There is no residue or crust either. I am baffled by the situation. Does anybody have any ideas or at least a theory? Any help would be appreciated.

It would seem that the male was exposed to something that he can't tolerate. Since the female hasn't reacted to it, it may be something in the male's cage. So things like a chemical used to clean his cage or a new plant that may have pesticides come to mind. Some Jacksons and Veileds react to Ficus plants whereas other do not. Does anybody smoke, what about hair spray, or a room deoderizer nearby. Look for something like that. There is something new that he wasn't exposed to in the pet shop.

The only thing I can think of was the newspaper they put in the box with him for the ride home, although both had it in their boxes. When I took him out of the box when we got him home his eyes were closed so it must have been something in the box with him or something at the petstore if that is the case, I'm thinking they new about the problem which is why they were quick to box him up. The room he's in is free of perfumes, smoke, etc... Nobody in the house smokes. I had him in a plain undecorated cage with a few branches first then moved him into the glass screen sided tank later hoping it was just a humidity or heat problem but hasn't shown any improvement, his color is good although he has been a bit darker the last 2 days, he doesn't seem stressed at all and even growls when we hold him to feed him.

how are you measuring temps? even with screen sides the glass will hold in temps. the drop should be more like 10-15degrees at night. Can you post pics of both chams and their set ups?

Since this has been going on for 2 weeks you may want to get the male to a vet to get the eyes checked out. Respiratory problems sometimes manifest in the eye. Be SURE to was your hands well between handling the animals and any others you may have. I have a pump bottle of gel hand sanitizer in every room.

Go easy on the misting - that humidity is way to high. yes, humidity is important, but as was mentioned, too much can create other problems (URI). Did you mention using any substrate? If so, take it out and only use paper towels.

What are you force feeding and how are you doing it?

Hate to say it, but pet stores are not typically a good place to buy chameleons. Keep us posted. See link below for articles, vet listings, etc.

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
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

First off, the humidity is to high, normal household humidty is usually ok as long as you mist them once or twice daily. You also stated that you mist him constantly,DON'T, spraying all day allows tons of bacteria to breed which may have caused an infection. Also, the last person may be right about the ficus, it isn't the tree itself that would bother the chameleon, it is the sap that comes out when a twig snaps. I would suggest a pothos or scheffleria species if you think there's any chance that the ficus is the problem. I personaly think there is a worse problem, because even if it was the ficus or bacteria the chameleon would still open it's eyes at least to eat. I'm suspecting parasites. Was he kept with any other species of reptiles at the store? and approx. how old is he? Also, are you positive it's male? (you can check this by seeing if he has a small fleshy "spur" on the crux of both of his rear feet.)

also if he is older than 3 mos he should have a cage at least 2' x 2' x 3'. you didn't mention if he has a basking area. The cage should be large enough to have a large basking area at one end at around 100 degrees, if he has sufficient room he should be able to thermoregulate accordingly by moving from zone to zone within his cage

The cage he is in is approx 3ft high 2 1/2 ft wide and 1 1/2 ft deep. He was kept alone in the pet store in a screen cage. It is definately a male, I would have to guess his age at approx 7-9 months. He has a basking area with a temp of 93F. In the pet store there were no live plants in the cage with him, the cage he was in when we first brought him home was also free of plants so I don't think its the ficus, he also hasn't gotten off the highest branches (I think its because he can't see where he's going). I'll cut back on the humidity and hope for the best.

Sounds to me like he's in stress "overload"
glass tank force feeding constantly spraying
is a recipe for disaster. I would start off with
showering him in the bathroom for about an hour in luke water (if he does have something irritating his eyes this will help him flush it out.)
Then instead of putting him back in the tank, put him on a big houseplant in a quiet corner (by a window is best.)
Setup a spot lamp or two for warmth, and leave him completely alone for a few days. Chameleons can easily go weeks without eating, force feeding should only be done on extremely thin or weak animals. (does more harm than good otherwise, imagine trying to eat a cheeseburger when you feel nauseous
garrett