Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK, here's the deal... For the past oh... about a week and a half she's been havin some problems. 1) one of her eyes is crusted and stuff but every time i spray it for about 2 mins, and it gets better, any way to correct this at home? 2) does not shoot out tongue anymore, i have to put a mealworm about 1/2 inch infornt of her, and then she can get it and eat it, so she obvioubsly does not and cannot eat/catch crickets. Is their anyway to correct this at home without going to the vet? I thank you very much if you respond or read this.

Please gimme some info, i DO NOT want to lose her....

I am unsure about the eye problem, she may just have an infection, but I would check with a vet and see what they have to say.
As to the tongue. Do you always hand feed or just since she started losing the shooting ability? Because my male chameleon does the same thing. He hasnt really used his tongue for about a year now, but he still is able to catch crickets fine. He will run around his cage and head bash them basically then eat them. I do not know what causes the tongue problem but I would be interested to find out as well.

Well, ummmm i just went to my room, where it is located, and saw it eating drowned crickets in the water.... man it isn't looking good, i feel so sorry for it,.... but i have to hand feed it mealworms and i put crickets in, and i think she eats a couple but not all of em, like they have to very VERY close to her for her to eat them... as for the tongue, i dont know what's going on... it hasn't been long at all, and she's always been able to really do good in that respect. But the problem is that i dont think there's a reptile vet around here and if there is one, it would probably be pretty expensive, wouldn't it? oh and btw she is around 4 years old so maybe that's what's causing it? old age? Because i heard that the lifespan of a captive bread is 3-5 so.... she's pretty much right in the middle.

Old age I think can cause problems, me male is about 5 or so now and started the tongue thing like I said a year ago. So who knows? maybe they get arthritis in the tongues =)

As do life span, if well taken care of I have heard of veileds living up to ten years in captivity.

But I would personally at least call a vet in your area and ask them about the eye. I know veileds can get eye infections easily. There might be an over the counter solution to it.

But just my 2 cents and and hopefully you'll get more advice than just mine. Hope it helps!

~Erin
p.s try searching the forums for "chameleon" and "eye", I know I have read similar posts before. Maybe they can help you out!

in regards to the vet questions, call around, many vets might not be experts in reptiles but they can treat them, and have a little experience. I have a sickly cham that keeps getting problem after problem, I take all the proper care, the vet said I'm the best cham mommy he's ever seen. they are very willing to work with you, and I think my first visit was about $40 that was avarage for my area, he gave me some electrolite solution to give him free with the visit, and it perked my little guy right up till the medicine took effect.