Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a veiled chameleon about 6 months to a year old, he's recently developed an eye problem where it has crusted shut and has a little swelling. he's had this about two days. I thought respiratory infection because he has no other signs of MBD but the vet took a culture and said it didn't have an unusually high bacteria count.
Well to be frank I don't think this vet knew jack about chameleons but a culture is a culture and I think he got a pretty good sample.
My chameleon is still good color but doesn't seem to be eatting or drinking well.
HELP
I'm out of ideas.

I had a similar problem with a panther and ended up using a cream called Terramycin. I think it's made for cows (eyes) and fixed the problem I had almost overnight (I caught it pretty quick before it got too bad). I also have used the exact same cream on the lips of my chameleons if they ever curl at all or have any dry spots on them. Apparently it's a form of Tetracyclene. I just got mine at a feed store. It's in a tiny little tube.
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

did you put it directly in his eye? how long did it take to clear up? did you ever find out what caused it?

Yeah when I did it I put it directly on the eye. A vet told me that in cattle it's placed directly in the eye. I just tried to keep it on the bad part. If possible, try to get as much of the crustiness off beforehand, by showering or dabbing it lightly with a wet Q-Tip to soften it up. Don't pull it off. Try to make it fall off.
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

his eye doesn't seem to be oozing anything. it's just got the little peeper whole crusted shut. he seems to be able to open it but it must be sore or something because he keeps it shut most of the time. I think I'll try to give him the lukewarm shower and then I'll see if I can find this terramycin cream.
thank you.

Ok. I wuld just put it directly on the eye and maybe add it once a day until it gets better. I couldn't believe how fast it healed my girl. It happened right after I got her (a few days later) but she's doing great now.
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

I dont know if your vet told you to do this or not, but put him in the shower in luke warm water. point the head where the water bounces off the wall and on your cham. this should help atleast relieve some of the crustyness. it wont cure him though I dont know what to say about that.
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From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.1 Veileds
1.0 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther

This same thing happened to my 3 year old male veiled chameleon. it started out as a crust that would form over his eye, which in the morning would prevent him from opening it unless i moistened it. I took him to the vet, who told me that it was an eye infection and to use eye polysporn to help it heal. I used this without much luck for about a month until a bump started forming above his eye. I took him back to the vet and they did some blood work, which determined that it was a fairly bad bacterial infection and the bump was an abscess. It turned out that a puss build up was forming abscess, which was draining into the eye causing the crusting. I was then perscribed antibiotics and recommended sergery to remove the absess. I gave him the anti-biotics and spent the money on a very expensive sergery (more then that chameleon cost). In the end He survived but it took a lot of time and effort to get him back on eating and functioning properly because of the extreme stress that sergery put on the chameleon. I hope everything works out for you. Best of luck
Ryan

You can first clean the eye with sterile saline (contact lens rinse). I squirt the bottle right at the eye to flush it and very gently dab any crusts off with a Q tip once they are soft. It will sting less than plain water. Let him shower the eye and clean it himself. Use the terramycin unless the bacteria the vet found is not sensitive to terramycin. Check your husbandry...sometimes eye problems result from deficiencies and low humidity in the cage. Good articles on nutrition and vet issues are on these sites:
www.adcham.com, www.chameleonjournals.com, www.herpnutrition.com

I can't guarantee it, but i am pretty sure that the solution to your problem is a solution called Gentamicin Sulfate ophthalmic solution. you can get it at your vet for about 20 dollars, but you have to apply it three times a day for about a week. After that, you will never have to worry about the problem again... Give it a try, and i'm pretty sure you won't have to do anything else.