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My New Cham is doing something wierd with his eye.

shopaholic Jan 28, 2004 07:58 PM

Hi everyone: My new Cham is settling in and eating fine now. But I saw him do this that last two days(caught him do it 2-3 times): he'd take his eye and rub it against a twig end rather forcibly too. He'd then blink and blink that eye and roll his eye around inside with it closed making the eye ball look a little deformed. No swelling perceivable, no discoloration or discharge that I can see on the eyeball or surrounding tissue. Eyes are same black, shiny as before and while he is not doing this they are open at a width that is seemingly regular(meaning he is not squinting, or the lid is not lazy). He is otherwise active, alert, interested in food. What might cause this behavior? What do I look for as a sign of trouble warrenting a vet check?

7 Month old, male Ambanja x Nosy Be Panther, screened enclosure, Umbrella plant,Croton, Manjanita Branches. Very warm RO water sprayed and dripped 2-3x/day onto the plants, humidfier 4x/day at 15 min length, Basking area-low 90s, ambient mid 70s.

Thanks for your help! Maggie

Replies (3)

epollak Jan 28, 2004 09:04 PM

Sounds fairly normal to me. But make sure that the branches he's rubbing them on are cleaned/disinfected regularly. Also, you can reduce the eye rubbing by making sure he gets long mistings (at least several minutes) with HOT water in the sprayer. With good mistings he'll perform his eye cleaning movements (i.e., blepharisms) without rubbing his eye on the branch.
Ed

TylerStewart Jan 28, 2004 11:03 PM

Maggie,
It is normal.... They will "pop out" their eyeballs and rub them to clean their eyes out and sometimes to get stuck skin off their eyes after a shed. It's a normal thing (scared me the first time I saw it). Setup sounds good keep up the good work!
-----
Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV
www.BLUEBEASTREPTILE.com

shopaholic Jan 30, 2004 01:31 AM

Phew! Thank you both for the reply. I tried the longer dripping time and he started to do the cleaning without the rubbing. Thanks-maggie

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