Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok my new baby ambanja starting having an eye problem yesterday. his right eye was closed and looked alittle moist around the opening. so I put him in the shower to wash off his eye. It opened within a min and stayed open the rest of the day, he's drinking fine, alittle slow on eating but still eating. today it was shut again just like yesterday, I moistened it and it opened back up. he's 4 months

I dust miner-all i 3 times a week, dripper, mist 2-3 times a day w/warm water, heat is good, uvb is only 3 months old. he cant see other chams, not a high traffic area, no visible damage to mouth inside or out. his poo looks healthy.

Now I've been reading the eye problem posts and it has come up that it could be a lack of vit. A, I've always herd A is bad for them, are you people meaning beta karotien? miner-all has beta karotien in it. my crickets also get gutloaded with carrots, and other things... any advice?
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From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.0 Veileds
1.1 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther

What do you gutload with? Are you using any type of vitamin dust in addition to the calcium? A young cham needs an occasional vit (such as Herptivite with beta carotene) while rapidly growing. It is safer to supply this with careful gutloading rather than adding more dust. It is easy to overdo it. It is most likely NOT vit. A deficiency. Vit A is needed for eyes, but if you are gutloading properly you should not start adding extra. A deficiency bad enough to affect eyes would be affecting them both.

Carlton, your a good person and all and have good advice, but do you read the whole post before responding to someone? miner-all is not a calcium dust alone, it has all the goodies. I also gutload with mixed veggies, and vite-all. is it a normal thing for one eye to close only overnight?
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From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.0 Veileds
1.1 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther

sorry I dont think I was clear on my last sentance... I know an eye closed is not normal thats why I'm posting but when something is wrong is it normal for the one eye to close only overnight?
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From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.0 Veileds
1.1 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther

Yes I do read the posts and have used MinerAll for years. It does not have all the vitamins chams need unless they have changed their formula recently. Usually dusts for vitamins and minerals are kept separate because they interfere chemically with each other during storage. MinerAll 1 has added D3, but it is not intended to take the place of all other vitamins. This is a fairly common misunderstanding.

I just looked on my dust and it does not have vitamins in it. I could have bet money it had beta kerotien in it. good thing I gutload my crickets... What other vitamins are missing... Everything says vitamin a,e,d,k, are bad for them... so what is needed?

I'm still in shock it does not have beta kerotien... Extra carrots here I come...
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From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.0 Veileds
1.1 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther

It is not that those vitamins are bad, you just don't want to overdose them by using dusts too often. Vit. A is ususally the one that is overdone in reptile vitamin supplements and is often the top ingredient on the label list. Vitamins such as Herptivite with beta carotene seem to be better balanced. So, rely on a really good gutload (the vitamins available to the cham will be different because the insects have processed them first) and only occasionally use a vitamin dust to fill in the "gaps". I use one about every 2 weeks.

I woke up today and the baby is fine, he's eating fine as well... I guess he just kept getting something in his eye...oh well, I will keep a close eye on him for the next few days anyway.
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From Sunny Florida
Jovana's kids listed below
1.0 Veileds
1.1 Ambanja Panther
1.1 Tamatave Panther

If it was just overnight you are probably right...just scratched it on something or got a speck of something in it. Good news. FYI, if there was an actual injury often a vet using a scope can see increased vascularization in the eye itself.