Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Frodo is 10 months old and is haviung an intermittant eye problem that I can't figure out. Sometimes his left eye seems perfectly normal and at other times he has it closed and is filling it up with air as if he's trying to clear something out of it. This started about 3 weeks ago, the day that I was going away for a long 4 day weekend. I noticed that his left eye was closed, but there was nothing I could do about it at the time. I wrote a note to the pet sitter telling here to keep track of any changes to the ye and let me know of any developments in the 4 days. When I came home, she wrote that his eye was open by the end of the day but then was closed again 2 days later, then opened up again. It was open when I got home and seemed perfectly normal. However, in the subsequent 3 weeks, this eye problem keep happening. There don't seem to be any symptoms...when the eye is open it seems normal...no discharge, no physical condition is visible. But when his eye is open for a while, he suddenly closes it and then starts puffing his eye up and wiggling it around. Then he keeps it open for a while and then it closes again. When I left for work yesterday at 6 AM, he was doing this, yet when I came home at 5 PM, his eye was open and looked perfectly normal. THis morning, his eye was closed again. Any ideas on what might be going on and what course(s) of action I might take? Thanks.
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1.0 Nosy Be panther Chameleon (Frodo)
1.0 Egyptian Uromastyx lizard(Littlefoot)
1.0 Eastern Garter Snake (Sully)
0.1 Great Pyrenees dog (Tequi)

Frodo lives on a Chameleon Canopy with live pothos plants. His basking spot is 90 degrees F, and he has UVA and UVB lighting. He also has vines that lead off of the Canopy that give him freedom to leave the CAnopy and walk around the small room he is in. The humidity is approx. 50% on the Canopy. The room is heated by forced hot air system. Could the eye problem be caused by dry heat/ not enough humidity?
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1.0 Nosy Be panther Chameleon (Frodo)
1.0 Egyptian Uromastyx lizard(Littlefoot)
1.0 Eastern Garter Snake (Sully)
0.1 Great Pyrenees dog (Tequi)

It sounds to me like maybe he has something in it, I would increase the spraying, and gently spray him with warm water, to see if it may come out. It also could be he is starting to shed and is attempting to clear it off. Mine also does that eye puffing thing, but not the closed thing. Good luck..

Sounds like he has something in it. Or keeps getting something in his eyes. You might try the warm shower trick. Put him on a nice big plant. Let the water mist down on him, if it doesn't do a mist thing on it's own, have it bounce off the shower wall. This will greatly help him clean out his eye.

I have had a panther do the exact same thing. i flushed his eye out by rubbing a q-tip soaked in warm water over his eye. Once he realized what was going on he was the one doing most of the rubbing. This worked great for me. Of course you should check your husbandry out also. Hope it helps.
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Scott & Mary Ann
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1 panther chams
2 jackson cham
2 leapord gecko
1 cat
1 dog

This has happened to my panthers several times in the past. In each case it turned out to be a Vitamin A deficiency. What I did was to go to the store and buy some Vit A softgels, cut one open, and smear about a single drop onto a dead cricket and make the panther eat it (watch your fingers ....I only do this once. It takes about 3-6 days before the Vit A gets into their system enough to help with the eye problem. This has worked every time on my chams.

DISCLAIMER - I am not a vet. Giving a cham straight Vit A can potentially kill it, as their systems can only handle about a 300IU dose, and most human softgels are about 8000IU, so be careful.

I'm not saying you should do this or not, because I don't know anything about it. But if you do maybe try a live cricket, just because I know my cham won't touch dead ones. They aren't too hard to catch.
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~Melissa
1.0 Ambanja Panther (Diesel)
0.1 African Hegdehog (Kaimah)

Is he in the draft of the heat vent? Forced air heat is really dry, and 50% humidity is fairly low for a panther. The simplest explanation is dry air irritating one eye that might be sensitive for some other reason. If there is no discharge, discoloration, or other sign of active infection (maybe a vet should examine the eye with a scope to check for signs of a old slight injury. Increased vascularization in the iris might show up) I'd suggest raising the humidity in that room especially when heat is on, spray him more, increase his planted area, or give him regular warm showers to help him clean his eye more thoroughly. You can set a fake plant in the shower, aim the showerhead at a wall so the water bounces onto the plant, and put him in there for at least 30 minutes to an hour at a time. He should have a place out of the water if he needs it. I also found that installing a diverter sprayer attachment to the showerhead pipe lets me use an indoor plant spray wand or a pet spray hose that uses a lot less water and has lower pressure.

He could have a small bit of grit or something inside
his eye, you could try spraying his head & eye with warm water
more often to try and help him flush whatever's in there out.
Another possiblity is ficus sap if you use them in your cage.
Sometimes the sap can get in their eyes and cause problems, check your plants to see if they're oozing anywhere. I've never had a problem with ficus, but it's not unheard of.
garrett

I recently had this same problem with my panther chameleon. I called a local reptile vet. He told me that chameleon eyes are sensitive and often get "clogged up." Kind of like a tear duct, but different. He suggested rinsing the eye with saline solution using an eye dropper once or twice per day.

Good Luck!

P.S. He told me if it didn't work to bring the chameleon in to him, but it worked out fine.