Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I noticed today, while my baby veiled was under the basking lamp that his right eye (the same side eye from my old jackson's problem) that he is doing that thing where they sunk in a part of their eye as if they are blinking. This was the same thing that my Jackson did right before his eye closed. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG HERE?!??!

Also, he is shedding AROUND his eye, not one the moving turret itself but around it. I doubt this is a "piece of skin in the eye problem", but is he moving like that to promote shedding? Am I just being paranoid again?

It could be that your chameleon is just cleaning its eye,
but then again it could be the beginnings of an eye problem.

If this chameleon is in the same cage as the Jackson's that you
had, did you disinfect the cage before you put the baby veiled
in? Did you disinfect/replace the branches in the cage before you
used it for the baby veiled? If not, whatever the Jackson's had
could have been passed on to the veiled.

I always thoroughly disinfect a cage before I put a new/different
reptile in a cage that was used for another before I use it again.
I always use fresh branches...and anything else that I put in the
cage is either new or disinfected. I do this even when both the
previous chameleon was one I hatched/owned for a long time and
I'm replacing it with another one I hatched when the previous
one dies. Its even more important when dealing with WC's.

Its also important to quarantine a new chameleon....keep it in a
separate area of your house for at least 6 weeks before you bring
it into the room with ones that you've already had for some time.
Its important to wash your hands well when you have one in
quarantine...but I would recommend washing your hands even when
you go from one cage/chameleon to another. Its better to be safe
than sorry. I think you only have the one, so it doesn't apply
to you...I'm just telling you in case you get another one while
you still have this one.

What is your set-up? Do you have a UV light (that is not sitting
over glass)? Do you use dust your insects before feeding them to
the chameleon? Do you gutload the insects? Do you have a dripper?

I have kept veiled chameleons for years...and I'm still learning...
but they now live a long time with me....females often
over 6 years and I have a male right now that is over 8.

I certainly hope you have good luck with this little one!
If you haven't had much experience with chameleons, I suggest that
you read all you can. There's lots to know if you want to keep
them successfully.

Hope this helps!

Hi,

The fact that you have now got the same problems with your veiled as you did with your Jackson tells me that something is wrong with your setup, and I am thinking lights. Some lights are not suitable for chameleons and can cause seriouse irritation if they are subjected to it for lengthy periods of time. I live in the Netherlands so I don't know what kind of lights are on the market in the states and wether they are any good or not.

Is it the eye that points towards the lighting?? Is it always the same eye?? Let me know what kind of lighting you use, then I can maybe help a little further.

Best regards,

René Imming.

I'm using a reptisun 5.0 and a 75 WATT bulb for heat. I'n starting to think its the chlorine in my water?

It could be your water. Do you use distilled water or at least filtered? There are a lot of things in regular tap/well water of which we & our animals should not be getting too much. I use a pur water filter for all consumable water (for myself 7 all the animals) b/c our local water supply is terrible. Try getting a water-filter pitcher or tap attachment, or buy DISTILLED water (not simply bottled water) and see if that helps the eye problem.
Good Luck!
~C
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1.1 Crazy dogs (Sandy & Gizmo)
1.2 Vacationing Kitties (Puddy, PeeWee & Mikey)
1.1 Veiled Chameleons (Charlie & Emma)
0.1 Collard Lizard (Jimmie)
0.1 Leopard Gecko (Lily)
0.0.1 AWOL Leopard Gecko (Eddie)
0.1 Amazing Fiance =o)

There is no need to use distilled water, in fact it is not a great idea. Distilled water has NO trace minerals or other micronutrients at all. Filtered or spring water should be fine, and will give your cham safe levels of minerals etc. that rainwater would. Also, if chlorine is your problem you can very easily remove it by treating it with a fish aquarium water conditioner or by leaving a bucket of tap water uncovered overnight...most of the chlorine will vaporize off. If your tap water is treated with chloramine this won't work...again you can treat it with aquarium water treatments. You can easily test for which chemical is present in the water. I don't remember, but what is the air humidity in your setup? The most common reason chams start closing eyes and continuously cleaning them is a too-dry cage. Chams do shed their eye turret skin right up to the eyelid edge. It is an irritating time for them to be sure, but more spraying and higher humidity should help the shed go faster.

The way you are describing it now (a little different than your jax) just sounds as if it is cleaning its eye. What they do is sort of bulge it out and suck it in. it is VERY odd looking and can be scary the first time you see it if you haven't before.

That said, it could be something in your setup. As was asked, did you clean and disinfect your setup and ALL the branches, etc.??? It would be helpful if you could post som clear pictures. Tthe ones last time (jackson's) were pretty impossible to see anything and (jax are sort of bumpy anyway) of your setup as well.

lele
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.5 Mad. Hissers
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula (no name yet)
?.? Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula (no name yet)

He has stopped, just paranoia I guess. Thanks everyone!

good! I think it is the eye cleaning/bulge thing - weird, huh??

I do hope you did clean and disinfect the cage, anyway
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.5 Mad. Hissers
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula (no name yet)
?.? Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula (no name yet)

Have you ever used Repti-safe from Zoo-Med, it removes all chlorine, and other things bad in water, and also conditions it, I think it also levels out the ph to a more neutral(sp) level....