Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I own several Mellari, 2 super sized adults a one sub adult. All three were wild caught. One of my supersize, the female i think, lately won't open her eyes! The eyes are not swollen, there is no signs of obstruction! Obviously if she can't open her eyes she can't eat! I did open her mouth to see what that looked like, BLACK! I thought that was a sign of dehydration but she drinks like a fish when we mist her outside! Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I will get pic on ASAP as well. Thx.

I cannot help you out on this but I will tell you that in order for anyone to help you need to post your complete setup and feeding/supplementing regimen. See the "questions" section of the link below.

Keep in mind that the forum can slow down over the weekend so a vet is probably your best bet. If she cannot open her eyes and her tongue/mouth is black it sounds like a pretty severe mouth infection. If the mouth is scabby you may be able to clean it out and infection and personally, I'd be off to the vet...

good luck with her!

lele
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info

0.1 Veiled - Luna
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Líta
1.0 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.3 Mad. Hissers (2 died ;(
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula (no name yet)
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha

Her set-up/feeding. She gets natural sun @ least 4 hours a day, depending on Weather. Her outside set is 5 tall by 5 wide by 2 deep. I try to keep her outside as much as possible, she seems to love. If the ambiant temp outside is less than 65, she does not go out. Interior set is a similar cage with a basking temp just at 90. Ficus along with additional artificial green in both. Feeding is crickets dusted once a week. She does get mealworms/wax worms on occasion and has taken a pinky mouse from hand a couple times.

what are their ambient temps - melleri tend to get overheated at the low 80's, especially with low humidity.

Outside ambient is between 68-70, obviously depending on day. Inside about 72ish with basking in upper 80 low 90.

Its good to hear that you are keeping her outside as often as
you can!

In one of the sites I posted in another reply to you, it says
that Meller's will eat artificial greenery...so I would think
about taking it out of the cage.

You said ..."Feeding is crickets dusted
once a week. She does get mealworms/wax worms on
occasion and has taken a pinky mouse from
hand a couple times".

Dusted with what??
I don't know if a chameleon has the enzymes in
its digestive system to digest a pinky. I had a bad experience
with a chameleon I had that was fed pinky mice and haven't used
them as food for any chameleons since.

Chameleons can easily digest mice. I've fed fuzzies to my veileds many times in the past - and the feces was no different than when fed insects.

Is it a good idea? No. You can get into all sorts of discussions about weather it's good for them or not, etc. Pinkies are, pound for pound, less nutritioous than almost any insects. they're high fat, but not as much as waxworms. Sometimes, they're calcified well, buit you're better off with a gutloaded insect.

Will it hurt them? No. I've never encountered a problem, and melleri in particular are known to weat small birds and lizards in the wild.

It's simply not really that great for them, and certainly not worth the expense $1 worth of insect is always more nurtious than $1 worth of mammal.

Have you looked inside the mouths of your other two Meller's?
If I remember correctly...the inside of a Meller's mouth is
always/usually black.

Do you have a place where the chameleon can lay eggs if its a
female?

Are you keeping the three (or even two) in the same cage?

If its not eating, then and keeping its eyes shut...then I would
be taking it to the vets. Its not normal to be sitting with its
eyes closed all the time.

You may be keeping the upper temperature a little high......
http://ADCHAM.com/html/taxonomy/species/chmelleri.html

Not a very good picture...but it shows a little of the
inside of the mouth...
http://ADCHAM.com/images/images-species/Ch.Melleri/ChamaeleoMelleri1.jpg

Here's a couple of articles that (although I don't think give
you the answer to your problem) you might like to read...
http://www.chameleonnews.com/year2002/nov2002/melleriprofile/melleri_profile.html
http://lllreptile.com/info/library/animal-care-sheets/chameleons/-/mellers-chameleon/
http://www.melleridiscovery.com/

Mellers are not one of the easier chameleons to keep in
captivity...especially when they are wild caught.

You need to see a vet. But in the mean time, but her in the shower (turn the head to it hits the side of the shower, so she only gets hit with the mist). The will help. Many times, imports come in in poor shape and dehydrated and stressed, and the shower will solve that. If her eyes aren't swollen or infected, maybe there is something wrong, as I know in imported quads, if they are unhappy, they close their eyes and go on a hunger strike until the problem ,as subtle as it may be, is fixed. One keeper had an imported female come in, who wouldn't open her eyes for 3 weeks. He put her in the shower and kept her warm and humid, and low and behold she came out of it. As for the black mouth, my melleri do not have black mouths. Either way, she needs a vet. But keep her very well hydrated and keep offering food. Go to yahoo.com and search for the melleri group. Become a member and there are dozens of melleri experts there to help you out. Also go to www.melleridiscovery.com . THis website corresponds with the group on yahoo. Good luck.

Anthony

I did want to thank everyone for thier advice and feedback! It is greatly appreciated! I will keep you updated and let you know how she does!

Thanks for the tip on the mouth. After looking at the other two, yes all three have some black to thier mouth. Which is a relief. No the don't all go in the same cage. When I first got them, the the one in question paired off with the other adult and seem to dig each other, so they chill together. The subadult he gets his own digs. Same exact set up though. Thanks for the articles, very imformative.