Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Saturday night I noticed my 6 month old veiled chameleon's eyes were swollen so much they were closed!There is no mucus but they look like they have some type of fluid behind them. He had been eating and active earlier that day so I thought maybe it was a reaction to the heat being turned on. Sunday morning they were still infected looking. I took him to an emergency vet since no where else was open and she gave him a vitamin A injection and some eye drops. So far I haven't seen any change in his eyes and he won't eat anything. He used to eat 6-8 crickets a day dusted with calcium powder. I tried to open his mouth and force feed him last night but I couldn't get his mouth open (vet's advice). Now I'm at a dead end. He still climbs around his terrarium just not as fast or as much. I called his usual vet this morning but I wanted to see what y'all had to say about it and if someone else has had this issue. Thanks so much!

I know other members of cham forums have described something like this but I have not seen it. I don't know if anyone really figured out what caused it and what type of treatment worked. If it is an infection (as opposed to some type of edema, virus, etc) the drops, if they are antibiotic, should help. To ease your mind about eating, if your cham is healthy he can go without eating for a week as long as he's drinking. As he can't see, he won't hunt obviously. To get him to drink you can first spray the plant he's in to get him in the drinking mode. Watch to see if he starts reflex swallowing, and start dropping warm water on his face so it rolls down to his lips. Hopefully he'll start licking the water. If he does this, you can get quite a bit of water into him, and to help with a little bit of nutrition, use a mix of Pedialyte and water. If he is not drinking on his own you will have to force it, and this is tricky. Only get a little bit of liquid into his mouth through the lip and let him swallow on his own. Trying to get too much fluid down his throat at once risks getting water into his trachea and causing respiratory problems. But again, he's not going to starve for a few days and this may give the drops time to work.

Hey,

Good points Carlton. I am not sure exactly what you are describing. Can you describe it better. Whatever it is, I doubt is is a reaction to heat...

If you absolutely need to orce feed him, I have found that making a "bug shake" is much easier. Simply take a few crix, and your favorite feeder insects, put them in a deli cup, get a sissor, and well...yea. Chop em up real good. Them, add supplements, and water so that when you chop it up again with the scissor, it will make it a thick liquid/shake. Put it is a syringe(usually difficult since it is so think) or put it on a spoon and drop it into hi smouth carefully. Be sure to get all the liquids from the bottom of the cup tho, as this is where alot of the nutrients is...

Keep us posted...
Ank-Inc.
Adam.

I can't really help you with the infection part of this post...but your seeing a vet so hopefully that will be dealt with there.

This might work to get him to eat...if he's drinking, try sticking a cricket in his mouth when its open to drink the water. I usually squash the cricket somewhat when I do this to make sure that the cricket doesn't bite the chameleon or jump out of his mouth. This often works if the chameleon just can't see the food or has a sore mouth or tongue....but won't usually work if the chameleon is sick.)

If this doesn't work, sometimes a veiled will open its mouth if you gently hold onto its casque...it annoys him. (It depends on the temperment of the chameleon.)

Another way that might help you to get his mouth open is to use a spatula (kitchen implement used for scraping batter out of a bowl, etc.) and gently trying to slide it between his teeth. Be careful not to hurt his mouth though! (And don't plan on using the spatula in the kitchen again after!)

Good luck with solving his problem and with feeding him.