I just got my mellers chameleon in the mail today and i was excited to see him moving when opened the box. but on futher examination i realized his eyes were not open. it looks like he has sleep in his eye. I can see him moving his eyes around but there jsut not openeing and there is crust sort of all around the eye socket. I need help dont wanna loose this guy.
Reptile & Amphibian Forums
Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.
meller chameleon has sleep in eye
Bburn102
Aug 05, 2008 03:00 PM
Replies (3)
kinyonga
Aug 06, 2008 04:40 PM
You can try giving him a shower but if that doesn't clear it up in a couple of days I would take him to a vet. It could be irritation...but it could also be an infection. They can go down hill fast...so don't leave it too long.
Carlton
Aug 06, 2008 05:21 PM
Not a good sign. The first thing to rule out is dehydration. A cham in a box may have rubbed its eyelids trying to get out of the box, and it will also be in drier air during the trip. If the crust keeps coming back after the cham tries to clean its own eyes you'll need a vet to check them up close to look for injuries or infection. You can help keep the eyelids clean by flushing the eyes with sterile contact lens saline solution (it will sting less than plain water).
rkreptiles
Aug 21, 2008 02:24 PM
Unfortunately allot of imported Melleri end up with scratched cornea during their holding in Dar Es Salaam in TZ and even in some of the holding cages here in the us at the importers. I have seen many of them come in back when I was importing them (more than I would have liked to) and almost every one of them ended up needing ophthalmic antibiotics. There were a few cases that the animals were just dehydrated and I would give that the first shot. I would give the animal a nice long warm (not too warm though)shower to start the hydration process. I would give an hour shower then wait a couple of hours and start again. I would do this for at least 4 showers. Re-hydrate it and see how it looks after that. make sure that the animal is lapping at water and not just sitting in the shower. If after a day of hydration the animal is still not opening its eyes, I would suggest taking it to a vet and get it started on antibiotics so it will have the best chance at survival.
-----
....I would rather have a Bottle in front of me.....than a Frontal Lobotomy....
Rob Trenor
RK Reptiles
www.rkreptiles.com
www.rkreptiles.net
www.ballpythonmorphs.net
_____
