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I was hoping for advice on a Meller's that only has one eye. It came into rescue 3 weeks ago from a pet store raid due to serious neglect/abuse of numerous animals. Appears to be a sub-adult wild caught. I took him/her (we refer to it as a him) into the vet the day after pickup - full physical revealed a ruptured right eye that was infected and had proven now to be obliterated along with rostral abrasions that are through the skin exposing the SQ layers, serious dehydration and obvious malnutrition. In the last three weeks, we've been doing SQ fluids, Fortaz, treating the rostral abrasions topically, and trying to get weight on him. The problem we are running across is that that his aim when trying to eat or drink is horrible. He misses the target by several inches each time. He also cannot figure out how to drink from the drip system, tries to lick water off the leaves and misses them completely.

We've been working on trust with this guy so that I can assist him with feedings/hydration. In the last week we've made a lot of improvements in feeding - he has figured out that while I hold the cricket in the tongs, he can just take it (it takes several attempts, but he manages). I also started offering water via syringe and he figured it out, but then also figured out how to actually drink from the glass of water I had there to syringe him.

So the questions I have - any advice on how to safely leave an accessible dish of water in the cage with him? He is currently in a screen chameleon cage - smaller than it should be, but we needed to be able to catch him without a lot of stress for the meds etc, as well as monitoring physical condition and stool production. Also, the other thing we're having trouble with is getting him to take any food item except crickets. I want to start getting onto a varied diet, but anything offered other than crickets is totally balked at and then he'll refuse to eat at all for a day or so.

Anyway, thanks for any advice anyone can offer about this - I want to make sure we give this guy the best we can!

Poor thing! Many melleri are very poorly treated during their trips from exporters to the US. He could be fighting kidney failure and other problems due to abuse. Some suggestions...most chams eventually learn to compensate for a missing eye. It takes time and practice, but "he" could be shooting again in a short time. But, he's got a lot of problems right now and probably doesn't have the energy to try. I wouldn't worry too much about feeder variety right now. You can make sure the crix he will eat are nutritious by gutloading them really well. Gutload them with fresh fruit such as oranges, dark leafy greens such as kale or leaf lettuce, fortified whole grain cereal such as Total, bee pollen and some flake fish food. Don't overdo the dusting as you can cause organ damage and the reverse of MBD. For a cham older than a fast growing hatchling (melleri can take about 2 years to mature), calcium dusting once a week, vitamin dusting only about once a month. Give him new fresh UVB such as a ReptiSun 5.0. Melleri can burn themselves if they get too close to a MV or compact heat/UV lamp. I've found that melleri don't use drippers or lick foliage all that well. If you start spraying them gently from above they start licking the water as it runs down their face. Once they start swallowing you can syringe the water right on their snout and they will drink until full. Slow and gentle is the key. It will take some time for him to recover from dehydration and "refill" his water reserves, but if you give him a full drink 2 times a day and keep his setup fairly humid that will help. Give him water until he starts tipping his snout straight up and turns away from the drip. Then he's probably full. He sounds like he is a mellow one which is good. Most chams don't really "trust", but melleri vary a lot in temperment. Also, he's not able to show his true personality right now. For surface injuries, ask a vet for some Silvadene cream. It's protective, fights infection, and keeps them moist. Good stuff! Watch the Baytril. Some chams react very poorly to it and it is kidney-toxic.

For good melleri-specific information there is a great website and a forum on Yahoo. The website is The Melleri Discovery. It will help answer a lot of your questions about the species and their quirks.

Carlton gave you some real good advice..

I just wanted to add that it's a great thing you're doing for him and I hope he makes a turn for the better..It's always real sad to hear of neglected or abused chameleons..I especially don't like it when people stress them out for no reason other than they think it's funny or something like that..Keep us updated on his condition..Good luck to you and the lil guy!!
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Jonny Blaze
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1.0 Bearded Dragon--Vinny
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