my chameleon has sunken eye

[meow_mix450]

he looks like he needs water, his eye looks like its sunken in, mayb im wrong im gonna try to get a pic as soon as i can im trying my best. hmmmmmm i looked at the other fourm about dehydration(spelling), and i heard about this shower, wut do u mean by that(trace), i saw him drink a litte etc, i have a dripper i mist him everyday i dont kno wut im doing wrong, he eats normally, mayb im just worried to much any help

[Bartman]

I would suggest a trip to the vet just to make sure that its nothing serious but wait until someone who knows more bout them to tell you what it is. If you dun get a forsure answer than take him asap. Hope nothings wrong though..good luck!

[Greg West]

What they mean with giving him a shower is putting him in your shower basically. You want to get him in a warm humid environment with more of an opportunity to get as much water as it needs. If you can hang a plant in your shower like a pothos, you can hang the plant off of the shower rod, and use suction cup hooks to take individual vines from the pot to under the shower head. That way if it is thirsty it can get a drink, but if its not, it can get away from the shower head.

Hope that helps, but I am sure Trace can add to your post. Hope that helps you.

Greg West

[eyespy]

I second Bartman's suggestions to get to a vet. When the eyes start sinking that means the dehydration is moderate to severe and can start causing kidney damage. Injections of fluids and electrolytes are going to reverse that damage far more quickly than soaking will and prevent the formation of calcifications which can cause kidney failure over the long term.

[Trace]

Hey Meow!

While I was typing up a response to your questions, I noticed a few people have already answered and you've gotten some good (and wide ranging!) advice.

I'm going to play devil's advocate here and take an opposite opinion. You've had him for 2 weeks now, and I don't think he would get sunken eyes in that time if you are indeed misting him like you say. They are shy at the beginning so you may not see him drinking in your presence. Do you notice his eyes are sinking when you hold him? Some of my chameleons don't like to be held, so for the most part I don't, but I will give them a brief check-up daily (look in their mouths, palpate them etc) and when I do this to those particular animals, they draw their eyes into their heads because they are terrified basically. Some of my chameleons also get that sunken eye look when they are sleeping. Could any of these factors be relevent to you and your new chameleon?

I will agree with eyespy though, if you are misting twice daily for more than 1 minute at a time (they really need at least a 5 minute soaking to stimulate a drink response), perhaps a trip to the vet is in order. Maybe he's got some other underlying health problem that can't be determined from a visual inspection.

Cheers!

Trace

[meow_mix450]

well maybe i got the def of sunken eye wrong???cause i think its when the "eye ball" is sunken, im not sure, but ill answer the other question anyways, When i first got him, i misted him and put the dripper in, and he drank water right in front of me...and ive seen him drink a couple of times, i mist him every mornining before i go to school, and when i come back, i would mist him again, and then feed him, and he would eat, WOW he does eat like crazy!!! i mist him for about 5 mins..., and when i mist him he would quint his eyes...and he would do weird things with his eye, but i read on the care sheet they gave me that its normal...they do it to like clean there eye or something...but it could be me just all worried lol thanks for giving me advice

[JeffT]

Well is his eye always sunken or just when your misting him? He squints his eye when your misting him because water is being sprayed in his face, we do the same thing when someone squirts us in the face with water. I am surely farrr far far from being a chameleon expert like Trace or WM or some other people on here but I know some odds and ends of certian things. Hope hes alright.

Jeff

[meow_mix450]

thanks ya i kno we do the same, but just wanted to tell what other things it does with its eye i hope its alright too, well it looks like its always sunken

[Trace]

Hey again Meow!

So it's just one eye that you are concerned about? Or both?

Honestly I've been trying to find a pic of a dehydrated chameleon for you on the internet and do you think I can find it? NO! GRRR! I've seen pics around though, and hopefully I can find it.

Here are some pics of my Panther Chameleon, does your chameleons eyes look like that or are they more inside of his head?







Cheers!

Trace

[meow_mix450]

OOO!!!! the second one looked pretty close to it, the one on the left of its eye looks fine, but the second one looks like the one on your second pic

[Trace]

Morning Meow!

Ok I admit it! I'm a little unsure of what you were trying to say in your last post. Sorry!

To a certain extent, chameleons will have smallish wrinkles where the eye turret meets up with the skull. Depending on where they are looking as well, sometimes areas of the turret will get wrinkley. Is that what you are seeing on your guy?

If the one eye is definately smaller than the other and sunken in appearance, again a trip to the doctor should be considered just to find out what's up.

Hope this helps. Keep me posted.

Trace

[meow_mix450]

lol srry trace, i wrote that last nite really tired. Wut i meen is the second picture you have there, of your chameleon. Those are how my chameleons eyes look like, hmmmm but i just checked him out a few mins ago and he looks fine now, i got some pictures of him right now, but i cant get it into the comp, im gonna get my friend to help me out, hope hes alright...he just drank some water, and ate lots of food! i guess i was really worried, ill keep you guys posted thanks a lot guys

[Charm_Paradise]

meow_mix450-

A light warm shower for 30 min. a day for a few days can hydrate a chameleon. If it is a very bad case, IV injections are a must. The shower would consist of a large ficus tree or other similar tree you have for the chameleon. Place the chameleon on the tree, turn the shower on a low warm mist directed against the side wall. Place the plant with the chameleon on it so that the back splash from the wall hits the plant. This will create a humid environment, allowing the chameleon to absorb water through its skin, nose, and mouth. The chameleon can also flush out there eyes and so on.

(Trace) There is a photo on the CHAMELEONS E-zine of a severely dehydrated veiled chameleon that clearly shows a dehydrated veiled.

I also agree with Trace on the EYE issue when handling some chameleon. Gravid females especially, my WC Ambilobe is on clutch #3 and when I move her to lay her eggs she hates it, and me. Here eyes will sink in, after I sit her down she is fine.

Another thing, depending on what you are feeding, some chameleons will drink more then others. Crickets don't have nearly as much water content and a silkworms or hornworms. So if you are feeding mostly silkworms you may notice the chameleon doest drink as often as if you were feeding crickets.

If your chameleons eyes look like pic # 2 I don't see any problems with dehydration. Another good test of dehydration is the color of the urate in the feces. If the urate is white, your chameleon is hydrated, if it is orange, the chameleon is dehydrated. One last thing the size in combo with the color of the urate can also tell the severity of the dehydration the big is good, small is bad. Hope this helps!

[choriona]

Just some advice on showering :

I find that plants sometimes get messy in the shower, or the plant suffers from too much water in it's root ball.....so, I put my chams on an old hamster or bird cage right in the tub/shower basin. This way, hundreds of droplets collect on each rung of the bars and they have lots of area to walk around to the best spots. (some like it right in the water, some like it just outside of the splash range.)
Test the water temp too. If it starts out of the showerhead warm, it is cool by the time it touches your cham. It is important to keep the pressure down. Do this by not turning the water on all the way, and spray the shower on the side of the wall to "splash" down on the cham.
Depending on the species, some like a regular shower once a week, and some less often.
As for seeing you cham drink...I hardly ever see mine drink. They're sneaky.

[meow_mix450]

hey i wanna thank you(everyone) for helping me out on my little guy, hes fine, now! and i see him drinkning all the time,hes eating right...so no more worries thanks again, ill keep you posted if anything goes wrong