Nosey w/ eye problem?

Tommy,
You need to get some Bausch and Lomb
Eye wash and squirt it in the affected
eye 2 to 3 times a day for several days.
Rinse it out really good, the eye will
swell up from the wash. I would also give the cham some vitamin A. He also might need a ophthalmic antibiotic like
Terramycin or Tobramycin. I would first
use the eye wash and Vitamin A. Who did
you purchase the cham from? I would let
them know. I think that alot of eye problems in juvi chams are due to lack
of vitamin A in the gravid female. There
has been alot of research done recently
on Vitamin A and chams. Dr. Ferguson recommends that adult breeding females
get 1-2IU/g/week or gutload crickets with 50-100IU/g. I hope that this info
helps.

Legendcham, Thanks so much for the quick response, I have also posted a forum which you can read here: http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=325063,325063 Do you think what I put in that post about the contact wash would work about the same or no? You say to use the bausch and lomb and in the next sentence to rinse it out well, are you refering to washing it out well with the eye wash or after the eye wash rinse it out well with water!? Also what do supplement do you recomend me use to get some vitamin A in this guy. Right now I have been using Herpcare Cricket dust and to gutload the crickets I use Nature Zone Total cricket bites.

Thanks again - Thomas

Tommy,
I would use a eye wash not a contact
solution. Just rinse the eye out really
good with the wash. Squirt it right into
the eye. You can get a soft gel of
Vitamin A palmitate at a health food
store. I would use half of a capsule
containing 400 IU of Vitamin A every other day for no more than a week. Sometimes just one dose works. As far as
gutload goes I make my own. I am a microbiologist and have access to USP grade vitamins in bulk. You might try
cricketfood.coms gutload, but again I have not used it personally. Spirulina is a pretty good source of vitamin A
As for the cricket dust, I use and recommend Zoo Meds Reptivite. I have not
been to the forum that you mentioned.

Tommy,
I forgot to mention that feeding your
adult chams, both females and male small
lizards like anoles and geckos will prevent most vitamin and calcium problems. They eat these things in the
wild. I feed my adults two small anoles
or geckos a week, with great results!

Hey Legendcham - I just got back from the local pet store with a house gecko and an anole for my 18 month old male Tamatave. I have a question though before I feed one to him and thats what stops the anole or gecko from bitting the Chameleon? I also picked up the vitamin A for the baby and as it turns out it only came in 10,000 iu which won't be a problem for me to break down and seperate but I had forgotten to metion to you another vitamin supplement I use by Herpcare and its called Electrolyte & Appetite Stimulant and on the back of that box it has a guaranteed analysis per Kg of 30,000 iu of vitamin A among several others. It is for all types of reptiles but the pic on the front of the box is a veiled so surely it will work for a panther. It directs 1-2 times a day for 5-7 days. Would you recommend just using that for the next week or should I still use the vitamin A I have already picked up? I don't want to feed the anole until I get a response from you about the bitting part so if your on and see this please responed.

Thanks for all your help - Thomas

Oh yeah and I picked up the eye wash but all I could get was a brand called Collyrium which the pharmasist had said was the best on the market, it contains Boric acid, sodium borate, sodium chloride and purified water. How does that match up with the Bausch & Lomb you were talking about?

Tommy,
The Herpcare that you have sounds like
it would work good. If you have not seen good results in a few days, use
the vitamin A soft gel capsule. Boric
Acid is the key ingredient in a eye wash
so what you purchased will work great.
As for the Anoles and Geckos, I would not worry about them biting the Tamatave. Remember chams have very quick tongues. The anoles and geckos
can bite you, but it does not hurt. You
can put the anole or gecko in his cage
or you can get a deep cup and feed it
to him that way. Let me know if your
Tamatave likes it.

LegendCham - I have a 4 month old male panther that's doing the same thing with one of his eyes. He opens it occasionally but then closes it right away. I was going to try over-the-counter Vitamin A, but the smallest capsule size I can find is 8000-IU, way too much for the 1-2 IU / gram you said. Do you know where I might find smaller doses of this?
You also mentioned using feeder anoles and geckos. Don't you have worries about parasites doing this?
Thanks,
Paul

To provent vitamin A related eye problems I would recommend a gut load high in provitamin A. Sources that contain betacarotene such as; carrots, yellow squash, spirulina, etc are the safest way to administer vit A. Betacarotene is converted to vit. A by the animals liver as it is needed. Be careful using other sources of vit A such as those foung in human vitamins and most of the reptile multivitamins on the market. A proper gutload formula is the best andd safest way to provide safe amounts of vitamins.

Also for that eye, I had this problem with a friend of mine's cham. Use the optothalmic solution and a SAFE dosage of batryl, you must be very careful with batryl and it will clear up in a week or two. Also warm weather and natural sunlight help greatly.

cricket.com has a new vitamin compound
that was developed by a vet for chameleons. I would recommend this. It will prevent eye problems dues to a Vitamin A defiency. I would not give
Baytril. There are opthamolic antibiotics that a vet can prescribe.

I would only recommend batryl as a last resort in a more serious infection.