Hello, I have my lizard in a screen cage that is about 3 ft tall and 1.5 x 2.5 ft deep x wide. Roughly. Anyway, I keep an ultra sonic mister next to his cage for humidity during the daytime, and I still spray it down with dechlorinated water a few times a day. He eats about 100 crickets every 2 weeks, they are gut loaded so the pet store says, and I put calcium powder on them once every 2 or so times I feed him. He has a uv bulb, and a basking lamp, but his cage is right in the window up against the glass, that catches all the morning sun. The screen blocks some direct sunlight out and I'm sure the glass blocks some of the uv out, but with the ac on in here he never gets too hot, so I figured it wouldn't be anything but beneficial. Is it possible that a lack of shade would get him, there are thick branches and leaves in there that he could get behind if he really wanted the shade, but is it possible the sun damaged his eye? At first I thought it might be parasite, I could not see any. Then I thought mabe he's suffering from a lack of water/humidity, and can't shed some skin off his eye. Well I've seen him kick at it with his leg, try to move his eye around in his socket, but the lid is glued together it seems. I increased the humidity once and left the humidifier going for all day and night and he was able to open his eye again for a week or two. Now its back to closed, and it seems harder to get it open this time. Should I put him on a tree in the shower to see if I can use moisture to help it come unglued? I've recently read the sticky on veiled chams caresheet and I think I should be doing ok. Obviously not right, when I bought him he wasn't a juvie, I believe he was too big for that, cause he was way bigger than the juvies they had for sale. I'm not sure how old though, he's grown a bit but not full grown as far as I can tell, and he's probably a teenager so to speak now lol I don't know really, I've had him since xmas. Please help I love him! Thanks for your time.

Does your uv bulb also have UVB. You're right, some of it is getting filtered through the glass and he will need additional UVB unless he spends time outside. If you feel there is old shed on his eye, then do as you said and give him a good shower. If he continues to have issues with his eye then he may need to see vet.

And welcome to Herpcenter. I am sure more cham keepers will be along to give more advice.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

Maybe he got poked by a branch? I would let him swim/ soak in lukewarm water in a pail. Submerge him a few times to be sure the eye gets rinsed. Just my honest opinion.
They are the brightest-colored critter I ever saw. That orange belly looks great!!Good luck.

Chams are very easily stressed, I'm not sure submerging him would be a good idea. I think a constant shower would surfice rinsing the eye.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

He'll live..LOL. Just got to be sure you actually rinse the eye fully..

Welcome to the HC!! Nice to see another veilded keeper....

As Venus said - you're right about the window blocking the UVB. Actually...it blocks all of it but about 1% - 2%. One thing to keep in the top of your mind in UVB requirements and chameleons. They are low-level UVB using herps. Depending on the species you will need anywhere between 5 uW/cm2 and 50 uW/cm2 as a reading to go by. For veileds - they're on the lower level requiring only in the ranges from 5 - 10. When you get levels that are too strong - you get damage on a cellular level...including, but not limited to - eye damage.

What exactly do you have for a UVB source? Brand, strength and style, please.... For example - Reptisun 5.0 compact.

This will determine where and how far away your source needs to be. If the UVB is the source of the problem...it will clear up within a couple of days. To test this...just turn off the UVB for a few days and see what happens. It won't hurt him to be without for that long. Just make sure his heat light is still on. If it's the UVB effecting the eyes...then it's causing the equivalent of snow blindness in people. No big deal and not permanent if the source of the irritation is fixed...

What do you use to monitor those temps?

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Veronica
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Exotic Animal Rescue of Henry Co.
~~Rescue - Rehab - Rehome~~

My bulb is a repti sun 5.0 compact flourescent that is 26 watts w/ UVB, im not sure how many lumens it puts out. I know that fluorescent light diminishes very fast as you move away from the bulb, it is approx 7 inches from the top of the vines he hangs on and approx 2.7 ft from the bottom of the enclosure. I will take pictures soon. I was wondering how I could make Karma turn more colours, not that i'm going to literally "make him" haha but I was wondering if any other diet or environmental changes would help, maybe it comes with age? He turns really yellow on his stripes, and bright green, occasionally brown, and when excited he can have lots of black dots. He is really pretty but the pic of the veiled in the caresheet really looks awesome, but looks much older as well. Anyway, Thank you so much for your generous information and help, Me and Karma both appreciate it very much! I will try the shower and I'm going to try to introduce some fruit into his diet and try to find a hibiscus or ficus tree. Kudos!

There is a little bit of outdated info as far as the UVB sources are goes. There is a low-level Mega Ray specifically geared towards those herps needing less. That's the hazard of care sheets sometimes. Info changes quickly - especially in the lighting portion of keeping herps.

I did forget to ask whether you have the lamp on the inside or outside of the enclosure. With the 5.0 it should be on the outside. The screen cuts the UVB emissions in half making the 7" "POSSIBLY" o.k. I would hate to say for sure without a meter, but using the website from UV Guide UK - Ultraviolet Light for Reptiles - UVB reptile lighting on test can give you some really good reference points from the data collected on that particular bulb.

For getting him to "change more colors"...well...it's genetics mostly. If you have the lighting, temps, diet and low stress environment right...there's nothing you can do but wait. There are also several different types of veileds. Mine is called a Sunburst which is what Brandon's looks like, too. If yours has the yellow stripes like that then I'd be leaning toward that for your, too. I also feed my guy iguana salad. It's a huge variety of items that I wouldn't have if all I had was a cham. Most of it would go bad. However, I feed him, the ig, plated lizard, an African gray and the rabbit the same salad so the variety is fun and abundant and never goes bad...even though my salad fills a double sink and overflows.

Try greens such as collard, mustard, turnip and dandelion. Use a combo of two from there using collard greens as a constant. Add a squash, finely chopped green beans and some colored bell pepper and you have a pretty good salad for a cham. Don't forget to very lightly dust it with calcium - no D3.

As for Brandon's veiled in the care sheet...yup...he's an old man. Isn't he gorgeous? How about showing off a picture of yours? Here's my boy:

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Veronica
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/_^.)///////////,,,,,
...\\\_#_#_#_//_#_#_#_#_#_£_£_&_&_
..._//......_\\
Exotic Animal Rescue of Henry Co.
~~Rescue - Rehab - Rehome~~

Dang! Sounds like that little' gaffer eats better than I do! LOL!!