Constantly Missing His Mark.

Hello,
After over 5yrs of Chameleon husbandry, I've come across a new problem with my 1st Panther. He is about 7-8months old & for the past 2 months or so he has been unable to catch his food at any distance. I've been feeding him out of a feeding dish, he eats great, & manages to feed, but with a bit of difficulty. Let me explain: when It comes to feeding time, instead of shooting out his tong, he crawls head first into the dish, barely sticks his tong out and gobbles up his food(I've seen other chameleons do this but not 100% of the time, like mine), instead of firing from a distance. This method is less effective because when ever he gets close the crickets they tend to move out of the way. Furthermore, when he does shoot his tong he blatantly misses his target. Otherwise, he seems to be in great health. I think he might not be stereoscopically aligning his eyes, thereby causing him to miss. Should I be concerned? Could someone please shed some light on my dilemma?

Cheers,
Brad ~

How are you supplementing him? If you need anything feel free to give me a buzz.

Constantly Missing His Mark

Yes, I do supplement him. I dust his food prior to every feeding.

If his vision is at issue, could be due to incorrect supplementation , ( Possibly vit A deficiancy), or blinding due ro faulty lighting , ( CF UVB light).

If his tongue is physically damaged , could be torn or bruising. Or vitamin deficiency also.

Has he always had this problem? Or did it gradually get worse?
What brand of supplements do you use and how often? What do you gutload with? What type of UVB lighting is used?

Constantly Missing His Mark

No, he wasn't always like this. I've been gut loading the crickets with Fluker's Cricket Feed & Fluker's Cricket Quencher. I've been dusting with Zoo Med's Reptivite. As for lighting, I use a ZooMed blue full spectrum heat bulb & a Repti-Glow Exo-Terra florescent bulb. I also take him outside at least twice a week for a minimum of 15min for Natural sunlight. I've done all these things since day I got him at about 2 months old.

Furthermore, I don't think his tong is damaged. I haven't seen any damage and he is still able to shoot it out, he just misses every time.

Is it a swirly bulb (Compact florescent) or is it a linear tube.

The compacts can blind animals.

are you supplimenting with a vitamin powder as well?

do you gut load with fruits and veggies at all?

Hope the UVB is linear tube not CFL?

To me, this Sounds like a deficiency issue, though it could be a number of other things such as infection, parasite, eyesight issue, injury to tongue, etc.
A vet check-up wouldnt hurt, but in the meantime I would start gutloading properly right away.

Nutritional deficiencies (insufficient calcium or vitamins) are typically a slow, chronic loss of tongue function. The chameleon tongue's aim may become misguided over time, or the tongue's reach gradually decreases until the chameleon can project it just a little or not at all. Missing the insects is often a sign of a deficiency in B vitamins (and sometimes vitamin A deficiency, sometime calcium inbalance). A good supplement or improved gutload containing these vitamins usually helps within a couple weeks if vitamin deficiency is the reason and the case is not too far gone.

Vitamin A, vitamin D3, phosphorous and calcium are the main players in bone health. There has to be the right balance. If the bones become weakened, the bone involved with shooting/aiming the tongue can cause issues. And there is also a negative effect on muscles when calcium is not in balance.

Gutloading insects with leafy fresh greens such as dandelion will provide adequate Vitamin B (and of course other vits as well as calcium) to the diet. Another very good source of vitamins including B vits is Bee Pollen. Alfalfa is also a good choice for B Vitamins - its an easily digestible source of protein, B-complex vitamins, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron and potassium. There is thiamin in Sunflower seeds and wheat bran, B2 riboflavin in green leafy vegetables, fish, legumes, whole grains, B3 Niacin in cereals, legumes, seeds, green leafy vegetables, and Yams / sweet potatoes also have some B vits.

Here is some additional information on gutloading
https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/sandrachameleon/75-feeder-nutrition.html

Yes, the tube is linear & the cricket dust I use contains all those things along with a tonne of other minerals & vitamins. His bone leg structure looks normal. I've had a chameleon with calcium bone deficiency & he looks nothing like that. his grip & climbing ability seems up to par. I'm fairly certain I've covered all the basses...

Does anyone know a good Chameleon Vet in the Las Vegas area?

Ok... does anyone actually have experience with a CF UVB bulb or do they just go with what other people are telling them. Those articles everyone keeps posting did not really give hard evidence other than a few cases.

I am not too convinced that the CF bulbs are the problem.

I have been using a coil bulb for my one my chameleons and she has never shown any problems. I am getting a tube one in a week or so but for the past 2 months the coil has been her light source. She is aware of things around her, eats just fine....

Feedback...

Becareful with the reptivite,if its the new one it now has vit A,don't use to often as too much vit A can also cause the same problem with the tounge as too little

Minihuey said:

Ok... does anyone actually have experience with a CF UVB bulb or do they just go with what other people are telling them. Those articles everyone keeps posting did not really give hard evidence other than a few cases.

I am not too convinced that the CF bulbs are the problem.

I have been using a coil bulb for my one my chameleons and she has never shown any problems. I am getting a tube one in a week or so but for the past 2 months the coil has been her light source. She is aware of things around her, eats just fine....

Feedback...

Click to expand...

Can you show me pics of some herps with their eyes burned and swollen shut (like the ones in the pics from the study), that have not been kept under improper lighting? IMO one example of disaster is enough for me to take other paths for the safety of my herps. I think that article is chalk loaded full of reasons to take UV serious.

Look at that poor Blue Tounge Skink in the pic, and notice the caption says... 24 hrs after first exposure. Unnaturally high levels of UV are not healthy.

Too much Vitamin A... Mabey... Although I think the front of the container only points out that it now contains D3 (inaddition to all the other stuff)...

Minihuey said:

Ok... does anyone actually have experience with a CF UVB bulb or do they just go with what other people are telling them. ...

Click to expand...

Search this site. There are several first hand accounts of problems caused by CFLs.
It is not known if all currently available CFLs are a hazard, but enough are as to make a blanket statement wise - why risk it if you dont know for sure? And the effects are not always immediate, but can be cumulative. Again, why risk it.