Dropping tongue out of mouth

Some things are scary to see your chameleon do even if you are an experienced keeper.

We had a bit of a chameleon crisis this weekend and wanted to share. I don't know if anyone has had a similar thing happen

Saterday night after we got back fro Orlando Repticon we observed our Veiled girl, Hazel acting like she was choking. Here is a video. She did this 4 times that we saw.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUq_blDWiVQ

I have not seen anything like this before and was not quite sure what to do. I looked down her throat to see if there was anything she was choking on but didn;t see anything. I DID see a fleshy growth on her gums (you can see it in the video on her lower jaw)

Again something I had never seen before. She fell asleep with her head in the up position.. My mind was racing from anything from a RI to Mouth cancer.

Sunday we packed Hazel up (who did the tongue drop once again that morning) and headed back to Orlando Repticon to see Dr Alfonso. I showed him the videos.

Looking in her mouth he saw behind the fleshy growth was all discolored and rotted on her jaw. Like a cavity that humans get. Now what do you do about chameleons with cavitys.. not like they can brush and floss!

He offered to take her home with him and do minor surgery to remove the growth.. He also cleaned the area of the jaw.

I was able to get her back today and she is doing very well. She ate as soon as I got her home. Her mouth surgery site looks very clean.

She did not do the tongue drop thing while in Dr A's care. And we are only speculating that this behavior had something to do with the growth in her mouth.

One theory is that the rot behind the growth was causing a gag reflex..and her dropping her tongue was just a reaction of gagging. Or maybe she felt the growth in her mouth and was trying so hard to spit it out.

I don't know But I am happy to have her home and out look is good.

Picture is from an hour after I got her back

Happy ending, good time. That was nice of Dr A.

BeBoSON said:

Happy ending, good time. That was nice of Dr A.

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Yes, we in central Florida are lucky to have him!

I know Jason and I sound really calm in the video.. but I was very very worried about her

That looks really scary! I have had one of my panthers hyperextend his tongue, but its nothing like that.

Glad she is better now

Since she is better I guess it can be kinda funnier to add subtitles to the video.. makes it more cheerful.

"ahhhh oh my god that was nasty blehhhhh!"

Wow, I'm glad she made it through okay. Lucky you guys have Dr. Alfonso.

OMG! I would have freaked if I saw something like that! Glad she is doing better! Dr. A to the rescue!!!

Aww poor girl, im glad she is doing much better now.

Thanks so much for sharing! I am surprised she didn't bite off her tongue. That last time it looked like she was thinking about chewing it. I truly hope all goes well with her recovery. Wish we had a Dr. A around here!!!

Wish we had herp vets like Dr. Alfonso here in NJ. All we got are cat/dog vets who have no idea how to take care of reptiles.

Perhaps the growth was making it hard to put her tongue back into the "pouch" its stored in??

omgsh that looked scary. im glad shes doing alot better.

Oh my Dez that is horrifying to watch. I know what you mean about being calm on video but that you were very worried. You have to try to remain calm so you don't make her panic too. I am so thankful that Dr. Alfonso was able to help you. Good thinking to take the video so that he could see what she was doing. I'm glad things are better and I hope she continue to improve. As bad as it is... I'm thankful you shared this video. Its good to learn from others experiences. Let us know how she continues through her recovery.

My female veiled did that exact thing one day last week. Hasnt done it since. Will check her mouth in the morning.

Awesome information for us. Thank you for the detailed video and information.

I imagine that was quite startaling Great job documenting the incident. Very interesting, however disturbing it was to watch. Im very happy all is well in the end.

that is a very weird/creepy thing to watch sorry she had to go thru that I'm glad she's feeling better though

Synapse said:

Wish we had herp vets like Dr. Alfonso here in NJ. All we got are cat/dog vets who have no idea how to take care of reptiles.

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i can not agree with that statement any more.

wow thanks for sharing..... glad you got it taken care of quickly! I will be sure be on the look out now. Glad things turned out swell in the end!

I am very happy to have her home again and I feel very fortunate that Repticon was going on and I was able to take her right to see Dr A.

Usually when something happens on Sunday your SOL and have to find an emergency vet.