help

Momma Lauren · Jul 29, 2011

Most mornings my cham is very eager to eat his crickets and will strike his tongue at them before they even have a chance to come out of the bag. This is very typical of our cham. This morning he caught my boyfriends hand instead of the bag. I was not there when it happened but my boyfriend said that our chams tongue actually got stuck on his hand and then our cham pulled away injuring his tongue. Apparently it was bleeding and the thick part of the tongue (about a half an inch or so) hung out of his mouth. As he was climbing through his vines and leaves his tongue was getting caught to everything causing him to throw himself off balance.
Has this ever happened to anyone's cham before? Is there anything I can do? I will be home in a couple hours to see what shape he is in for myself. I imagine he won't be able to eat until it heals.... if it ever does heal

camimom · Jul 29, 2011

Momma Lauren said:
Most mornings my cham is very eager to eat his crickets and will strike his tongue at them before they even have a chance to come out of the bag. This is very typical of our cham. This morning he caught my boyfriends hand instead of the bag. I was not there when it happened but my boyfriend said that our chams tongue actually got stuck on his hand and then our cham pulled away injuring his tongue. Apparently it was bleeding and the thick part of the tongue (about a half an inch or so) hung out of his mouth. As he was climbing through his vines and leaves his tongue was getting caught to everything causing him to throw himself off balance.
Has this ever happened to anyone's cham before? Is there anything I can do? I will be home in a couple hours to see what shape he is in for myself. I imagine he won't be able to eat until it heals.... if it ever does heal

VET VISIT TIME. There are several cham owners on here whose chams have bitten off their ongues and learn to eat like regular lizards do. But the tongue has to be amputated and cleaned up. so...
yea, vet!

Olimpia · Jul 29, 2011

Keep it hydrated in the meantime. I think member Laurie recommended keeping them in a tupperware with wet papertowel on the bottom so the tongue doesn't dry out (Correct me Laurie if I'm misquoting you!). My Charlotte actually swallowed her tongue whole, and when I pulled it out it dangled from her mouth uselessly (it ultimately needed amputation) and I just kept her on a plant in the shower all night misting it ocasionally until I could get her to the vets in the morning. We both spent an uncomfortable night but it kept it from drying out.

If you're lucky it's just a little swollen and will go back to normal with some vet attention. But if it does have to be amputated do not worry too much! It will be fine, most likely. They will learn to hand feed insects and will be just fine.

Best of luck to you both!

kinyonga · Jul 29, 2011

If the chameleon has been able to pull its tongue completely back into the mouth and can keep it in its mouth stored where it belongs it might heal. If that's the case, I would try to hand feed it so that it doesn't shoot its tongue out for a few days.

If the tongue hangs out/sticks out at all, the chameleon is going to bite it when it eats...so it would likely have to be amputated in that case.

Momma Lauren · Aug 2, 2011

I apologize for not responding until now. When I returned home from work, Hank seemed to be doing fine. His tongue was in his mouth and all of the crickets that were once in the cage were gone. I fed him a couple more to see him eating in action and he was completely fine.
It definitely scared us. My poor boyfriend thought he had killed him.

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Momma Lauren

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camimom

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kinyonga

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