Tongue issue

My chameleon Ziggy is having a problem retracting his tongue. He just started this today, he keeps sticking it out and then forcefully tries to swallow it back into his mouth and it doesn't seem to fold back in properly.

Any help or advice is much appreciated

Thanks

Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - Male, Veiled and about 6 months old. Had him since he was a baby, maybe when he was 1 month old.
Handling - Hardly ever; very aggressive
Feeding - Crickets, .5 inch, maybe 10 a day. Occasional wax worms.
Supplements - Calcium gut load. Calcium pure powder 3/4 times a week. Lightly powder herpavite and d3 every 2 weeks or so.
Watering - Mist a couple times a day. Also has a dripper. Drinks well.
Fecal Description - Urate mostly white.


Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screen 48" tall, 24" square base.
Lighting - Heat lamp, also uva and uvb rod like lighting.
Temperature - keep it around 60-80 degrees F
Humidity - keep it around 35- 50 %
Plants - Ficus and Pothos. Also has bamboo and vines
Placement - Goes high, is stood on a table. Next to window w/curtains and fan
Location - San Jose, CA

jelg2000 said:

Placement - Goes high, is stood on a table. Next to window w/curtains and fan

Click to expand...

Why do you have a fan? I can't help you with the tongue problem but chameleons shouldn't have any drafty areas.

What do you feed your chameleon with? Container/freerange/hand fed?

Is it possible that he may have injured it or a bug may have bitten it? I say go to a vet. You can never be too careful!

skully23 said:

Why do you have a fan? I can't help you with the tongue problem but chameleons shouldn't have any drafty areas.

What do you feed your chameleon with? Container/freerange/hand fed?

Click to expand...

I think the OP meant there is a fan near the cage, but it may not be blowing directly on it all the time. Possibly to provide some air exchange? Not really needed in a screen cage.

Chams can injure their tongue muscle from over extending it. Hydrate well, offer some softer bodied feeders well gutloaded (not just calcium gutload, but fresh dark leafy greens, fruit, etc.)

I just release crickets free range in his cage. For the wax worms I put them on a stick for him. And yea, the fan is not actually on the cage, just near it.

Here is a picture of him when he can't quite get his tongue back into his mouth

Howdy Jason,

Your exotic vet may find it necessary to sedate him in order to completely extend his tongue to look for damage. If you are lucky, he'll find some debris stuck "down in there". The current danger is that he may chomp down on his tongue or worse yet, swallow it .

Depending on the reason for this, the problem could solve itself or it might get worse...the tongue could be shot out and the chameleon not be able to retract it.

If the tongue does extend and not retract, be sure to keep it moist and get the chameleon to the vet right away.

I would tend to try to allow the tongue to rest by hand feeding it until it does go to a vet...but then I'm not a vet..so its just what I would do with my chameleon.

I hope all goes well with it!

I think I'm definitely going to bring him to the vet tomorrow morning. I'm hoping that it's just something stuck in there. It kinda seems like that's most likely what it is b/c he is still extending and retracting, it just doesn't seem to fit in his mouth right.

I tried to give him wax worms with vitamins but he doesn't want anything to do with them, and there's no way I could hand feed him; way too aggressive.

I just hope he doesn't get worse by tomorrow morning.

Thanks everyone, I'll let you know how it goes

Well just for an update:

I went to a vet this morning that specializes in exotic animals and reptiles, and he said that Ziggy has edema, or an infection of his tongue. The tongue is all swollen and the poor little guy has trouble even keeping the oversized tongue in his mouth. My vet gave me an antibiotic, doxycyline, and I will have to give him about .2cc everyday, administered by a syringe. I use a card to keep his tongue down while I administer the liquid with the syringe far enough past the tongue to make sure he can swallow it ok. Also he said wax worms will be a better food for now because they will go down easier, so I have to force feed him some with vitamins/ calcium everyday also.

Has anyone else ever used this antibiotic before or had the same kind of problem? The vet said that tongue problems are fairly common with chameleons for the obvious reasons. Most likely he injured it while trying to eat and the infection is secondary to the trauma. I just hope he doesn't hurt it more by biting it or something. With the antibiotic treatment, he should be significantly better in about 2 weeks if everything goes ok, so I'm crossing my fingers.

What vitamins to be given daily? Pre-formed Vit A can be toxic in larger doses. Unless they are very dilute I would be more concerned with getting him fluids and the med itself. You could mix the med with a little unflavored Pedialyte rehydration solution. It has dextrose and electrolytes, so with a waxworm should keep him going until his tongue heals.

Yea I usually don't give him vitamins (other than pure calcium) too often just once every 2 weeks or so. I just meant it's been a while so I was going to dust the waxworm with herpivite and calcium next time I give him a worm so he gets the normal dose. I'm a little worried as he just threw up the last waxworm he had eaten (I think he ate one yesterday by just grabbing it with his mouth). He seemed to keep the antibiotics down, as they are a bright pinkish color and easy to tell if they were thrown up or not.
I don't know if his stomach (or whatever's in there?) was bothered or maybe just all the stress from going to the vet made him sick. Do you know where I could find that rehydration solution? The vet said I could dilute the antibiotics with .2cc of filtered water and just give him the total .4cc if he doesn't respond well to it, but maybe that solution would be even better.