4 1/2 Panther not using tongue

Hinderer

New Member
Chameleon Info:
Panther, Nosy be, Male, about 4 1/2-5 months, been in my care for 2 months.
Handling
Very rare, usually just to move him when cleaning his cage.
Feeding
Crickets 1/2 inch to 1 inch he eats about 10-15 a day, He gets fed by 9:30 am, Gutloading- Crickets always have access to a Repashy Bug burger, and i also throw carrots, kale, apples, oatmeal, mustard greens, collard greens in with them from time to time.
Supplements
Rep-cal Without D3 mon-friday, No dusting on sat, Sunday he gets Herptivite one week, then next sunday he would get rep-cal with D3.
Watering
Mistking, 5 times a day for 45 seconds. Yes i quite often see him drinking after a mist.
Fecal Description
Blackish brown poop with white urinates, Never runny or thin, Has not had a fecal test


Cage Info:
Cage Type
All screen cage 18X18X36
Lighting
For UVB reptisun 5.0 tube light, his basking light is a small 25w halogen bulb. Lights come on at 8:30 am and go off at 8:30 pm.
Temperature
basking spot is 84-86, mid cage is 76ish, bottom is normally low 70s. Lowest i have ever seen night temp was 67. Temps measured with a temp gun and digital thermometer with probs.
Humidity
Humidity is always above 47% normally in the mid 50s. When the mister goes off it normally spikes into the high 80s. The digital thermometer also measures humidity. I also have a spray bottle i use to mist his cage in between mistings.
Plants
I have one weeping ficus.
Placement
The cage is in the corner of my room, which isn't high traffic, door is kept closed all the time, it isn't near fans or vents. The cage is sitting on a 3 foot table, so its pretty high up. The top of the cage is about 3-4 feet from the top of my room.
Location
Southern California

Current Problem
He hasn't been Using his tongue for hunting for a few weeks now. He will just try to sneak up behind crickets and try to nab them with his tongue. This was working with smaller crickets but now he is getting larger, so they are a lot quicker and will often run before he can get close. I have already taken him to the vet for this issue, they gave him some general antibiotics just in case of an infection, but it didn't help. They said his tongue didn't look swollen or cut, but he really was trying to make it very difficult for them to check in his mouth :rolleyes:. His appetite is still very good, and he is shedding about once every week to week and a half. I notice when ever he does shoot his tongue out, he only does this when the crickets are somewhere where he cant climb and get right next to them, his tongue tends to shoot high and left of the cricket. He seldom gets them with his tongue. Any help would be very much appreciated and I would love to hear any constructive Criticism you guys have.
 

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My cham was doing this. It is caused from either mbd or lack of calcium. I took mine 2 the be and she gave me liquid calcium. He was using it again in a week.
 
Despite him having the uvb light on that often and my dusting schedule? hmmm..The vet seemed to think he might have snagged his tongue on something, but they saw no cuts.
 
My chameleon had the same issue when he was a bit older than yours.

I switched to repashy all in one calcium plus and had no issues since.
 
Yes it's almost always a calcium related issue, even tho i dusted with calcium and minerals he still had this prob.
 
Camimom,
I used that to start, but started having this problem while he was on it, and my vet wanted to steer me away from it because of the D3 in it, how often do you dust with that?

Kibu,
What would you suggest? get him some liquid calcium? and what brand if you remember


Thanks
 
Repashy calcium + has such a small amount of d3 in it that it hasn't caused issues.

Its not like using reptical with d3 every feeding.

I use my repashy on every feeding. I feed every other day though.

It cleared up his lack of tongue issue and his aim issue.
 
Hmm I guess I could try going back to the calcium plus. I guess I'm just nervous because he was getting the calcium plus when we started having these issues. Is there anything wrong with his setup that could be causing this?
 
Thanks for the input guys

I'm gonna take him outside for a bit today, get him some good sunning, hopefully switching to the repashy will help
 
This is usually a calcium or vitamin a problem. I personally do not like repast calcium plus as it seems to have caused quite a few problems. Something obviously wasn't right as they wouldn't have developed two more.

I would stick to the separate ones. You could always up the uv to a 10.0. It would do no harm. To add vitamin a some people put one drop from a human capsule tablet on a feeder once a month and give it to the chameleon. This may be worth trying.
 
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I've had two chameleons with this same issue from day 1. Both were from different highly respected breeders. The vet confirmed that in both cases it was an injury to the hyoid bone. One cham was shipped the other was never shipped.

My vet said it's almost always an injury and not a calcium related issue.

Jason
 
My guy didn't use his tongue for a few weeks. I completely stopped the Calcium with D3 for now, thanks to the wonderful posters on this forum and I have been hand feeding for about a week. I just saw him extend his tongue twice today! It was for water but hey, at least he's back. Maybe this will help your guy too.
 
I have noticed the past few days, he will use tongue if he physically cannot get right up on the crickets, and his aim is getting better now...hopefully it will keep improving, i will keep you updated, thanks again guys
 
Update

I have switched out the Repashy, and have noticed he is getting a little better, he is getting about 2-3 inches from the cricks, then shooting his tongue at them, get gets some, misses some, but its progress right?
 
I understand the tongue issue....

Update

I have switched out the Repashy, and have noticed he is getting a little better, he is getting about 2-3 inches from the cricks, then shooting his tongue at them, get gets some, misses some, but its progress right?

Hi, I know it's been a couple months, but any update on his progress?
I'd like to know, I too have had issues with this, but my situation is different because my guy has a genetic defect that prevents him from shooting his tongue. He has Short Tongue. He's been this way his whole life.....he's 2 years old now. No matter what I've tried, nothing has helped his tongue to function properly -- to extend fully.

Everyone here is right with every possible method mentioned. I hope one of these suggestions has worked for you.

The problem with Panthers (definitely in my experience) is that this sort of situation is ALWAYS a hit or miss. You can never really get the calcium and suppliments right, now matter how hard you try to do it right, every Panther will be different. Some will grow so very healthy, and some will not do well. So, getting to know the EXACT needs of each individual Cham is very important for proper growth of each of them. You can't just give the same amount as another Cham, nor the same as someone else would do, you just have to focus you efforts on figuring out what WILL work for your Cham. If that means, increasing suppliments by 25%, or even 50%, 75%......changing the diet, etc.......like I said before, "hit or miss".....trial and error my friend.

All that said, that's what makes caring for our Chams so interesting! We never stop learning, and that's the goal, continuing to learn the needs of our Chams! He's family, so never give up. :)

I hope your guy is doing ok!
 
Something obviously wasn't right as they wouldn't have developed two more.

I don't know the story on problems or no problems, but sometimes products are developed to meet demand from the desires of the consumer based on their perception of what their animal needs, rather than the actual needs of the animal. And also not everyones husbandry is the same, so under certain circumstances you may need more or less d3 depending on your husbandry method. Just because they develop variations of the product doesn't necessarily mean that the original product is no good.

That said, I haven't used nor am I endorsing the product.
 
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