All owners of chams with no tongues

[camimom]

How did you go about teaching your chammies to eat without them having a tongue?


Glacier, my Nosey ? chameleon, seems to have damaged his tongue. It appears to be off the bone its supposed to be attached to.

We are heading to the vet this afternoon, but I have a good feeling its going to need to be amputated.

So, just wondering how you all did it.

Thanks!

 

[pigglett79]

My Jackson injured his tongue and now it only comes out maybe an inch. He figures it out on his own. I place bugs on a branch near him and he may try to shoot his tongue a time or two but then just walks up and bites the bug.

He is still able to eat fine but he can't cup feed or anything like that. It just requires that I take time to babysit him while he eats. He may knock the bug off the branch so I am there to put it back.

He eats roaches, snails and soft worms mostly as they tend to stay on the branch long enough for him to get them.

 

[camimom]

blargh.

Glacier hates to eat in front of me.

I have no idea how long his tongue has been the way it is.

I only noticed something was wrong when I saw he had lost some weight.

I recorded him a couple days ago, attempt to eat a bug by attacking it with his mouth, ( like beardies eat) from the small cup I use for him. so hopefully, he can feed that way.

 

[pigglett79]

Yeah that might work. As long as it is shallow and he can get his head down to the bottom to bite them. It may take some time but he will get hungry and figure it out. You can also put worms on branches for him to get.silks or Hornworms will just crawl around slowly enough for him to go bite them.

Shallow cups don't help my Jackson much, his horns seem to get in the way.

 

[camimom]

Yeah that might work. As long as it is shallow and he can get his head down to the bottom to bite them. It may take some time but he will get hungry and figure it out. You can also put worms on branches for him to get.silks or Hornworms will just crawl around slowly enough for him to go bite them.

Shallow cups don't help my Jackson much, his horns seem to get in the way.

Yea I could see the horns being an issue lol.

I want to get some silks and horns anyway, but with supplies being so scarce apparently, I need to try to teach him to eat like a beardie, so that he still gets food.

 

[little leaf]

My panther Max lost the use of his about a yr ago ( he did get the use back after 9 mos ) but here is a vid of how I fed him when he could not shoot -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS00P08QxqE

I kinda poked the worm on his nose - he learned fast how to take it - he is really slow in the vid/ because at the time - he was very sick

 

[camimom]

My panther Max lost the use of his about a yr ago ( he did get the use back after 9 mos ) but here is a vid of how I fed him when he could not shoot -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS00P08QxqE

I kinda poked the worm on his nose - he learned fast how to take it - he is really slow in the vid/ because at the time - he was very sick

that's a cool vid!

glacier wont let me get that close.

hes not an angry cham, just a very shy one. he runs anytime I try to hand feed with horns and silks.

im just hoping a small, shallow cup, with a lot of bugs in it, will work.

right now, hes not eating at all because of the damage to his tongue.

 

[little leaf]

here is something else you can try - I have to feed shy chams a lot - maybe he will do well this way if the cup does not work for him -

https://www.chameleonforums.com/new-guy-still-shy-but-loves-my-new-roach-tool-108197/

that's about all the ideas I have lol

 

[AACblackout]

Biffle a Cham owner can help you he has a nosey be that doesn't have a toungue

 

[camimom]

How do your alls chams drink if they don't/cant use their tongue?

 

[benrey82]

My Jackson injured his tongue and now it only comes out maybe an inch. He figures it out on his own. I place bugs on a branch near him and he may try to shoot his tongue a time or two but then just walks up and bites the bug.

He is still able to eat fine but he can't cup feed or anything like that. It just requires that I take time to babysit him while he eats. He may knock the bug off the branch so I am there to put it back.

He eats roaches, snails and soft worms mostly as they tend to stay on the branch long enough for him to get them.

Same thing here. I purchased a panther with a damaged tongue so now I have to babysit him ever feeding but luckily he doesn't mind getting fed.

 

[alvindogg]

Feeding cham with damaged tounge

I learned a trick at the vet's the other day.

Get a syringe, cut the top off, and squirt it in your chams mouth.

My panther was not eating because of his R.I.

We used baby bird food and he gained 18 grams in 5 days!

You can grind up your bugs and put it in the syringe.
The baby bird food works like a protein shake kind of.

I think you can get all this stuff in the bird section of a petstore.

"Reptiles are just like birds but without the feathers"

I didn't believe it at first but my Panther is thriving so...

 

[camimom]

well yea I can do that for a while, but I cant make bug juice forever.


as an update- went to the vets, she said there is something wrong with it.

we are going to get some weight on him first, then amputate in a week or two.

 

[kinyonga]

Don't SQUIRTING stuff in your chameleon's mouth....ease it in so the chameleon won't aspirate it.

Camimom...Is your chameleon's tongue hanging out of its mouth and won't retract? If so he may bite it off when trying to eat. If that happens its still important to check it out to see how close to the hyoid spike it was bitten off and crop it so it only extends far enough to cover the bone. He will need to be put him on antibiotics. If the tongue is out of the mouth due to an accident or infection then you need to check your husbandry to see if he has a nutrient issue or is dehydrated.

If the tongue is off the bone (ripped) It might have been possible to fix the tear.

If the tongue is back in its mouth but not functioning then he might swallow it and it will be gone.

I understand why the vet would want to get some weight on it but I don't understand how the vet thinks the tongue will not be a problem in the meantime.

 

[camimom]

Don't SQUIRTING stuff in your chameleon's mouth....ease it in so the chameleon won't aspirate it.

Camimom...Is your chameleon's tongue hanging out of its mouth and won't retract? If so he may bite it off when trying to eat. If that happens its still important to check it out to see how close to the hyoid spike it was bitten off and crop it so it only extends far enough to cover the bone. He will need to be put him on antibiotics. If the tongue is out of the mouth due to an accident or infection then you need to check your husbandry to see if he has a nutrient issue or is dehydrated.

If the tongue is off the bone (ripped) It might have been possible to fix the tear.

If the tongue is back in its mouth but not functioning then he might swallow it and it will be gone.

I understand why the vet would want to get some weight on it but I don't understand how the vet thinks the tongue will not be a problem in the meantime.

Well up until an hour ago, he wasn't having issues with the tongue hanging out.

now, its completely out,the vet is closed, and I have no idea what to do!

Ive been misting it, but I cant get it back in his mouth.

i have no idea why its out. i don't have a clue what happened.

he went from being fine, to the tongue was having issues retracting, but he was able to get it back in.

hes fully grown for him, and hes only 52 grams. shes concerned being underweight will affect the surgery.


advice?

 

[kinyonga]

When the tongue is hanging out like this its important to keep it moist day and night. The other issue is to keep him from biting it off (although if it's going to be amputated for sure this might not matter in the long run except for a bacteria issue).

As I said...I understand the vet being concerned about his health when he's going to be put out...I just don't understand how you are going to feed him to fatten him up with the tongue hanging out.

 

[camimom]

When the tongue is hanging out like this its important to keep it moist day and night. The other issue is to keep him from biting it off (although if it's going to be amputated for sure this might not matter in the long run except for a bacteria issue).

As I said...I understand the vet being concerned about his health when he's going to be put out...I just don't understand how you are going to feed him to fatten him up with the tongue hanging out.

Well when we were at the vet, the tongue wasn't hanging out. in fact, he hadn't left it hanging out at all.

the plan was to feed critical care and bug juice to him by hand until next week when he put some weight on.

I have a feeling hes going ot end up biting it off by the time we get to the vet tomorrow.

We are for sure amputating it. its not completely attached the bone anymore, and the vet said shed rather amputate then risk a stitch to put it back on andhave it not work.

Ugh, this is nerve racking.

 

[kinyonga]

Don't worry too much...If you can get through the amputation then you can work on his recovery and fattening him up and his learning to eat and drink without a tongue. IMHO its important to crop it close to the end of the hyoid spike though. If there is too much left past the end it usually bothers the chameleon and they don't do well.

 

[camimom]

Don't worry too much...If you can get through the amputation then you can work on his recovery and fattening him up and his learning to eat and drink without a tongue. IMHO its important to crop it close to the end of the hyoid spike though. If there is too much left past the end it usually bothers the chameleon and they don't do well.

Im just worried about the right now and tonight. with it hanging out and all icky looking. i can keep putting water in it.

what do i do if he bites it off? what about the blood

He already attempted to eat like a beardie does, by attacking it with his face, which is how i figured out something was wrong. so that's a start.

my concern is the water, how do i get him to drink? how do i teach that?

Im positive they can cut it close to the bone, since im positive its not even attached at the tip anymore.

Ugh. im sorry, i don't know what to do, ive already gotten him through a coccidia infection, and and now this.

hes skinny, and its all hanging out, the entire tongue.. and theres a bit of blood.

 

[kinyonga]

Re: teaching them to drink....they will be able to use a dripper without much trouble but won't be able to pick it off the leaves, etc so it shouldn't be a problem.

The reason for me saying to crop the tongue really close to the end of the spike is that if there's a little bit/flap of it left it makes them feel uncomfortable and they keep acting like something is stuck to the tongue and they need to get rid of it...at least from what I've seen.