Baby Chameleon not using tongue

Iguanagirl8662

New Member
We have a 5 month old Jackson Chameleon who was doing great up until last month. She started having problems using her tongue and would only take the cricket from our hand with out using her tongue. Now she is barely eating and seems like she may have an abscess in her mouth. I would take her to the vet but are they able to help her? She is only about 3 inches including her tail.
 
Can you post a picture of her mouth/jaw/face area please?
Can you fill out the "how to ask for help" questions in the post at the top of the health section please?
 
Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - It's a 5 month old Jackson Chameleon. We have had her since she was a week old. She was left at my bf's work and she wasn't the healthiest baby to start.

Handling - We try not to touch her at all.

Feeding - We tried fruit flies but she wouldn't eat them so she is eating small crickets. She used to eat 3 a day but now she'll only eat one every other day or a few days. We are gut loading the crickets.

Supplements - We are dusting the crickets every other day with Repti cal, we just started using Herptivite but we haven't been able to get her to eat a cricket with it.

Watering - We have a dripper and we mist at least 3 times a day. I have seen her drink a couple times.

Fecal Description - She has not been tested for parasites and I haven't seen poop in a bit since she isn't eating much. Her color is normally a greenish sometimes gray.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - It's a screen cage and the dimensions are 1'Lx1'Wx2'H.

Lighting - We have a Repti glo 5.0 flourescent bulb, 2 25w Sun glo heat bulb (one on each side) and they are on a timer that goes on at 10am to 10pm.

Temperature - The basking spot is 80-83F and the bottom of the cage is 70F and the night time temperature doesn't go below 65F. We measure the temps with a digital thermometer.

Humidity - We do not have a humidity gauge but we mist her a few times a day.

Plants - We were just using a lot of plastic plants.

Placement - The cage is in our walk in closet on a dresser so it's not in a high traffic area, the top of the cage is 5ft from the floor.

Location - We are located in South Jersey.
 
You can see the lump in her throat in the first two pictures.
DSC_0004-1.jpg

DSC_0005-4.jpg

Then she opened her mouth and the lump went away. I think there is just something wrong with her tongue.
DSC_0006-5.jpg

DSC_0007-5.jpg
 
IMHO that's a lot of D3 to be giving the chameleon. I would be using a phos.-free calcium powder at almost every feeding and not use the D3 more than twice a month very lightly. The vitamin powder can be used twice a month lightly too IMHO.

Some lights can cause eye issues....but the chameleon could also be closing its eyes because its sick. Does it ever sit with its mouth open for long periods of time?
 
Lots of times tongue issues are associated with low calcium from what I've read from some of the experienced keepers on here. I don't know if that is the problem in your case since you are dusting the feeders. I had a litter of 3 baby Jacksons born this past December, and the only female of the group had a difficult time with ter tongue. It got to the point whrere she couldn't use it at all. I had to moisten my fingertip so that a cricket or tiny mealworm would stick to it and let her chew it off my finger. I had to do this for about a month and she finally came around and started to use her tongue. She still isn't completely up to par, but she is growing and getting better. I made sure to gutload her crickets specially with turnip greens and a straight powder form of spirulina (lots of good vegetable protein). I don't know if any of that is relevent, but she seemed to bounce back so it's worth a try. Although, if she is keeping her eyes closed alot during the day, at her size, I would think there might not be too much hope. Hate to sound pessimistic, but she is very small. I hope for the best for her.
 
So do you think a vet would be able to help her since she is so small?

It is a possibility, but I'm not a vet and I don't know to diagnose and treat reptiles on a professional level. I would think that a 3 inch chameleon would be rather problematic to effectively dose or treat, but then again, I'm no vet. All you can do is try.
 
It is a possibility, but I'm not a vet and I don't know to diagnose and treat reptiles on a professional level. I would think that a 3 inch chameleon would be rather problematic to effectively dose or treat, but then again, I'm no vet. All you can do is try.

Thanks, I figured I'll give my vet a call and she what she says about it. I just thought with her being so small that it may do more harm to take her to the vet but we'll see.
 
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