So I just got back from the vet my chameleon was having problems with swallowing his tongue often. Unfortunately he had to have his tongue amputated and the vet told me to feed him a few feeder fish because they will have the vitamins he needs right now to heal. I thought this sounded off and am just wondering if I should listen to him or not on this or just continue on with hand feeding him gut loaded crickets and horned worms and such.
Chameleon food question after amputated tongue
- Thread starter Sharpie
- Start date
The Wild One
Chameleon Enthusiast
nightanole
Chameleon Enthusiast
shouldnt be a problem. Though odds are he wont eat them. I only got them to eat them by tying a string to the fish tail and "flying" it around the tank. Honestly i dont think it will do much, and you can skip it. If this takes more than 15min to pick up the fish and get a bowl, its not worth it.
Though now you will need to learn bowl and tong feeding.
Though now you will need to learn bowl and tong feeding.
I'm a little iffy on feeding chameleons things outside of their natural diet. A couple of little fish probably wouldn't do any damage but the same result could come from well gut loaded feeders and a sensible supplement plan.
Ultimately your vet has the whole history and has seen him and treated him in person without knowing what he/she is specifically trying to correct or replace. I'd hat to argue against a professional opinion.
Ultimately your vet has the whole history and has seen him and treated him in person without knowing what he/she is specifically trying to correct or replace. I'd hat to argue against a professional opinion.
I've had a couple of chameleons with no tongue.
Hopefully the vet took it off leaving just enough skin to cover the hyoid bone....if not it makes them uncomfortable and makes the chameleon struggle with the loss because the extra skin seems to affect the way the tongue feels in their mouth and they keep adjusting the bone in their mouths.
It's not usually hard to train them to eat like other lizards (by walking up to the bug or chasing after it). To get them to eat on their own again...you just have to hold the insect near their mouth (after first showing it to the chameleon so it realizes you have food)....move the insect a little further away each time you feed it and it will soon figure it out.
At first it may be uncomfortable with the loss of the tongue in that it will keep trying to shoot out the tongue but it will soon realize it has no tongue.
Good luck with the training!
The fish thing is strange since they don't eat fish...although feeding him softer bodied insects for a few days would help I think.
Hopefully the vet took it off leaving just enough skin to cover the hyoid bone....if not it makes them uncomfortable and makes the chameleon struggle with the loss because the extra skin seems to affect the way the tongue feels in their mouth and they keep adjusting the bone in their mouths.
It's not usually hard to train them to eat like other lizards (by walking up to the bug or chasing after it). To get them to eat on their own again...you just have to hold the insect near their mouth (after first showing it to the chameleon so it realizes you have food)....move the insect a little further away each time you feed it and it will soon figure it out.
At first it may be uncomfortable with the loss of the tongue in that it will keep trying to shoot out the tongue but it will soon realize it has no tongue.
Good luck with the training!
The fish thing is strange since they don't eat fish...although feeding him softer bodied insects for a few days would help I think.
Hey @kinyonga i had a couple other questions. So he healed up and was good for awhile but I’m guessing when I was giving him antibiotics he must’ve gotten some liquid in his windpipe because I’m pretty sure he has a respiratory infection now. Not eating yellowish sticky saliva in his mouth and some cracking and piping when he breathes. When I do force feed him it takes him forever to swallow food. Heading to the vet tomorrow afternoon but from what I’ve been reading everyone usually does the same thing with baytril or other antibiotics. Do you have any recommendations or maybe save me a vet trip during this pandemic.
