Chameleons with "TMJ-like" symptoms

[niese4pigs]

I work at a busy Animal Clinic in KY. We seen many exotic pets including chameleons. I have worked there for 15 years as an assistant and have worked closely with all reptiles. Over that past few years we have had several Chameleons come in with problem moving their tounge and opening their mouths. Similar to TMJ in people. All of these clients are excellent owners and have the best & proper set up for their chams.. Has anyone else seen this problem in their chams? Our doctor on staff has treated them with calcium supplement and meloxicam (anti-inflammatory). Unfortuantly has time goes on most starve to death despite the owners efforts to force feed because the have difficult time even swallowing.

 

[SSimsswiSS]

Hav'nt heard of lockjaw in chameleons.

 

[Lancecham]

I have not heard of that either.

 

[kinyonga]

Never heard of it and I've been keeping chameleons and other reptiles for over 20 years.

 

[Carlton]

This sounds very odd, but maybe we are misinterpreting your description of the problem. Did you mean to say that these chams were unable to open their mouths? That their jaws would lock so that they were unable to move the muscles? Were there signs of infection at the corner of the jaw? Swelling, discoloration, abscesses along the gum, lip, or in the temporal gland? This would be very painful and make the cham unwilling to eat or extend the tongue.

Or, were they unable to control their tongue extension and retraction? Or, that they shoot at prey but are unable to hit it successfully or pull the prey back to their mouth? These are fairly common problems and can be related to nutritional deficiencies or physical injury. Chams with calcium or vitamin deficiencies can lose fine motor control of their tongues. If the cham is dehydrated the tip of the tongue loses it's mucous "stickiness" and prey can just drop off of it. Sometimes, those fed out of small permanently mounted feeding cups can lose some muscle tone in their tongues because they don't stretch to shoot prey at more of a distance. Occasionally a cham can actually injure the tip of the tongue if they hit a hard surface with it hard enough or overextend the muscle.

Do these questions help at all?