Do I need to get him to the vets ASAP?

[honeybee1985]

Cage Info:

Cage Type - 2ft deep, 2ft5 wide, 3.5ft high, glass fronted with mesh sides and roof
Lighting - linear UVB light, on around 10 hours per day
Temperature - basking spot about 90 daytime, general viv temp around 80 daytime, 10 degree drop at night
Humidity - stays around 50-60%, goes up to 80 after misting which is done 4 times a day for 5 minutes.
Plants - large ficus plant
Location - middle room of home, lots of through traffic as it's near the kitchen. not near any air vents etc. Top of viv is around 6.5ft off the floor as it's on a cabinet.

Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - Adult male veiled (aprox 1 year), been in my care since christmas day 08.
Handling - I don't unless I absolutely need to or he initiates it.
Feeding - He eats around 3-4 silkworms daily and a few crickets.
Supplements - Calypso calcium supp, all crickets are dusted with this, nutrobal supplement dusted on crickets once a month.
Watering - Mist for 5 mins 4 times a day by hand, I have seen him drink but not all the time.
Fecal Description - Poop seems normal. White runny stuff, more solid black stuff. Never been checked for parasites by myself but appreantly was at the pet shop.
History - Not a clue. Rescued him from a pet shop and they didn't seem to know a great deal.
Current problem -

Hi,
My chamaleon Cassius had a bit of an accident about 15 minutes ago and I'm not sure if I should get him to an emergency vets or if he's ok till i can take him in on Monday.

He was eating some superworms. He went to shoot his tongue at one of them but his tongue seemed to get caught on something (I couldn't see what due to branches etc). He then fell off his vine and scraped his face on the trunk of his ficus plant. I didn't know what he'd done but when I went to get him out to check him his tongue was hanging out of his mouth. I thought he might not be able to get in back in so I tested it by offering him a waxworm. He put his tongue back in and ate it but couldn't shoot at it properly. He kept trying but it was only coming out a little way quite slowly. I had to put the worm right up to his mouth so he could scoop it up to eat it.

Also, where he scraped his face on the Ficus plant he has some bits of skin hanging off. It's not bleeding or anything, just white bits of skin. I don't have pictures and I don't want to stress him out any more by trying to take some now.

Any idea what I should do? Will he be ok?
Any help much appreciated.
Amy

 

[emessis]

As far as the skin goes, if it's little white bits it sounds like some retained shed that scraped off. But his tongue...I'd wait for a reply from someone who knows a bit more, but they definitely can injure their tongues in a number of ways (the muscle of the tongue, the bone in it, etc.). I hope that he got himself unstuck from whatever he shot at before falling and that what's going on with his tongue is temporary. : /

Good on you for being observant and asking right away! If it's something that needs to get looked at by a vet, your quick action could make a big difference in his recovery.

 

[honeybee1985]

That's good about the skin, thanks. Also i forgot to mention, when his tongue was hanging out of his mouth it was very red looking (usually it's more purple and black). Again, any help or advice would be great.

 

[Lizardlover]

he COULD have a hyper extended tongue, wich for us is kind of like pulling a muscle, but for a cham that muscle is important, but wait for others to chime in before you do anything

 

[kinyonga]

If the tongue stays in his mouth then hopefully it will heal. It might be a good idea to hold the insects not far from him for a couple of days to let the tongue rest.

If the tongue hangs out of the mouth and won't retract then you need to get him to a vet right away...and keep the tongue moist until you do. If this happens, the tongue may have to be amputated at the tip of the hyoid spike.

Let's hope its okay!

As for the skin, if its a wound you might want to put some antibiotic cream on it to stop it from getting infected.

 

[zelink14]

As for the skin, if its a wound you might want to put some antibiotic cream on it to stop it from getting infected.

I've heard that Hydrogen Peroxide is okay to use, too. Someone more experienced might need to back me up, though.

I don't know about the tongue, though. Hope that turns out okay.

 

[kinyonga]

How's it doing now??

 

[Syn]

Keep the tongue moist if it falls back out. If you don't it'll dry up.

 

[honeybee1985]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Cassius's tongue is fine now. I took him for a check up and the vet said nothing is torn or broken, he may just have over shot his tongue a bit. He's completely back to normal again now still trying to shoot at fruit before realising he has to scoop it up lol.

 

[Miss Lily]

I'm glad that Lily isn't the only one who thinks she can zap fruit! She got very frustrated when she couldn't zap some grape - in the end she just turned around and walked away! I gave up too as I didn't want her to damage her tongue with all the missed shots.

 

[Rixon]

glad to hear he's okay. how do give th echams fruit to put it into a feedeing cup or just leave bits around for them to find?? wanna see if grimlock will eat some fruit but not sure on how to present it to him.

 

[honeybee1985]

glad to hear he's okay. how do give th echams fruit to put it into a feedeing cup or just leave bits around for them to find?? wanna see if grimlock will eat some fruit but not sure on how to present it to him.

I hand feed everything for Cass, so i just cut the fruit into pieces that he can manage and put it in the palm of my hand the way i do with all his other food. I wear a glove when i feed him so he knows if i offer my hand to him palm up in the glove there's probably something nice on there for him to eat!!

 

[jojackson]

Glad its ok. but in future, if its disturbing enough for you to consider taking it to the vet, why ask here, just take it. Then tell everyone about it.
We know emergency vets are expensive, is money a problem worth hesitation? time? just curious...Personally that would have freaked me out too much to bother getting on the computer.

Thanks for sharing an intresting injury.

 

[WelshOneEmma]

Glad its ok. but in future, if its disturbing enough for you to consider taking it to the vet, why ask here, just take it. Then tell everyone about it.
We know emergency vets are expensive, is money a problem worth hesitation? time? just curious...Personally that would have freaked me out too much to bother getting on the computer.

Thanks for sharing an intresting injury.

Seriously, do you just want to bitch about everyone and argue with them? That's all you seem to do in your posts!

 

[jojackson]

Subjective sweetheart! Im just amazed at the sheer lack of thought and dependance on others opinions for things like this. Those mature enough wont get their knickers in a knot just because I dont sweettalk everything. Honesty is just as important to me as tactfulness, I do try to balance the two. Be patient with me, Im fragile!

 

[honeybee1985]

Glad its ok. but in future, if its disturbing enough for you to consider taking it to the vet, why ask here, just take it. Then tell everyone about it.
We know emergency vets are expensive, is money a problem worth hesitation? time? just curious...Personally that would have freaked me out too much to bother getting on the computer.

Thanks for sharing an intresting injury.

Because I'm a student nurse on an NHS bursary only and the people on here are much more experienced cham owners and breeders than I am. Therefore I didn't want to call an emergency vet (on a saturday night) if the replies I got on here told me it's nothing to worry about.

I hardly think I was being a bad owner by doing this. He ate a waxworm and put his tongue back in so I was going on the assumption it wasn't that bad (and I was proved right). I posted on here 15 minutes after it happened. If anyone had said that he needed a vet immediately of course that's what I would have done regardless of the cost. I took him for a check up at the normal vets to be safe and he's fine.

I tend to be over-protective of my pets and panic at everything. If I called out an emmergency vet every time something worried me I'd be thousands of pounds in debt. So I thought it would be better to check first with people who have experienced things like this before.

To be honest I don't think there's any need for you to try and make me feel bad about the way I handled it.

Edit: Oh and I just found this and pasted it from another one of your posts.

Everyone so often says 'why take the risk'. The answer is.."To Learn." (even if it is the hard way, thats humanity for ya) Nothing is learnt without
loss along the way, if nobody ever took risk it would be a boring world full of fear and ignorance.

Hmmm...yes, quite...

 

[jojackson]

Because I'm a student nurse on an NHS bursary only and the people on here are much more experienced cham owners and breeders than I am. Therefore I didn't want to call an emergency vet (on a saturday night) if the replies I got on here told me it's nothing to worry about.

I hardly think I was being a bad owner by doing this. He ate a waxworm and put his tongue back in so I was going on the assumption it wasn't that bad (and I was proved right). I posted on here 15 minutes after it happened. If anyone had said that he needed a vet immediately of course that's what I would have done regardless of the cost. I took him for a check up at the normal vets to be safe and he's fine.

I tend to be over-protective of my pets and panic at everything. If I called out an emmergency vet every time something worried me I'd be thousands of pounds in debt. So I thought it would be better to check first with people who have experienced things like this before.

To be honest I don't think there's any need for you to try and make me feel bad about the way I handled it.

Jesus On a stick, settle down. Nobodys trying to make anyone feel bad, I just asked a simple question because obviously you were upset enough about your cham to be thinking of taking it to a vet, so if time or money wernt a problem, why not just take it?

and you answered..

Because I'm a student nurse on an NHS bursary only and the people on here are much more experienced cham owners and breeders than I am. Therefore I didn't want to call an emergency vet (on a saturday night) if the replies I got on here told me it's nothing to worry about.

I just think, shouldnt YOU decide if its something to worry about or not, its your bloody chameleon for christ sake! Your a grown up, think for yourself, make your own descisions, what if everyone here said, Go to vet immediately' and you did, and paid a fortune to have the vet tell you its nothing to worry about? see!

Why get so uptight and defensive, im not attacking you, just asking a question. Im pleased you took it to vet and pleased you asked here, I just thought the vet shouldve come first since it was first thing YOU thought anyway. Ok. In anycase, ive said before today, if you cant afford vets (especially emergencys) you cant afford the animal, and these people your relying on to decide for you over the internet (who are NOT vets nor can see or examin your animal) have wholeheartedly agreed.
Chill out, peace!

..:waves white flag:

 

[honeybee1985]

Jesus On a stick, settle down. Nobodys trying to make anyone feel bad, I just asked a simple question because obviously you were upset enough about your cham to be thinking of taking it to a vet, so if time or money wernt a problem, why not just take it?

and you answered..



I just think, shouldnt YOU decide if its something to worry about or not, its your bloody chameleon for christ sake! Your a grown up, think for yourself, make your own descisions, what if everyone here said, Go to vet immediately' and you did, and paid a fortune to have the vet tell you its nothing to worry about? see!

Why get so uptight and defensive, im not attacking you, just asking a question. Im pleased you took it to vet and pleased you asked here, I just thought the vet shouldve come first since it was first thing YOU thought anyway. Ok.
Chill out, peace!

..:waves white flag:

Did someone skip their cornflakes this morning? You seem to be attacking everyone today...

 

[WelshOneEmma]

Did someone skip their cornflakes this morning? You seem to be attacking everyone today...

My point exactly!

 

[alhickabee]

Did someone skip their cornflakes this morning? You seem to be attacking everyone today...

Right?!?!!! haha


I'm glad your cham's tongue healed. That can be kinda scary since the options if it hadn't healed on it's own are really invasive. Good job catching it early. Did you make it so he didn't have to shoot his tongue very far for his food for awhile?