HELP - Distended tongue

Amanda S

Amanda S

New Member
Nala has been fine. Getting all your vitamins and minerals, eating normally, fine temperature, humidity, etc etc etc. She was fine this afternoon and then 30minutes ago her tongue started to hang all the way out of her mouth. There is absolutely no sign of irritation, a bite, infection, discolouration, no swelling. nothing. it is just hanging all the way out.

what do i do? i don't want it to dry out so she is in the tub with a bit of warm water. I don't feel comfortable putting her in the shower on a plant.
 
It's 8:40pm at night. I highly doubt theres an emergency vet for reptiles in my area but I will look. What if I can't get her in until first thing in the morning? What do I do with her for the night? To keep it moist..
 
Yea, to the vet ASAP. Most commonly extended tongues in chams are caused from calcium problems. So check your UVB (should be changed every 6 months even if light is shining) and calcium supplementation (with and without D3).

Chris
 
The bulb is 3 months old and she gets both cal w/o d3 every other feed with cal w/ d3 once every 2 weeks
 
try www.herpvetconnection.com
In the mean time try to keep it moist with warm water.

I am not sure if KY Jelly can be used in this case. Perhaps, other experienced members can chime in.

Wish you and your cham the best.
I hope he'll pull thru.
 
Well she's in her cage now with the lights off and she is sleeping. Her tongue is still extended but at least she is calm. She was getting very agitated and stressed by all the activity. Her tongue does not seem to bother her, she seems unaware of it. Poor baby. Obviously something is very wrong, hopefully she can make it to the vet in the am. Thanks, ill update
 
i really don't know much about this but I do know ur gonna have to keep it moist, so every hour(?) maybe try lightly spraying just the tounge, a dropper would probably be better, drip a couple of drops just on the tounge I'd say every hour so u probably won't get much sleep tonight if u can't find a herp vet that will see u!! We'll keep our fingers crossed for u!!
 
KY or some waterbased substance should help to keep moist...a light sugar solution can also help and also provide some increased calories. watch the color of tongue as it will give you and idea of how the circulation is doing. keeping it moist is very important though.

? did you have any free roaming foods in the viv?

Good Luck

OPI
 
This morning her tongue was competely dried so we cut it at the filament. :eek: I'm in awe. But she is so happy now. She is running around like normal. I read that they can learn to eat without their tongues? Any thoughts or suggestions?
 
My grandfather actually.

It's unfortunate because I'm away at school and my grandparents are watching the chameleon for the month. They are young grandparents and very capable of caring for her, they know all about feeding her and supplementing and humidity, water, etc. But they couldn't stay up all night to keep it wet like I would have. So this morning it was dry and on a branch and the filament was so thin and her tongue was like paper so he snipped it off.

She is very happy now.

Also for others to bear in mind - She split her nose/mouth by rubbing it on her cage in July. I took her to the vet and vet said it would heal itself. It did not. I've been putting neosporin on it and another topical solution from kvvet and that didn't heal it either. Her tongue has been pink and healthy but who knows, they could be related, so for future reference if your cams hurt their faces on screen - mine did not heal itself.
 
Very sad, but I'm glad she's ok. How does she function without a tongue though? does she just hand feed, or pick it up out of a dish?
 
..... i read once somewhere.. i can get the link if i really look hard. but to have them lay down on a wet towel or something overnight might have helped. thats to bad though, but i 'm sure he'll learn :)
 
Amanda, any wounds will heal in a normal condition.
My guess of why your chameleon did not is because either it was infected or she keep rubbing her nose against the screen.

There are many reasons why chameleon would do that.
But, mostly is because there is something in the cage that does not make her comfortable (cage too small, living condition not right, etc etc). Either way, it is a warrant to investigate.

It's quite sad that it has to come to this.
But, i have seen chameleon that cope without their tongue.
They will just go near the insects and chomp it.
In the meantime, I think you should go to the vet anyway to make sure there is nothing in the tongue that become infected.

I would not be relaxed, yet.
Hanging tongue can also be a symptom of nutrition imbalance (aside from trauma). If this happened to be true, then your chameleon is still in dire need of a vet.
Check www.herpvetconnection.com for an exotic vet nearby your place.

Good luck! I hope she'll be able to pull through

Amanda S said:
My grandfather actually.

It's unfortunate because I'm away at school and my grandparents are watching the chameleon for the month. They are young grandparents and very capable of caring for her, they know all about feeding her and supplementing and humidity, water, etc. But they couldn't stay up all night to keep it wet like I would have. So this morning it was dry and on a branch and the filament was so thin and her tongue was like paper so he snipped it off.

She is very happy now.

Also for others to bear in mind - She split her nose/mouth by rubbing it on her cage in July. I took her to the vet and vet said it would heal itself. It did not. I've been putting neosporin on it and another topical solution from kvvet and that didn't heal it either. Her tongue has been pink and healthy but who knows, they could be related, so for future reference if your cams hurt their faces on screen - mine did not heal itself.
Click to expand...
 
I don't like to be a bearer of bad news, but..now that her tongue has been cut, where the cut was made will be an "opening" for bacteria to enter (so she may appear fine for now and then suddenly crash). She should be put on a course on antibiotics to prevent that.

The fact that her lips have still not healed could also be leaving her open to infection. The area should be cleaned out, a culture and sensitivity test done and antibiotics given for this too.

Bacteria that are not dealt with can spread to other parts of the body and then the chameleon will be in a lot of trouble.

Your chameleon still really NEEDS TO SEE A VET.

Now...to teach her to eat without a tongue...if you hold the food close to her (but far enough away that she can see it) she will likely go for it. As she gets used to coming after the food, move it further away...and quite quickly they seem to learn that they have to chase the food down. If she doesn't get the idea that she has to chase it down, you may have to hand feed her for a couple of days until she gets the idea.

One more thing...if the tongue wasn't cut at the right point, she might be uncomfortable with it and it can still cause problems. If you see her flexing the throat area as though she is uncomfortable with its positioning or trying to adjust its position, then she may become frustrated with it and it will need to be dealt with.
 
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