Help! Our Veiled Cham has no tounge!

Hello there, Sorry to hear about your cham, but they can go on to live a happy fairly normal life.
My dear Camo R.I.P lost his toungue when he was about 4 months oold and I was devastated.
He did learn to cope quite well though.
First of I will memntion that if it is a new injury a vet visit should be in order, they would prob perscribe a bacis turn of baytril just to fight off an possible infection.
As far as feeding and wtering goes here is how i did it.
First thing, if it is a new injury than your cham may be reluctant to try nd eat and you may need to force feed for a few days.
What I did was to take a few crickets usually 2-4 and place them in a deli cup then put the cup in the fridge for about 5min, it slows the crickets way down. Then take a pair of cuticle scissors and cut off the hopper legs and any real long anteni, ( even the other legs if your cham is having trouble at first )
I would take the cricket and hold it by the butt and offer it to Camo.
There are a few different tech's to accomplish this.
1, hold the feeder out a distance untill they get a sight and interest in it, they slowly move closer and if the mouth opens pop it in. ( sometimes ( OFTEN ) they still try to shoot but all that comes out is a stump or the hythoid (sp) bone ) if they do this I gently let the toungue or stump guide the cricket in, it seemed to trigger a better chewing responce than just poppin it in.
2, holding the cricket the same way kind of move it around in a cricket fasion on the branches right in front of the cham and gently tap the end of their nose with it, if the mouth opens repeat above.
As well I found that my cham came to love friuts, esp kiwi. I would cut it into tiny slices about the same size as a cricket and feeed it off with the same tech. I beleive he was getting most of his water this way. You can alos take a small eyey dropper and drip little tiny drops onto thier nose, sometimes they will just opemn thier mouth and drink and others they will bite right onto the dripper end and take water that way.
I should mention that without their toungue they seem to have a hard time manovering the food around their mouth and will often get a feeder or pc of fruit stuck in there, mostly on the roof of the mouth.
How i removed this was to take a dry pc of a umbrella tree stem and use the little hooked end where the leaf was attached and gently remove the problem.
Sorry if any of this is confusing or vage.
Feel free to pm me with anything eles
 
Thank you everyone for all the responses! We took her to the vet this morning and she said that there did not look like there was any infection but it was still relatively new. The vet also gave us a syringe and suggested using a cat food water solution if nothing else worked. She was looking really bad today resting her head on the branches and very little movement. We tried multiple feeders all different ways with no luck, however, we decided to try the cat food solution and found that she was very receptive and is now looking better and moving a bit more. We are going to try the bug solution from here on out until she will eat other feeders. Hoj, thank you for all that insight and help we will def try all of your suggestions. Does anyone have a recipe for a delicious bug cocktail for our girl? I think that she may need to be fed this way until she gains the strength to try other things. Also, does anyone know where we can find hornworms and silkworms in the bay area (specifically south bay)? Our go to pet store says they are out of season and may be hard to find.
 
Hello
a decent mix I have used is
1prt baby food carrot or squash
1prt critical care appetitte stimulating cat food
2prt pedalyte
2prt ensure
a dash of calcium/multivitamin
You could also add some bugs and blend then syringe feed. I warm it slightly as most of the igredients are kept in the fridge.
 
Thanks Hoj! That looks like quite the cocktail but I'm sure she will really enjoy it. When you say "ensure" do you mean the shakes sold at safeway?
 
yes, just the regular flavor not chocolate LoL. Its full of nutrients and I think they may acctually like the taste.
 
Just wanted to give an update on our girl. She had to be syringe fed for a couple days with the wonderful cocktail provided by Hoj, but she is now eating full crickets with our assistance. She lost a little weight during the syringe feeding but she is putting it back o pretty quick. I wanted to thank everyone for the help and support, now we just need to train her to eat from dish but after the syringe feeding anything is possible! Thanks again everyone!
 
Yay!!! That's wonderful news that she is doing so well!!!!!! Congrats on the accomplishments that she and you have made!!!!
 
Thanks! We are very happy with her progress and through all of this she has become a lot more loving then when we first received her injured little self. I think she is going to live a long and happy life.
 
Sounds like you are doing a good job with her. Special needs chameleons are very rewarding. Keep up the good work.
 
AWSOME!!! so glad to hear things are working for you. I and other are pulling for your girl. Anything else feel free to pm me.
Also a pic of the special lil lady would be kool :)
 
One of my friends purchased a panther that could not use his tongue, he is still doing great and is healthy by daily tong feeding. He even uses a water dish:) Chams are smart, they will get used to daily feeding and adapt. It may be more work but it's worth it.
 
Just hearing that your girl is doing so well, brings a big smile to my face. Hoj bonded with Camo like with none of the others. You will most likely find a lot of satisfaction helping her meet her needs. Congrats
 
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