Juvenile panther chameleon not using tongue

[Turk18]

I have a 4 inch "not including tail length " female panther chameleon. For 2 weeks she has not shot her tongue while eating.

Handling when cleaning cage only

Feeding gut loaded crickets and dubia roaches twice a day. She usually eats 4-5 every day with mouth.

Supplement with repashy chameleon calcium plus once a week and supercal noD every feeding

Mist 2-3 times a day with moving water feature as well.

Fecal matter is produced every other day with white urates.

Received her 3.5 weeks ago. She used tongue for a week but only shot it halfway.

Cage is zoo med terrarium 1.5 feet tal by 1 foot wide. Paper towel as substrate.

Lightning for first 1.5 weeks was reptisun 5.0 coils. Then switched to zilla t8 tropical 25 for 3 days. Now shes on Arcadia T5 6% uvb. Heating with zilla mini halogen bulb.

Temperature in basking spot is 93 F. Bottom of cage is 74 F.

Humidity is 60 - 80 %

Fake plants

Located in a room with great airflow with little traffic.

Problem! She hasn't shot tongue in 2 weeks. I recieved her and a Male. They both were pretty dehydrated. The Male was lethargic with eyes closed and died after 5 days. After about 1.5 weeks she stopped shooting tongue. I was dusting with reptivite d3 every feeding in the beginning. I found out the 5.0 coils weren't sufficient so switched to Arcadia. Im thinking it is a calcium deficiency, she was lethargic and only ate 2 crickets a day but the past 1.5 weeks she has perked up and moving great. I feed her by hand but wondering if it is a calcium deficiency, how long until she will use her tongue again? It looks normal when she opens her mouth. Thank you so much everyone!!!

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi and welcome. I can’t help about why she isn’t shooting her tongue, but I can offer other help.
4” is pretty small so she is very young. She should be getting fed around 15 feeders daily.
What do you mean by ‘moving water feature’? A waterfall? If so, take it out. They may look nice, but basically become a bacterial soup.
Your enclosure is much too small. Chameleons are arboreal and like height. Minimum enclosure size is 2x2x4’ for adult chameleons. I understand she’s just a tiny baby now, but she still needs much bigger.
Your temps are too high. Basing shouldn’t exceed around 80* for babies. Having such a short enclosure, she has no area for temperature gradients to be able to cool off. Plus, she may be getting too much uvb as there’s not enough distance between her and the bulb.

 

[Beman]

@Turk18 I am going to go through a few things with red bold. Can you also post pics of the entire cage lights down?



I have a 4 inch "not including tail length " female panther chameleon. For 2 weeks she has not shot her tongue while eating.

Handling when cleaning cage only

Feeding gut loaded crickets and dubia roaches twice a day. She usually eats 4-5 every day with mouth. Are these size appropriate for her? She should be eating at least 3x what she is now.

Supplement with repashy chameleon calcium plus once a week and supercal noD every feeding.. Repashy calcium plus should only be used 2 times a month at most say the 1st and the 15th. I would recommend switching to the LoD version as well or reptivite with D3 same only 2 times a month the 1st and the 15th. Then the Supercal NoD would be at all other feedings.

Mist 2-3 times a day with moving water feature as well. What is the moving water feature? You only want to be misting the plants down really well for her to drink off of them. water features grow bacteria and are not natural for chams to use.

Fecal matter is produced every other day with white urates.

Received her 3.5 weeks ago. She used tongue for a week but only shot it halfway.

Cage is zoo med terrarium 1.5 feet tal by 1 foot wide. Paper towel as substrate.

Lightning for first 1.5 weeks was reptisun 5.0 coils. Then switched to zilla t8 tropical 25 for 3 days. Now shes on Arcadia T5 6% uvb. Heating with zilla mini halogen bulb. What is your distance between fixture bottom and her basking branch... With a single bulb T5HO and a 6% bulb you need at least 9 inches between no closer or the UVI levels are too high.

Temperature in basking spot is 93 F. Bottom of cage is 74 F.... 93 is way to hot... 80 at the max for basking temp.

Humidity is 60 - 80 % humidity for daytime should be 50-60%

Fake plants... Real plants are much better for them. Not only do they stabilize the humidity level and clean the air but they hold water more naturally for them on the leaves. https://chameleonacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Chameleon-Plants-122819.pdf

Located in a room with great airflow with little traffic.

Problem! She hasn't shot tongue in 2 weeks. I recieved her and a Male. They both were pretty dehydrated. The Male was lethargic with eyes closed and died after 5 days. After about 1.5 weeks she stopped shooting tongue. I was dusting with reptivite d3 every feeding in the beginning. I found out the 5.0 coils weren't sufficient so switched to Arcadia. Im thinking it is a calcium deficiency, she was lethargic and only ate 2 crickets a day but the past 1.5 weeks she has perked up and moving great. I feed her by hand but wondering if it is a calcium deficiency, how long until she will use her tongue again? It looks normal when she opens her mouth. Thank you so much everyone!!!

This is not due to a calcium deficiency... How long were you giving reptivite with D3 every day? This is more then likely due to over supplementation. Between every day dosing of vitamin A and D3 from the reptivite and now using Calcium plus once a week.

 

[Turk18]

Hi and welcome. I can’t help about why she isn’t shooting her tongue, but I can offer other help.
4” is pretty small so she is very young. She should be getting fed around 15 feeders daily.
What do you mean by ‘moving water feature’? A waterfall? If so, take it out. They may look nice, but basically become a bacterial soup.
Your enclosure is much too small. Chameleons are arboreal and like height. Minimum enclosure size is 2x2x4’ for adult chameleons. I understand she’s just a tiny baby now, but she still needs much bigger.
Your temps are too high. Basing shouldn’t exceed around 80* for babies. Having such a short enclosure, she has no area for temperature gradients to be able to cool off. Plus, she may be getting too much uvb as there’s not enough distance between her and the bulb.

Hi and welcome. I can’t help about why she isn’t shooting her tongue, but I can offer other help.
4” is pretty small so she is very young. She should be getting fed around 15 feeders daily.
What do you mean by ‘moving water feature’? A waterfall? If so, take it out. They may look nice, but basically become a bacterial soup.
Your enclosure is much too small. Chameleons are arboreal and like height. Minimum enclosure size is 2x2x4’ for adult chameleons. I understand she’s just a tiny baby now, but she still needs much bigger.
Your temps are too high. Basing shouldn’t exceed around 80* for babies. Having such a short enclosure, she has no area for temperature gradients to be able to cool off. Plus, she may be getting too much uvb as there’s not enough distance between her and the bulb.

Thank you very much for your input. I appreciate it. I have a 2ft×2ft terrarium set up for her. I was waiting until she was using her tongue again. I will set her up today. Temperature gradients will stabilize.

 

[Turk18]

Thank you so much. I haven't had chameleons in 15 years and all the methods have changed since then. Maybe the uvb bulbs are much better now and I shouldn't have dusted everyday with D3. I appreciate your input and will correct everything.