My Cham has a problem, can you help!?

C

Castlepines Herps

New Member
So I have a male ambanja panther chameleon that I got in may at my local reptile show, he's been doing good but lately i've noticed that he isn't shooting his tongue right, like he doesn't know how to aim and he only shoots it like 1in out of his mouth when he tries to eat. What is going on, can I do any thing to help?
 
HE may have poor eye sight . He may have a damaged/ bruised tongue from hitting the cage sides or he may have a vitamin A deficiency.

What brand and type of supplements are you using ?

Is he in a glass cage? He could be smacking his tongue off reflections in the glass.
 
also, a picture would help. and it would be extremely helpful if you could even post a video of this weird tongue routine he's doing.
 
chameleonnerd- my camera ran out of battery

chromaChameleons- i have him in a screen cage, and I have him on calcium without d3, calcium with d3 twice a month, and repashy calcium plus every 2 weeks
 
Im not familiar with the Repashy. Does it have vitamins including Vitamin A ?

Also , check his vision in both eyes by approaching each side of his head with your finger. See if one side is blind or eyesight failing. If a cham has poor sight in only one eye , they can't triangulate their target . Some chams , blind in one eye , will adapt , but will always have higher frequency of misses than a properly sighted cham.
 
Welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear your baby isn't acting right. Filling out this form will help us evaluate your husbandry to see if anything is wrong. Im actually having the same problem with my female Panther, and I think its because she has a bee stinger in her tongue.

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.


Pictures are helpful
 
Isn't the Repashy meant to be for daily use? Your cham could have a vitamin deficiency if you're only using it every 2 weeks. The vitamin levels are lower than a multi-vitamin as it is meant for daily use.
 
pbveiled said:
Isn't the Repashy meant to be for daily use? Your cham could have a vitamin deficiency if you're only using it every 2 weeks. The vitamin levels are lower than a multi-vitamin as it is meant for daily use.
Click to expand...

Yes, my understanding is that the repashy calcium plus is an all in one. It does not contain enough vit A to use it in place of a vit A supplement. Thus, a vit A deficiency COULD be the issue. Start using the calcium plus and do not use the others at all, or, use herptivite as your vit A supplement, search on here for info on supplements and you can find lots of discussion, ans well as research into the matter, that I believe would lead you to change your supplement schedule. If you can find the herptivite, feed him one feeder dusted with it next feeding. Or just switch to using just repashy, and you will see a difference in his shooting if it is a vit A defeciency. Also, as stated, you could fill out the how to ask for help form, and get everyones opinion on all aspects of your current husbandry, just to make sure your on target ;) Ask anything you like! We will try to be helpfull!
 
Welcome to the forum and the world of chameleons!

Tongue function can be the result of an injury (as was stated already), MBD/nutrient imbalance, and even dehydration. If the chameleon can't see properly I would expect that he would still shoot his tongue out but miss what he was aiming at. I hope you can figure out what the issue is so it can be treated properly.

If its a nutrient issue, the nutrients need to be brought back into balance and then kept there by supplementing, gutloading and feeding of the chameleon properly so it stays there....as well as provided with a source of UVB light (which should not pass through glass or plastic).

If its a visual issue, most chameleons can triangulate to compensate if the vision is good in one eye and not in the other.

Here's some information I hope will help you with things like supplements, gutloading, etc....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.

Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the chameleon to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the chameleon as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.

A wide variety of insects (crickets, locusts, silkworms, superworms, tomato worms, phoenix worms, butter worms, once in a while waxworms, etc.) that have been well fed and gutloaded should be fed to it.

Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the chameleon at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).

If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your chameleon gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the chameleon to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the chameleon can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).

Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the chameleon gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the chameleon towards MBD. However, there is controversy as to whether all/any chameleons can convert the beta carotene and so some people give some prEformed vitamin A once in a while. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)

Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the chameleon needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)

Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the chameleon (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the chameleon.
Please note that various supplements have various amounts of D3 and vitamin A and so some can be given more often than others. The idea still is not to overdo the fat soluble vitamins like D3 and prEformed vitamin A.

Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
http://web.archive.org/web/200601140...ww.adcham.com/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.
 
Hello and welcome to the forums. There is a lot of info out in the jungle of threads to read and learn from so we hope you stay awhile. :) Just out of curiosity are you cup or free feeding? Sometimes if you shake and bake the buggies and then let them free in the enclosure they knock off all the minerals before they are ingested.
 
Hi and welcome> Sorry your cham is having problems. The form that Pilotmann posted for you is important Please fill it out so we can see you whole chams world.
Copy it paste and fill Thank you:D
 
Carol I totally agree that sounds weird if an infection was not determined. My top differential for tongue problems is low calcium which can be tested.
 
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