Not projecting tongue...

[bighutch917]

Has anyone ever had an issue with there cham not projecting his tongue? I have a CH 4-5 mos male blue bar that refuses to project his tongue. He prefers to chase down his prey. He is a BEAUTIFUL blue bar (sorry no pics yet) and was purchased from FL Chams. When he arrived I noticed that his aim was a bit off as he had difficulty catching his prey with his tongue. Mike suggested that he may have strained a muscle and that I should offer him vitamin supplements 2x a week. For a while I didn't think he was going to survive as he started looking VERY thin. I purchased some wax worms and placed them on top of a deli cup and he devoured all he could get. I continued with the waxies for about two weeks and aside from the tongue issue his health improved 100%. He is currently doing great and FULL of color! Though he still does not project his tongue he chases down free range crickets and eats about 8 silkies per day. He is being housed in a Zilla 12x18x20 screen enclosure. I was afraid to place him in anything bigger in fear that he would not be able to catch his prey. I placed him in a vacant 24x24x48 and he appeared to be ecstatic. His colors were off the chart. I'll be moving him to a new home very soon but I just wanted to get some feedback from others.

 

[Chase]

Wow! Good job that you got him to do so well. Sometimes, people probably get stressed about it, and would go crazy. It sounds like you kept your cool, good job ! Keeping my fingers crossed for you and your little buddy.

 

[ponders]

I have a no shooter too!

I bought a runt of the clutch (we are calling him a pygmy panther) last month and discovered that he doesn't shoot his tongue either. He's 10 months old and only 44 g.
He chases the crickets down and sticks his tongue out an inch or so. He loves to eat though. I did 2 courses of Reptaid (he had roundworms) and I think his tongue is better. A breeder said B vitamins are known to help, so have been gut loading the crickets with Cheerios plus Cricket Crack and veggies. I have been giving him herptivite weekly too.
We kind of think it's cool to watch him eat since we have other chams that shoot their tongues to watch. He did bite my finger getting a silkworm the other day, luckily it didn't really hurt Hopefully he will continue to get better, but it might take a long time-if not- we like him the way he is!

 

[sandrachameleon]

Poor tongue control / Missing the insects can be a sign of trauma or damange to the tongue, too much or too little calcium, or vit B and /or vitamin A deficiency.
Source of Vitamin B

 

[Vince]

When i raised baby jacksons i had one that couldn't project his tongue. But loved to eat as well. He wouldn't take it from my hand though, he had to get it himself. He was a strong and determined little guy.

 

[bighutch917]

Yeah...this little guy was all brown/grey when he arrived. His markings were incredible but didn't show much color. Currently his display looks like a rainbow. Red eyes with blue streaks, red/white striped chin, solid blue bars with lots of yellow, green and red in his body. Initially I was disappointed but Mike assured me that he would take care of me if the little guy didn't pull through. I alternate between Reptivite and Herptivite vitamins plus Repcal w/ D3 and Minerall - O. I also add a cap full of liquid vitamin B + Iron to his water every other day. I got that tip from Bob at Cages.net. I'm not sure if he will ever have full use of the tongue but he is truly a gem regardless. I'll post some pics as soon as I get him situated in the new enclosure.

I appreciate all who have shared there thoughts!

 

[SaveNahla]

When i raised baby jacksons i had one that couldn't project his tongue. But loved to eat as well. He wouldn't take it from my hand though, he had to get it himself. He was a strong and determined little guy.

What did you do about this problem? I cant get may chameleon to eat out of my hand anymore and she cant catch them on her own even though she tries.

 

[ponders]

Just an update

My guy has fully recovered, a few months after my post. He just gradually got better and now can shoot 6 inchs or more, but I don't think he will ever shoot any farther. Like I said in my post, I used 2 courses of Reptaid and treated with herptivite weekly and gut loaded crickets with cricket crack and cereals with vit B in them.

Hope this helps. Hopefully your cham will keep trying to eat.

Have you tried silkworms? They can't really get away. I think the cham gets frustrated when they don't get them the first time and will give up after several attempts. Sometimes I just had to stick it on his tongue when he tried to eat. Cup feeding works too, the crickets can't get away. I would use 4-5 crickets in a small cup and when he would stick his tongue on them, he was bound to get one.