not shooting tounge all the way

[whitespyder]

ive been having trouble with keeping the umbrella plants in my female veiled's cage and recently i had to take her plants out for a week while i tried to find time to buy and repot a pothos plant. after that stressful week i noticed she wasnt fully extending her tounge out when she ate. i have a feeling that its related to her being stressed from not having much hiding places or from dehydration.
so far her pothos is doing great and shes getting the hiding spots she was missing and plenty of leaves to drink from (which she has been nibbling from of course!) shes still a bit dehydrated since her urates were half yellow. shes always interested in food. but its been a few weeks now with her tounge not working. how soon do chams recover from stress? do chameleons sometimes get sprains in their tounges from over extending?

Cage Type – 18 x 18 x 32 aluminum screened vertical cage
Lighting - 25 watt house bulb for heat, 18” Reptisun 5.0 for UV. Both resting on top of the screen, both on from 7am to 8pm
Temperature – basking spot is currently 85 (summer months not making it easy to keep it cool!), ambient temp is between 70-80. overnight is 70-75. measured with analog thermometer
Humidity – usually 55 but will go up to 60 when misting. Measured with analog hydrometer. Maintained with several short mistings during the day
Plants – large pothos plant, fake bendy vines and bamboo sticks
Placement – on top of my dresser in my bedroom. ceiling of cage is 5’7” off ground
Location – new jersey shore

Chameleon Info:
Your Chameleon - Veiled chameleon, female, 1 yr 4months, had since May 25, 2009
Handling – around once a week, mostly to administer eye drops or to take outside to sit in hibiscus
Feeding – currently mostly 1 inch crickets and large superworms gutloaded with carrot, orange, apple, collard greens. When the weather permits, I feed her silkworms which really help her stay hydrated. I feed her 5-6 feeders every other day either in the morning or no later than 4pm.
Supplements – Rep-cal calcium without D3 every other feeding, Rep-cal calcium w/ D3 twice a month, Herptivite vitamins twice a month
Watering – hand pump mister 3 times a day on the plants for about 5 minutes each, dripper used in between mistings. I see her drinking occasionally or standing by the dripper, shes very shy
Fecal Description – brown to tan in color, urates are white with occasional yellow
History – compulsive sand and plant eater, history of pinworms/hookworms, right eye problems
Current Problem – tounge not fully extending

 

[kinyonga]

They can over extend the tongue if they get it caught on something, for example. They can injure it in other ways too. Tongue issues can also be caused by nutrient imbalances or container feeding them (lazy tongue)....maybe even dehydration.

 

[bugboy]

im pretty sure eye problems throw them off a little too when they try to shoot. how bad is the right eye?

 

[whitespyder]

im pretty sure eye problems throw them off a little too when they try to shoot. how bad is the right eye?

she does look at moving objects with that eye but she cant identify what they are such as food. (it comes in handy when i need to sneak my hand under her to pick her up!) when she sees the food item with her other eye she lines up and shoots for it with surprisingly good aim. even with the bad eye she was shooting her full potential for a while unless i have a superworm held in my hand which she seems to be a little off with aim.

kinyonga, my chameleon seems to be a little silly with the things she thinks are food. i caught her shooting at the hinge in her opened cage door while my back was turned. she would try to shoot at strange things even before her eye problem. i wouldnt be surprised if she sprained her tounge trying to eat something in her cage that she thought was food.

 

[kinyonga]

They do seem to like shiny things like rings and hinges....maybe because some bugs are shiny? Or maybe they are seeing shiny things differently than we do?

 

[bighutch917]

I experienced a similar problem with a young ambilobe. I don't know what caused the issue but I later noticed that after exposing him to direct sunlight he would project his tongue as usual. When kept indoors he reverts back to half projection and poor aim.

You may be forced to cup feed her if she is unable to capture prey. Cup feeding will enable her to maintain body mass and good health until the issue is resolved. Also, I would offer her various worms if she is experiencing difficulty with capturing free range crickets.

 

[whitespyder]

I experienced a similar problem with a young ambilobe. I don't know what caused the issue but I later noticed that after exposing him to direct sunlight he would project his tongue as usual. When kept indoors he reverts back to half projection and poor aim.

You may be forced to cup feed her if she is unable to capture prey. Cup feeding will enable her to maintain body mass and good health until the issue is resolved. Also, I would offer her various worms if she is experiencing difficulty with capturing free range crickets.

hmm thats interesting! ill have to feed her tomorrow when i take her outside to see if theres a difference. I have been cup feeding her crickets and worms. i try to feed her worms from my hand but she must think my fingers look more tasty! i never free range my feeders because i like knowing that shes eating.
maybe it has to do with uv lighting? ill change her reptisun to a fresh one and see if it makes a difference.