Panther shooting tongue at earth?

Johnny909

New Member
Hey guys,

Every morning, my cham (4 month old ambilobe) goes down to the earth of his plant, and shoots his tongue out toward the earth, he does not seem to be pulling anything back has his tongue just flies back in and he does not chew. He will shoot it around 3-4 times then goes for a drink and eats some crickets . This is his routine, what could he be up to....

JOhn
 
You should cover the soil with very large river rocks. Rocks so large that he can for sure not eat them.
 
He may be eating the soil to fulfill some micronutrient needs but eating soil can cause impactions which could be very serious, even fatal. Like jannb said, you need to cover the soil so he can't get to it. I've also used screen cut to the shape of the pot the plant was in because my cham thought any shiny rocks were water and tried to eat them.
 
Good quick fix. Going forward perhaps you should re-evaluate your gutloading and your supplementing. What is your routine in those areas?

GO PACK GO
 
its funny cause my cham would do the same exact thing at that age. i believe it may just be out of curiosity because he hasnt done it in about a year now..
to be on the same side i would make sure your gutload is ok
 
Good quick fix. Going forward perhaps you should re-evaluate your gutloading and your supplementing. What is your routine in those areas?

GO PACK GO


I have just begun gutloading, I have only had my cham for 8 days, here is how I do it.

I have a large cricket box and a small one, the large cricket box is fed carrots and oranges.

The small box contains my gutload, evevery morning I feed my cham the ones from the small box, and fill it back with another batch of crickets.

This is my gutload....

Parsnip, 3 kinds of dark leafy salads, buttercup squash, snow peas, orange and some grinded up IAMS cat food.

Every third day I dust with 3:1 ratio mix of Repcal with D3 and Herptivite

John
 
stay away from the cat food! there are proteins in there that are not good for your cham. i would stop the cat food at once.
 
my veiled of the same age also does the same. I have covered most of the soil with rocks but there are some tiny gaps where the trunk of the plant comes through and he fires at that. I have noticed that there is plenty of moisture gathered there when the misting runs down the plant so i wonder if he is just drinking from there instead of the leaves?
 
stay away from the cat food! there are proteins in there that are not good for your cham. i would stop the cat food at once.

Interesting, witch of the proteins are bad? Looking at the ingredients in that particular cat food, it could be a gutload on its own. This cat food contains all the stuff top breeders put in their gutload, like Dried egg and brewers yeast. Its a minimal part of the gutload, I put a handfull full off it in a coffee grinder. Its the least of all ingredients, but I do not want to put my cham in danger, here are the ingredients.

Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Grits, Corn Meal, Chicken, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Dried Beet Pulp, Dried Egg Product, Natural Flavor, Sodium Bisulfate, Potassium Chloride, DL-Methionine, Brewer's Dried Yeast, Fish Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Choline Chloride, Salt, Minerals (Zinc Oxide, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Cobalt Carbonate), Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Acetate, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of vitamin B1), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of vitamin B6), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement (source of vitamin B2), Inositol, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), Calcium Carbonate, L-Carnitine, Rosemary Extra
 
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