Please HELP! New baby girl with something hanging from her mouth...

[NorCalAnthony]

Hi Everyone,

Our new little girl, Aphrodite, was just delivered to us a little bit ago but she has something hanging from her mouth and we aren't sure what it is. I'm stuck at work while my wife is at home trying figure out what's wrong and how to help our little girl. She says it resembles an umbilical cord but the shape reminds me of their tongue, but discolored. Whatever it is was stuck to the paper towels in the shipping container but has since been unstuck and is now dangling from the poor things mouth. I'm attaching a couple of pictures that my wife sent me so you guys can take a look and when I get home I'll try to fill out the "How To Ask For Help" form to the best of my knowledge... For now I can tell you that she's a female ambilobe panther and is about 2.5 months old... Has anyone ever seen this before?

Here she is just before being shipped to us:



And here are a couple of her now:




Thanks for any help you guys can give...

 

[carol5208]

Oh my gosh, that is her tongue. I am not sure what to do! Call a vet immediately!!

 

[AngieL]

Oh no poor little thing! Did you unstick her tongue from the paper towel yourself or? It will probably have to be removed short of a small miracle. Chams can live well without tongues as long as they learn to hand feed and drink pretty fast. Tell your wife to keep it moist and get to a vet ASAP!

 

[pigglett79]

That poor girl, that is for sure her tongue. It will probably need to be amputated by the vet. They can learn to eat without their tongue but you will have a challenge on your hands.

I would also contact whom ever you purchased her from.

 

[laurie]

You need to call a vet ASAP. The longer her tongue hangs out the more harm she might do to her self. Please let us know how it goes for her.

 

[NorCalAnthony]

Thanks for all of the quick replies everyone. Sorry about the delay in responding but I've been trying to find a vet and give instructions to my wife while still trying to get some work done at the office... I was really worried that's what it was and I've never seen a cham with an injured tongue like this. I also had no idea that they can survive without it though so that's at least some good news. And no, we didn't help her unstick her tongue as we were afraid of causing any further damage but it did come off on it's own maybe a 20-30 minutes after we unpackaged her. We were able to find a vet in the area that specializes in reptiles and have an appointment booked for later today. Unfortunately their only opening was at 5:20 pm so it's going to be a long stressful afternoon until we can get her in there for professional help. In the meantime we are misting her by hand on top of our automated system that goes off every two hours. We have also been in contact with the breeder who has been very apologetic and is trying to help as best they can and we are waiting to see what the vet says to see where to go from there. Has anyone else ever seen anything like this? I can't imagine how this could have happened to the poor thing... Thank you everyone again for all of the replies. I'll keep you guys posted on what happens with the vet visit.

 

[AngieL]

I have seen lots of tongue problems on the forums. I think be ause it's such a specialised piece of equipment and the way that it works that its common for things to go wrong. Usually when a tongue is hanging out like that its because it has hyperextended. This occurs when a cham shoots too far and can't retract the tongue fully and also if it has been tugged either by a person or the chameleon. The chameleon will usually go towards the tip of its tongue if its stuck though, to try and get it back in its mouth. Did she pull her tongue off do you know or did it just come unstuck without any persuasion for her?

She's such a pretty little thing and I really hope she will be ok.

 

[NorCalAnthony]

I have seen lots of tongue problems on the forums. I think be ause it's such a specialised piece of equipment and the way that it works that its common for things to go wrong. Usually when a tongue is hanging out like that its because it has hyperextended. This occurs when a cham shoots too far and can't retract the tongue fully and also if it has been tugged either by a person or the chameleon. The chameleon will usually go towards the tip of its tongue if its stuck though, to try and get it back in its mouth. Did she pull her tongue off do you know or did it just come unstuck without any persuasion for her?

She's such a pretty little thing and I really hope she will be ok.

To be honest I'm not sure, her tongue became unstuck after my wife had put her in her new home to call me and tell me what was going on and we don't know how long it was like that during her trip. She was shipped in an insulated box inside a deli cup with a moist paper towel so I'm not sure what she would have shot her tongue at or how it got stuck on something to the point of causing hyperextension. That definitely sounds like what must have happened I just don't understand how it happened in a confined space over such a short time (about 16 hours from her being picked up to being delivered).

Once a tongue is hyperextended like this is it possible to heal and be usable again? In the last update from my wife she seems otherwise ok and is climbing all over the place exploring her new home like nothing is wrong despite her tongue being draped down her back... We still have a little less than four hours until we can get her to the vet

 

[shaunaroxanne]

Was a heat pack used for shipping? There is no reason she should stick her tongue out during shipping under normal circumstances. If a heat pack was used improperly, she may have become very overheated, which can cause all kinds of problems.

Additionally, she should not be climbing around like that, she will cause further damage. Confine her, and try to keep the tongue moist until you get to the vet.

 

[jannb]

Keep the tongue moist with water or KY jelly and get her the the vets ASAP. If her tongue does not swell or dry out to much it might can be saved. If it has to be amputate she can still live a fairly normal live but you may have to hand feed her although some will eat out of a shallow cup.

 

[AngieL]

Yes I see what you mean. It's unlikely she hyperextended in such a small area. Maybe she was thirsty and trying to drink from the moist towel or just tasting it (I have seen Chams on here that like to taste branches and their owners etc.) but these are just my guesses. However she did it we probably will never know for sure. And yes if it was too hot she could have had her mouth open gaping and her tongue could've dried onto the towel. I hope she will be ok

 

[NorCalAnthony]

Thanks again for the replies and suggestions. We're trying everything that's being recommended to try and save our new little girl.

Was a heat pack used for shipping? There is no reason she should stick her tongue out during shipping under normal circumstances. If a heat pack was used improperly, she may have become very overheated, which can cause all kinds of problems.

Additionally, she should not be climbing around like that, she will cause further damage. Confine her, and try to keep the tongue moist until you get to the vet.

No heat packs were used and the weather has been cool and cloudy since she was shipped yesterday so I wouldn't think that overheating would have been an issue, though there's always a chance that FedEx didn't follow the handling instructions during transport.

We are moving her to a smaller plastic container (cricket keeper) with a single stick in it to limit her activity and try to prevent further damage to her tongue until we can get her to the vet. Thanks for the suggestion. We're also going to stick some moist paper towels in the container to help keep the moisture level up on top of hand misting with warm water to try keep the as moist as we can. I'm going to try and get her in to see the vet earlier if they'll let me.

Thanks again for all of the help/suggestions, please keep them coming. I'll try to post some more updates as things progress.

 

[pssh]

I recently had to have a chameleon's tongue amputated, but he is an adult and already knew how to hand feed. I would be concerned that she would have issues eating because she only just got to your home (and therefore may be incredibly stressed out without the added complications from this injury) and because she is so small. I would expect that the breeder would cover the expenses and (if you want to) replace her with another chameleon. This is absolutely not your fault and they should take care of the issues you are now having to deal with. I hope she does well for you.

 

[ReptileLove18]

that poor little girl!!! luckily even if she does have to have it amputated she will be able to eat with time, patience, and love from you two!

how did the vet visit go? the breeder ought to cover some of the costs in my opinion as she arrived this way. was there a health guarantee for her?

 

[AngieL]

How did it go at the vet?

 

[pigglett79]

I am also interested in how the vet visit went. That poor girl.

 

[sandrachameleon]

I hope she will be okay.
the supplier should be paying for the vet costs and/or replacing the animal (I know that sound heartless, but I would not accept an animal in that dire condition).

 

[Nikkii]

Aphrodite

Until you bring her to the vet,...Would anyone agree that misting her ASAP may help keep her from dehydrating anymore?
That poor thing, I feel bad for you and the Baby Cham..

Unfortunetly also the tip of her tongue looks not only inflammed but infected.
c c Please, please let us know what happens at the Vet. this evening. And Good Luck....

 

[Olimpia]

Until you bring her to the vet,...Would anyone agree that misting her ASAP may help keep her from dehydrating anymore?

Yes, misting and/or KY Jelly will be vital if you ever find yourself in a situation like this one. If a body part such as this one dries out and dies then there is no hope to save it. But if you can keep it moist then it might potentially be something a vet can do, or at the very least, will not become necrotic and infected and spread to the rest of your chameleon.

OP, I'm so sorry this happened with your new girl. I had a female lose her tongue and it was a really terrible experience for us both, since I had to keep her moist all night until the vet opened in the morning. Neither of us slept, you can imagine (and I was sick with a fever at the same time!) Best of luck!

 

[NorCalAnthony]

Hi Everyone,

Sorry about the delay in responding but the vet visit didn't go well and I didn't feel up to posting anything last night. By the time I got home and was able to get our little girl to the vet she was in pretty bad shape... laying belly down on a leaf with her legs dangling, eyes closed, the tongue was not looking good, and when I went to move her in to the transport carrier she was barely moving and was really weak and having a really hard time grasping/holding on. Once we got her to the vet she was examined and they told us that her tongue was too far gone to be saved and that she extremely weak and stressed from the whole ordeal and recommended that we not continue her suffering. Had she been a little older/bigger and was in otherwise good health then there was a chance of her surviving the amputation and learning to hand feed but with how small and weak she was they strongly advised against it. That was a really sad moment but I didn't want to let her suffer unnecesarily and let the vet do what needed to be done... RIP Aphrodite, you'll be missed

The breeder has been in contact with us since we first received her and saw what condition she was in and has tried to give help/advice but with this type of situation there wasn't a whole lot anyone could have done. They said that they do not offer to pay for vet bills, which part of me understands because there's no telling how much a trip to the vet could cost (potentially more than what the cham did) or even if a trip to the vet would be successful. They did however offer a full refund or to ship us a new little girl free of charge and we are currently awaiting our next little girl's arrival. This was definitely a terrible event but I don't see anything that was directly anyone's fault and am chaulking it up to horribly bad luck and we are hoping that nothing like this will happen again.

Thank you everyone for your support and trying to help us save her. I'm sorry this story didn't have a happy ending.