UrbanChameleon
New Member
Hey guys. I'm worried about my little guy right now, and I'm wondering if you can help me out.
As of this past week, my 7 month Ambilobe has been having some problems. He started holding his mouth open. He does not have an RI, and I've lowered his temps as of today. These are of course the first "go-to" scenario's, so I wanted to rule them out. I moved his lamp higher this week, and it didn't help. Today I changed the bulb from a 75 watt to a 40 watt. I'm trying to see if he continues holding his mouth open.
He will sit and hold his mouth open for long periods of time throughout the day. No excess mucous, no breathing problems, no sneezing, no coughing, and I am anal about his cage completely drying out. Other than holding his mouth open, he has no RI symptoms.
As of yesterday, a new symptom arose. Along with holding his mouth open, he has started to miss his food. He has NEVER missed one feeder. This is not like him and it's definitely concerning me. Yesterday he shot at a Silkworm and was completely off. He could only get his tongue out about an inch. He has missed about 5 feeders that I've seen so far. Something is not right and I think it's his tongue.
I've observed his mouth closely when he's held it open. I'm not sure what to look for, but his mouth looks normal to me. But of course he could have injured it further back. I'm not sure what I should be looking for. I don't know if this is something that will heal in time, or a major problem. Could this be caused by over or under-supplementing? I know absolutely nothing about tongue injuries, and I've never read about a Chameleon holding it's mouth open from this type of injury. I have pure Vit A, but I don't want to use it because he gets Repashy Calcium Plus fairly often.
Please tell me what is going on. Does anyone have any information or knowledge with this? Think outside of the box on this one. This is not like him at all and I'm very worried. He is still able to eat, and is doing great otherwise. Is there anything I can do? Did I do anything to cause this?
FYI..He free-ranges crickets. I hand-feed Silkworms and other feeders.
Current Symptoms:
1) Holding mouth open for long periods of time throughout the day.
2) Missing food.
Here are two pictures of him holding his mouth open the day this started.
Update: I haven't seen him hold his mouth open since I lowered the bulb wattage (30 minutes ago). He stops and starts throughout the day, so I won't say for sure until I observe him longer. This still doesn't explain his tongue accuracy. Remember, he shot at a feeder yesterday and could barely extend his tongue. I just wanted to throw this little piece of information out there.
As of this past week, my 7 month Ambilobe has been having some problems. He started holding his mouth open. He does not have an RI, and I've lowered his temps as of today. These are of course the first "go-to" scenario's, so I wanted to rule them out. I moved his lamp higher this week, and it didn't help. Today I changed the bulb from a 75 watt to a 40 watt. I'm trying to see if he continues holding his mouth open.
He will sit and hold his mouth open for long periods of time throughout the day. No excess mucous, no breathing problems, no sneezing, no coughing, and I am anal about his cage completely drying out. Other than holding his mouth open, he has no RI symptoms.
As of yesterday, a new symptom arose. Along with holding his mouth open, he has started to miss his food. He has NEVER missed one feeder. This is not like him and it's definitely concerning me. Yesterday he shot at a Silkworm and was completely off. He could only get his tongue out about an inch. He has missed about 5 feeders that I've seen so far. Something is not right and I think it's his tongue.
I've observed his mouth closely when he's held it open. I'm not sure what to look for, but his mouth looks normal to me. But of course he could have injured it further back. I'm not sure what I should be looking for. I don't know if this is something that will heal in time, or a major problem. Could this be caused by over or under-supplementing? I know absolutely nothing about tongue injuries, and I've never read about a Chameleon holding it's mouth open from this type of injury. I have pure Vit A, but I don't want to use it because he gets Repashy Calcium Plus fairly often.
Please tell me what is going on. Does anyone have any information or knowledge with this? Think outside of the box on this one. This is not like him at all and I'm very worried. He is still able to eat, and is doing great otherwise. Is there anything I can do? Did I do anything to cause this?
FYI..He free-ranges crickets. I hand-feed Silkworms and other feeders.
Current Symptoms:
1) Holding mouth open for long periods of time throughout the day.
2) Missing food.
Here are two pictures of him holding his mouth open the day this started.
Update: I haven't seen him hold his mouth open since I lowered the bulb wattage (30 minutes ago). He stops and starts throughout the day, so I won't say for sure until I observe him longer. This still doesn't explain his tongue accuracy. Remember, he shot at a feeder yesterday and could barely extend his tongue. I just wanted to throw this little piece of information out there.
