Puzzled Vet Student - Tongue Issues?

apineda

New Member
Chameleon Info:
  • Your Chameleon - Veiled, Male, adopted at around 4 months old in November 2025. He’s 10 months now. I adopted him with NSHP (MBD). I am a 3rd year vet student and already had bloodwork done in December and his ionized calcium was normal after 1 month in my care.
  • Handling - Almost, choice based. If he comes and climbs out in my shoulders or hands during feeding, I let him.
  • Feeding - He was getting 10-12 bugs a day since he was growing. Now he’s down to 5 bugs a day since he is huge and almost 10 months. He eats discoid roaches, superworms, hornworms, BSL, silkworms. Discoids and superworms are gut loaded every 3ish days with collard or watercress greens, sweet potatoe, carrots, a small amount of Mazuri better bug sprinkled on top.
  • Supplements - Arcadia Earth Pro A daily, Rephasy LoD Multivitamin twice a month.
  • Watering - Never see him drink. Misters follow similar to chameleon academy schedule, goes off at 4 am then fog from 4am to 6am then mist again at 6 am the lights come on. I have a hybrid cage so my humidity gets up really quick. Dripper goes off at 3:30pm everyday on top of his pothos plant.
  • Fecal Description - Normal consistency and color. He has coccidia, pinworms and hookworms at some point - I treated him for all and he’s negative.
  • History - Has history of fractured radius and ulna due to NSHP. Again, I adopted him that way - he was my patient. His ionized calcium is now normal.

Cage Info:
  • Cage Type - 4 by 2 by 2 hybrid cage.
  • Lighting - 6am-6pm light schedule. Jungle dawn, Arcadia linear UVB, normal fluckers 75W heat lamp. UVB was just replaced in February.
  • Temperature - Basking usually around 86-88 Fahrenheit. Other parts of the cage around 75-78. Night time is normal house temperature around 73 Fahrenheit?
  • Humidity - Live feed Cloud Forage humidity probe that is in enclosure. Came with the fogger. Usually 55-57% during the day and 100% when fogging then drops slowly to 55% by like 8 am.
  • Plants - hanging garden style literally the chameleon academy model. 1 large umbrella plant off center then several mounted plants to side panels - 2 large pothos, 1 medium spider plant.
  • Placement - office, not high traffic. No fans on.
  • Location - Central FL

Current Problem - for about the last 2 weeks, I have noticed my veiled Chams tongue is getting stuck to the feeder bowl. I always move the feeding cup towards him when this happens to reduce injury. Feces are normal, appetite is normal, activity levels normal. I already spoke to the zoological medicine department at my vet school. They think it’s unlikely it’s his MBD is getting worse or has vitamin A deficiency since I am supplementing all this and gut load and my UVB is up to date. I considered maybe dehydration but his eyes are not sunken in and his feces are great. His urates have been more creamy than solid the last 2-3 weeks. Just not sure what else to do and why his tongue is getting stuck on his feeding cup.
 
Just a couple of thoughts:

IMLE, dehydration tends to make the tongue less sticky, not more. The glands on the tip of the tongue may produce less mucous if the cham is dehydrated.

OTOH, if he has a history of MBD it's possible the muscle tone/structure of his tongue has been compromised, which could interfere with his ability to retract or pull his tongue free from surfaces after shooting. Maybe changing the way his feeders are offered would help reduce the chance of injury. There are feeding systems that let the insect climb onto a mesh screen so the cham can pick them off. I haven't used them (I'm an ol' fogey...they didn't exist back then) but I'm sure more up to date keepers here could suggest things to try.
 
Just a couple of thoughts:

IMLE, dehydration tends to make the tongue less sticky, not more. The glands on the tip of the tongue may produce less mucous if the cham is dehydrated.

OTOH, if he has a history of MBD it's possible the muscle tone/structure of his tongue has been compromised, which could interfere with his ability to retract or pull his tongue free from surfaces after shooting. Maybe changing the way his feeders are offered would help reduce the chance of injury. There are feeding systems that let the insect climb onto a mesh screen so the cham can pick them off. I haven't used them (I'm an ol' fogey...they didn't exist back then) but I'm sure more up to date keepers here could suggest things to try.
Thank you so much for your insight! I’m using a plastic feeder bowl so that may be a good solution. I’ll look into mesh feeders. Thanks again!
 
Thank you so much for your insight! I’m using a plastic feeder bowl so that may be a good solution. I’ll look into mesh feeders. Thanks again!
Hi. This is what I use and I think it’s great. While nothing is 100% escape proof, this is pretty good for containing most feeders. Bsfl and wax worms can easily squirm out within seconds. If you only tack the corners and not in between, roaches can crawl thru. https://tkchameleons.com/products/s...f2ab7e-de45-4eb4-b5ed-bf9767327e91-1778014798
 
I’ll have to let someone else speak to the supplements…I have always used different ones than these because I’m old school and never changed what I did because I never changed things I felt weren’t “broken”.
 
Can you please post a picture of the chameleon?
IMG_3486.jpeg
 
I can measure exactly when I get home. But it’s about 7 inches. It’s the Pro T5 Kit, Forest 6% UVB, 24W, 24"
Please double check for me. With the 6% bulb you want 8-9 inches from where the fixture sits on the cage top and the branches right below it. This puts them in a 3 UVI which is what is recommended.

Looking through your husbandry the only thing that I would try switching is your arcadia calcium. Your using EPA not CAL MG. They recommend CAL MG as their base calcium in a 8 day feed rotation not the EPA. I would look at switching to repashy NoD and use this instead. Then the repashy LoD 2 times a month.

I would also recommend switching the feeder bowl. do something that he would be targeting off a non smooth surface. Their tongue can stick to a smooth surface especially if they are targeting it really closely. At 10 months old you want to take him to every other day feeding now. He is right at that age where too much food is going to cause the potential for fat storage. Physically he looks good now from what I can see. But by 12 months old most males should really be getting 3-5 insects every 3 days to maintain weight and not continue to gain weight. This is a balancing act and I recommend weighing him every 2 weeks to see what his weight is doing. you do not want big gains at this point as he has very little growth potential at his age.

Everything else in husbandry looks good.
 
Absolutely! I’ll check when I get home. The mounted branches on the side are 9inches from the screen to make the basking around 8inches. But yes, will measure and get back to you today.

Could you clarify on the Arcadia? EPA and CAL MG abbreviations mean?
EPA to me has to do with omega 3 lol so I just wanted some clarity. I basically saw Calcium Carbonate on the ingredients and then the chameleon academy page recommended it. But I’m fine switching back to a normal calcium like Repashy or Fluckers.

I ordered the mesh feeder yesterday and I skipped his feeding today so he is officially being weaned.
Thanks so much! I appreciate you all.
 
Absolutely! I’ll check when I get home. The mounted branches on the side are 9inches from the screen to make the basking around 8inches. But yes, will measure and get back to you today.

Could you clarify on the Arcadia? EPA and CAL MG abbreviations mean?
EPA to me has to do with omega 3 lol so I just wanted some clarity. I basically saw Calcium Carbonate on the ingredients and then the chameleon academy page recommended it. But I’m fine switching back to a normal calcium like Repashy or Fluckers.

I ordered the mesh feeder yesterday and I skipped his feeding today so he is officially being weaned.
Thanks so much! I appreciate you all.
Sorry ignore the EPA CALMG... I have been fighting a really bad migraine all morning. So the EPA is fine. But the thing is Arcadia recommends them in a feeding cycle so everything is balanced. I will include that info below for you. While some chams do great on them some dont seem to handle the additional additives they put in. Not a lot is known as far as is this too much bee pollen or just too much water soluble vitamins. YOU can see this with Repashy LoD and their regular calcium plus too. For a long time people recommended those at every feed and while some chams would do fine others would show signs of edema and gout. I had to pull my cham off arcadia supplements as I believed the bee pollen was too much because he developed edema. We saw this with a few other keepers as well. Only thing changed was supplements and edema went away. What I like about the repashy NoD is that it is a super fine calcium without D3 powder that sticks well to insects without coating them too much. I never had any issues using their NoD or the LoD in the rotation I recommended to you.

Arcadia supplements

So arcadia is a 3 product system done in an 8 feed cycle. This is why you want to chart it on a calendar. It is in the following rotation and you stay in that order no matter how many feeding days are skipped.

EP-A 1st feeding
EP-A 2nd feeding
EP-A 3rd feeding
Calmg 4th feeding
EP-A 5th feeding
EP-A 6th feeding
EP-A 7th feeding
Revitalize D3 8th feeding
Cycle starts again from the beginning.

Arcadia revitalize is your multivitamin. It has very low levels of D3 and A so you have to ensure that UVB is spot on.


I really do not think the sticky tongue has anything to do with your husbandry though. Just the feeding method. When you are cup feeding they can target pretty hard and the force causes it to get stuck to the plastic.
 
Sorry ignore the EPA CALMG... I have been fighting a really bad migraine all morning. So the EPA is fine. But the thing is Arcadia recommends them in a feeding cycle so everything is balanced. I will include that info below for you. While some chams do great on them some dont seem to handle the additional additives they put in. Not a lot is known as far as is this too much bee pollen or just too much water soluble vitamins. YOU can see this with Repashy LoD and their regular calcium plus too. For a long time people recommended those at every feed and while some chams would do fine others would show signs of edema and gout. I had to pull my cham off arcadia supplements as I believed the bee pollen was too much because he developed edema. We saw this with a few other keepers as well. Only thing changed was supplements and edema went away. What I like about the repashy NoD is that it is a super fine calcium without D3 powder that sticks well to insects without coating them too much. I never had any issues using their NoD or the LoD in the rotation I recommended to you.

Arcadia supplements

So arcadia is a 3 product system done in an 8 feed cycle. This is why you want to chart it on a calendar. It is in the following rotation and you stay in that order no matter how many feeding days are skipped.

EP-A 1st feeding
EP-A 2nd feeding
EP-A 3rd feeding
Calmg 4th feeding
EP-A 5th feeding
EP-A 6th feeding
EP-A 7th feeding
Revitalize D3 8th feeding
Cycle starts again from the beginning.

Arcadia revitalize is your multivitamin. It has very low levels of D3 and A so you have to ensure that UVB is spot on.


I really do not think the sticky tongue has anything to do with your husbandry though. Just the feeding method. When you are cup feeding they can target pretty hard and the force causes it to get stuck to the plastic.
No worries. I appreciate you taking the time to explain all that! :)
Sorry for the confusion. I don’t use Arcadia Revitalize. I use the Repashy Calcium Plus LoD multivitamin and the Arcadia Earth Pro A as my daily calcium. I’ll buy Rephasy NoD today.
Thanks again!
 
No worries. I appreciate you taking the time to explain all that! :)
Sorry for the confusion. I don’t use Arcadia Revitalize. I use the Repashy Calcium Plus LoD multivitamin and the Arcadia Earth Pro A as my daily calcium. I’ll buy Rephasy NoD today.
Thanks again!
Yeah I know I just wanted to give you their info for how they recommend use of their products specifically. :) I tend to give too much info. lol
 
Yeah I know I just wanted to give you their info for how they recommend use of their products specifically. :) I tend to give too much info. lol
Appreciate you! Also, I just measured. From the screen where UVB sits to the basking branch is actually 9.5inches. And he’s about 2-3 inches tall. Is that too far? Or is that ok?
 
Appreciate you! Also, I just measured. From the screen where UVB sits to the basking branch is actually 9.5inches. And he’s about 2-3 inches tall. Is that too far? Or is that ok?
It will still be within range with a brand new bulb. Once a bulb has burned in its output will reduce slightly. I would make sure it is absolutely no farther than that though and that it is directly below where the fixture is. Uvb disbursement really is focused directly below the fixture and reduces greatly a few inches outside of that. Might consider putting in another branch you can hook in so that it is slightly higher maybe running parallel to the other to let him choose which level he wants to be at.
 
It will still be within range with a brand new bulb. Once a bulb has burned in its output will reduce slightly. I would make sure it is absolutely no farther than that though and that it is directly below where the fixture is. Uvb disbursement really is focused directly below the fixture and reduces greatly a few inches outside of that. Might consider putting in another branch you can hook in so that it is slightly higher maybe running parallel to the other to let him choose which level he wants to be at.
Gotcha okay! I’ll add in another one running highly higher and parallel thank you so much again! :)
 
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