Tongue broken?!!?!

[whiteogre]

Your Chameleon - Panther chameleon, male, 5 years old, been in my care since it was a baby
Handling - i rarely handle my chameleon
Feeding - I feed my panther 6-10 crickets a day he has an eye issue so I hand feed him and whenever he stops eating I stop feeding.
Supplements - I use rep-cal calcium dust, I dust crickets before each feeding.
Watering - Since panther has eye problem I spray water directly into his mouth daily.
History - He has an eye problem is the only other sickness

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 12x12x18 screen
I didnt feel like any of the cage and lighting descriptions were relevant to this issue..


My Issue is that my chameleons tongue seems to be broken. He shot for a cricket i was feeding him and missed badly. then the tongue seems to come back in his mouth then kind fell to the side and he stumbled around the cage after it. I picked them both up and he eventually got it back in his mouth, but as im looking at him now his tongue has fallen back out and I have no idea what to do?? is this an issue a vet can fix? what can I do please respond!!!!!!

 

[sandrachameleon]

Yes, if he is unable to fully retract his tongue you will probably need a vets assistance.

filling out the form completely may be worth doing - you never know what might be relevant that you hadnt considered

out of curiosity, What is the "eye problem"?

 

[chamyndst8]

From what I've heard there's not much you can do to fix the tongue. Only time will fix it. If his tongue is still out of his mouth;Try to remove stuff that he climbs on so that he will stay at the bottom his cage. It's kind of difficult to walk around with this big long thing hanging out of his mouth; You don't want him to get it wrapped around something. I have heard it can take up to 24 hour hours to retract his tongue; if not go to the vet. Good luck.

Does anyone else here in the forum have any suggestions?

 

[Monkeykungphu]

Cage Info:
Cage Type - 12x12x18 screen
I didnt feel like any of the cage and lighting descriptions were relevant to this issue..

This is off topic, but important.... 12x12x18 inches is entirely too small of a cage for an adult panther.

Good luck with the tongue issue, hopefully a vet can help you & your panther out...

 

[FFSTRescue]

This sounds like there are more internal issues involved than just the tongue and you need to see the vet asap. Make sure to keep the tongue moist. I hope all goes well

 

[whiteogre]

I am taking him to the vet now, his eye issue is while he was shedding he was scratching some leftover off his head and poked his eye
Tearing the cornia. As for the cage size, that is the size that the reptile store told me to get for him.. How large should it be?

 

[laurie]

I use a 24x24x36, some people say 24x24x48. Maybe at this point your guy would be happy with 24x24x36. Good luck with his tongue problem.

 

[PedroANDAshley]

Well ive heard theres not much you can really do about it.
Ive read about this before and in most cases the tounge does retract back in.
Im not a vet or anything but Ive read that you should
Remove all foilage and branches out of the cage and place a few very low HORIZONTAL brandches on the bottom of the cage (so he doesnt get his tounge cuaght)
and put moist paper towels on the bottom of the cage (to keep his tounge moist)

Other than that ppl said to mist often to keep his tounge moist and alot of the ppl said that within a day the tounge retracts back in.

 

[kinyonga]

How did you make out at the vets?