Tongue

[N8bro512]

My 8 month panther cam Ghibli never shoots his tongue far and often misses his target. I know this can be a common issue for ill chameleons but he shows no signs of MDB or any other issues. I cup feed and because of this he has no trouble eating. I have had him for around two months and he has been like this since I got him. If it is an injury will it heal? Or do I just need to train him?

 

[MissSkittles]

Hi. Actually it isn’t very common for a chameleon to not be able to shoot their tongue very far or miss their feeders. It indicates that something is wrong. If you answer the following questions it’ll be so much easier to help you figure out what the problem may be.

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.

--------------

Please Note:

1. The more details you provide the better and more accurate help you will receive.
2. Photos can be very helpful.

 

[N8bro512]

Here is everything:

chameleon type: Male red body blue bar ambilobe age around 8 months

handling: up to once a week, I take him outside where he hangs out on a potted ficus tree

Feeding: fed once every other day, usually consumes two crickets, two dubia roaches, and one/two super worms. Bugs are provided with potato and cricket meal.

supplements: Fluker’s calcium without D3 every feeding minus sundays, switch off every other sunday with Repti-Cal with D3 and Repti-Cal herptivite

watering: home made dripper filled daily and a fogger that goes off for 3 mins every morning and noon. I occasionally hand mist.

Fecal description: Urate is cream colored, has not been tested for parasites under my care.

History: I purchased him from a reptile store about two months ago

Cage info:

type: screen cage with shower curtains on two sides and a backdrop,
Size: 18x18x36 (soon to be upgraded)

Lighting:
Heat: 75 watt basking lamp
Uvb: linear 18 inch T8 5.0 Zilla
Schedule: on at 8:00 am off at 8:00 pm

Temp: gradient is 90 degrees F under basking- 70 degrees F at lowest point in cage (This is currently warmer due to summer wether in Los Angeles) measured with temp gun

Humidity: 55-65 measured with pet store meter

Plants: Some live some fake
Live: philodendron and bromeliad

Placement: corner of room opposite of window that is currently kept open with shades down, not directly under vent

Location: Los Angeles CA

 

[N8bro512]

Here is everything:

chameleon type: Male red body blue bar ambilobe age around 8 months

handling: up to once a week, I take him outside where he hangs out on a potted ficus tree

Feeding: fed once every other day, usually consumes two crickets, two dubia roaches, and one/two super worms. Bugs are provided with potato and cricket meal.

supplements: Fluker’s calcium without D3 every feeding minus sundays, switch off every other sunday with Repti-Cal with D3 and Repti-Cal herptivite

watering: home made dripper filled daily and a fogger that goes off for 3 mins every morning and noon. I occasionally hand mist.

Fecal description: Urate is cream colored, has not been tested for parasites under my care.

History: I purchased him from a reptile store about two months ago

Cage info:

type: screen cage with shower curtains on two sides and a backdrop,
Size: 18x18x36 (soon to be upgraded)

Lighting:
Heat: 75 watt basking lamp
Uvb: linear 18 inch T8 5.0 Zilla
Schedule: on at 8:00 am off at 8:00 pm

Temp: gradient is 90 degrees F under basking- 70 degrees F at lowest point in cage (This is currently warmer due to summer wether in Los Angeles) measured with temp gun

Humidity: 55-65 measured with pet store meter

Plants: Some live some fake
Live: philodendron and bromeliad

Placement: corner of room opposite of window that is currently kept open with shades down, not directly under vent

Location: Los Angeles CA

 

[N8bro512]

Here is everything:

chameleon type: Male red body blue bar ambilobe age around 8 months

handling: up to once a week, I take him outside where he hangs out on a potted ficus tree

Feeding: fed once every other day, usually consumes two crickets, two dubia roaches, and one/two super worms. Bugs are provided with potato and cricket meal.

supplements: Fluker’s calcium without D3 every feeding minus sundays, switch off every other sunday with Repti-Cal with D3 and Repti-Cal herptivite

watering: home made dripper filled daily and a fogger that goes off for 3 mins every morning and noon. I occasionally hand mist.

Fecal description: Urate is cream colored, has not been tested for parasites under my care.

History: I purchased him from a reptile store about two months ago

Cage info:

type: screen cage with shower curtains on two sides and a backdrop,
Size: 18x18x36 (soon to be upgraded)

Lighting:
Heat: 75 watt basking lamp
Uvb: linear 18 inch T8 5.0 Zilla
Schedule: on at 8:00 am off at 8:00 pm

Temp: gradient is 90 degrees F under basking- 70 degrees F at lowest point in cage (This is currently warmer due to summer wether in Los Angeles) measured with temp gun

Humidity: 55-65 measured with pet store meter

Plants: Some live some fake
Live: philodendron and bromeliad

Placement: corner of room opposite of window that is currently kept open with shades down, not directly under vent

Location: Los Angeles CA

 

[jackthejellydragon]

Here is everything:

chameleon type: Male red body blue bar ambilobe age around 8 months

handling: up to once a week, I take him outside where he hangs out on a potted ficus tree

Feeding: fed once every other day, usually consumes two crickets, two dubia roaches, and one/two super worms. Bugs are provided with potato and cricket meal.

supplements: Fluker’s calcium without D3 every feeding minus sundays, switch off every other sunday with Repti-Cal with D3 and Repti-Cal herptivite

watering: home made dripper filled daily and a fogger that goes off for 3 mins every morning and noon. I occasionally hand mist.

Fecal description: Urate is cream colored, has not been tested for parasites under my care.

History: I purchased him from a reptile store about two months ago

Cage info:

type: screen cage with shower curtains on two sides and a backdrop,
Size: 18x18x36 (soon to be upgraded)

Lighting:
Heat: 75 watt basking lamp
Uvb: linear 18 inch T8 5.0 Zilla
Schedule: on at 8:00 am off at 8:00 pm

Temp: gradient is 90 degrees F under basking- 70 degrees F at lowest point in cage (This is currently warmer due to summer wether in Los Angeles) measured with temp gun

Humidity: 55-65 measured with pet store meter

Plants: Some live some fake
Live: philodendron and bromeliad

Placement: corner of room opposite of window that is currently kept open with shades down, not directly under vent

Location: Los Angeles CA

my feedback is in red

chameleon type: Male red body blue bar ambilobe age around 8 months

handling: up to once a week, I take him outside where he hangs out on a potted ficus tree

Feeding: fed once every other day, usually consumes two crickets, two dubia roaches, and one/two super worms. Bugs are provided with potato and cricket meal. feeding is good but It is recommended to use other gut loads and not cricket meal with potatoes. Fresh veggies and fruits are great and that cricket meal is probably not very good. I will have a graph of what to use as gut load

supplements: Fluker’s calcium without D3 every feeding minus sundays, switch off every other sunday with Repti-Cal with D3 and Repti-Cal herptivite seems pretty good I don't know a lot about supplements but I do know what to use and how to use it. using Repashy Calcium plus lod or reptivite with D3 would be a good alternative that you could use as your multivitamin and calcium with your D3 all at once. so use the Flukers without d3 every feeding except every 2 weeks use either the Repashy Calcium plus lod or reptivite with D3

watering: home made dripper filled daily and a fogger that goes off for 3 mins every morning and noon. I occasionally hand mist. the fogger should only be used at night when temps are 65 degrees or colder. The cage should be either hand misted or have an automatic mister hooked up that goes off right before the lights go on and right after they go off for about 2 to 3 minutes. you don't want to water or mist if it is hot at noon because moisture combined with heat could give your chameleon a respiratory infection.

Fecal description: Urate is cream colored, has not been tested for parasites under my care.

History: I purchased him from a reptile store about two months ago

Cage info:

type: screen cage with shower curtains on two sides and a backdrop,
Size: 18x18x36 (soon to be upgraded) when upgrade go to at least a 24 x 24 x48 or bigger

Lighting:
Heat: 75 watt basking lamp
Uvb: linear 18 inch T8 5.0 Zilla you will need a T5 linear either reptisun 5% or arcadia 6%. T8 is old technology and will not put out proper UV levels. when you upgrade enclosure get a 22'' or larger length bulb. the reptisun need to be replaced every 6 months and the arcadia need to be replaced every year. you need your uvb basking branch to be eight inches below the light for proper UV levels.
Schedule: on at 8:00 am off at 8:00 pm

Temp: gradient is 90 degrees F under basking- 70 degrees F at lowest point in cage (This is currently warmer due to summer wether in Los Angeles) measured with temp gun Your basking temp is way to hot and should be 80 to 83 degrees I recommend 80 or 82 because it will increase lifespan and a hotter bulb can do damage and shorten lifespan. Your ambient temp and lowest point of the enclosure should be 70 to 73 you can lower your basking temp by using a lower watt bulb so maybe a 60 watt or 50 watt would be Good. just use what gives you the proper temps

Humidity: 55-65 measured with pet store meter

Plants: Some live some fake
Live: philodendron and bromeliad check out this link for safe plants.Chameleon Cage Plants - Chameleon Academychameleonacademy.com

Placement: corner of room opposite of window that is currently kept open with shades down, not directly under vent seems good just make sure you have good airflow in the enclosure.

View attachment 305130geles CA

 

[MissSkittles]

Your husbandry looks pretty good, with one main and a few lesser improvements needed. The main one is you need a better uvb light. T5HO with either a 5.0 or Arcadia 6% will give you optimal uvb levels at about 8” down. With a T8, you’d need a 10.0 or 12% bulb to get your levels at only 6” down. While your chameleon doesn’t appear to have mbd now, I suspect the lack of ideal uvb levels are contributing to his tongue problem. Over time, it may lead to mbd. As you say you’ll soon be upgrading his enclosure size, I assume you’ll be getting at least a 2x2x4” enclosure. You’ll need a uvb light that is long enough to span the width, so make sure to get a T5 that will be long enough. This is a great unit and it comes with the bulb. https://www.pangeareptile.com/store/arcadia-prot5-uvb-kit.html
Now the lesser things.
Try to increase the variety of foods that you are feeding to your feeders. The healthier they are, the more nutritious they’ll be for your cham. I’ll attach the gutloading graphic.
Your supplements are good. I don’t believe that Herptivite has preformed vitamin A though, which is needed for eye health. This could be another reason for poor aim when eating. I like Reptivite. It comes either with or without D3, so make sure to read the label carefully. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00167S5GM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Fogging during the day when it’s warm is risking possible respiratory infection. Fogging should only be done at night when temps are cool. Getting your humidity up during the night simulates natural fog and helps hydrate.
Your temp is a bit high. I’d bring it down a bit to around 82-85.
Lastly is adding more live plants. While panthers don’t eat their plants like veileds do, nothing beats the aesthetic of real greenery. You’ll also want to provide him with more hiding places, cooler shaded areas and climbing roads.
All else looks pretty good to my eyes...including your beautiful little guy.

 

[MissSkittles]

Ah man! Beat by a few seconds! Well, now you’ve got two of us saying pretty much the same.

 

[jackthejellydragon]

Ah man! Beat by a few seconds! Well, now you’ve got two of us saying pretty much the same.

wow funny just noticed the time diffrence