Veiled cham has his mouth open

[Chance307]

My male veiled has a dark tongue and aside from not being able to shoot more than a few inches, (I think he might be an old man) he’s okay. Is your guy able to use his tongue properly? If so, I wouldn’t worry about it.

Yes! He's a master catcher lol. I love watching him. But I finally saw his tongue today and it freaked me out when it was pretty much black except the tip.
But omg those banded crickets are crazy lol I fed them for the first time today and it took me 30 minutes to catch 15 of them for him
They are so fast and very jumpy
Here's a pic of the tongue

 

[kinyonga]

You said…”it took me 30 minutes to catch 15 of them”…
These might help. It’s one way to set the crickets up so you just lift the tube or the egg crate piece, full of crickets, out of the container and shake the off into a plastic bag…

 

[LizardLurkin]

Yes! He's a master catcher lol. I love watching him. But I finally saw his tongue today and it freaked me out when it was pretty much black except the tip.
But omg those banded crickets are crazy lol I fed them for the first time today and it took me 30 minutes to catch 15 of them for him
They are so fast and very jumpy
Here's a pic of the tongue
View attachment 364291View attachment 364290

It's not a very clear photo as it's from a video of him eating, but I'm wondering if the long part of the tongue is just often very dark.

I'd imagine maybe the biggest concern is the more blobby round part at the end being noticeably discolored. Their tongues don't look like a bright happy pink on google images either. It's often a sort of Alien Creature organic color. I think your baby's tongue looks pretty normal, based on my small sample size.

 

[Chance307]

You said…”it took me 30 minutes to catch 15 of them”…
These might help. It’s one way to set the crickets up so you just lift the tube or the egg crate piece, full of crickets, out of the container and shake the off into a plastic bag…

Tyyy! I actually prepped one of those! I just need to put the crickets in. I have the banded in a 20qt bin rn. I just received them (250) yesterday from Josh's frogs.
I have a small cricket pen. Im planning on putting enough in that one for 2 days. It should be easier then
Its such a huge difference switching from petco crickets to those

 

[Chance307]

It's not a very clear photo as it's from a video of him eating, but I'm wondering if the long part of the tongue is just often very dark.
View attachment 364292
I'd imagine maybe the biggest concern is the more blobby round part at the end being noticeably discolored. Their tongues don't look like a bright happy pink on google images either. It's often a sort of Alien Creature organic color. I think your baby's tongue looks pretty normal, based on my small sample size.

This kinda calmed me down a bit thank you! I was panicking about it all day

 

[LizardLurkin]

This kinda calmed me down a bit thank you! I was panicking about it all day

I watched a ton of cham videos before getting one myself, so I was familiarized with how actually kind of grotesque (but really cool) their tongues could be.

Still, I have seen some with super duper pleasantly pink tongues. But, I guess it's okay if the reality is that the chest burster from Alien is sitting inside my chameleon's mouth at all times
I totally understand you about the anxiety feelings though. The first few days with one, I was wrought with fear that I was doing something incorrectly, or maybe I wasn't fully prepared despite all my research. I hope you will continue to ask questions and gain helpful knowledge in taking care of Pablo!

 

[kinyonga]

Tongue colour…the whole video is not totally accurate…but I’m posting it to show the tongue colour can vary…


One more…


Last one…

 

[LizardLurkin]

The way twirly eats in the first video the first couple times is so dramatic

 

[ehdee6]

The first few days with one, I was wrought with fear that I was doing something incorrectly, or maybe I wasn't fully prepared despite all my research.

I still feel like this at times. I suppose it goes to show how much we care and want to provide the best for them. You'd be a monster not to have some sort of stress about your pets... Even if it's unnecessary stress.