Weird Tongue Behavior

[Leon911]

Hay guyz'z

I've been noticing some unusual behaviour in my 5 month old male veiled chameleon.

So I got a potted plant with soil in the lil guy'z cage and I put glass marbles over top of the soil so he doesn't inject the plant's soil. Now very rarely but on multiple occasions I've seen him walk on top of the marbles and poke at them with his tongue a number of times as if he is trying to eat them. His tongue doesn't stick to them or anything but I find it really weird. I observed him do it like 5 times in a row and I made sure that there wasn't any small bug or anything wedged between them that he was aiming at. I observed him do this after I had sprayed the tank down with water-mist so maybe he was doing it to collect water? Maybe he is working out is tongue? I have no idea.


Another question, but not as important, that I have is how much I should be feeding him. I got him half inch crickets and some reasonably sized super worms which he loves. I calcium coat every other day and d3 twice a month but he won't usually stop eating. I feel like I feed him enough because when he first sees food he is really energetic but after he eats a bit he loses interest in food. I'm just worried about over feeding him I guess.

Thanks fellas

 

[Daguerreotype13]

well for the cricket question, rule of thumb states "don't feed a chameleon a cricket that is any bigger than the width between his eyes" so, base the size of the crickets you buy off of this.

Secondly, about the marbles. the attraction of chameleons to water droplets on a leaf isn't the "smell" of the water, it is the fascinating glistening of the water droplets. The shine and glisten of light through the water droplets attracts the chameleons to it, it's how they distinguish water as a drinkable source. My theory is that the marbles generally have a shine to them, and the light reflecting from the lights on the cage setup makes them glisten like water droplets. so, in theory, your chameleon is licking them as he would water droplets, trying to get a drink.

Personally, i would remove the marbles because you don't want one accidentally sticking to his tongue, that poses as a choking hazard. Instead, collect / buy large potting stones and place those on top of the soil. These do a magnificent job shielding the chameleons from accidentally ingesting the soil, yet they are easily distinguishable to the chameleon as a non-edible substance.

 

[melric]

^^^ That is a good answer and most likely the cause. Marbles are clear like water too. I would change them out and wait and see. If he has been licking the marbles all the time you may want to mist him more.

 

[Stanly]

well for the cricket question, rule of thumb states "don't feed a chameleon a cricket that is any bigger than the width between his eyes" so, base the size of the crickets you buy off of this.

Secondly, about the marbles. the attraction of chameleons to water droplets on a leaf isn't the "smell" of the water, it is the fascinating glistening of the water droplets. The shine and glisten of light through the water droplets attracts the chameleons to it, it's how they distinguish water as a drinkable source. My theory is that the marbles generally have a shine to them, and the light reflecting from the lights on the cage setup makes them glisten like water droplets. so, in theory, your chameleon is licking them as he would water droplets, trying to get a drink.

Personally, i would remove the marbles because you don't want one accidentally sticking to his tongue, that poses as a choking hazard. Instead, collect / buy large potting stones and place those on top of the soil. These do a magnificent job shielding the chameleons from accidentally ingesting the soil, yet they are easily distinguishable to the chameleon as a non-edible substance.

I agree mostly! I'd go with lager stones as stated so there's no risk of him geting them in his mouth. HOW EVER I have my soil covered with large rocks and sometimes my guy still bites them (he can't really bite them as they are to large, but he tries) so I'm not so sure he knows they are non-edible (or if he's just pissed off at them because he can't get to the dirt)

 

[Tandra Lee]

licking marbles

ok..so its really early here and i am tirred so this is my excuse for laughing insanely ....."licking marbles" hahahahahaha omg i find this so funny..not too sure why,as i said im tirred so maybe thats why hahahahaha i would go with the suggestions above as well...still laughing hahahaha..

 

[Leon911]

Okay, well should I perhaps get some non-see through marbles? As for the cricket question I wasn't asking about size, I was asking about quantity. Should I feed him until he can't eat anymore? Or whatever I think is reasonable?