Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had to share this. also because it comes with a question.

So im sitting on my couch, and from the other side of the room where charlie's setup is i hear a THAWACK!! and than the branches shook violently. I ignored the noise and went back to what i was doing. I heard the noise again from the cage and finnaly got up to investigate what he was doing. Looking into the cage i see charlie getting ready to shoot out his tounge to grab a couple of mealworms i put in their for a little snack. Well, the THWACK was comming from charlie shooting his tounge into the side of the clear 3 inch deep plastic bowel trying to get to the worms he sees at the bottom of the bowel. The shaking was comming from him trying to retract his tounge from the bowel thinking he got something. He was nearly yanking himself off his branch. He was obviously getting very frustrated and just tried harder and faster to get to the worms. Meanwhile i was laughing to hard to help him, esspecially when he keeps looking at me with a look that seemed to say "WHY IN GOD'S NAME ARN"T YOU HELPING ME!?!?!?!?!" After i dried the tears of laughter off my face i put my hand in the cage to scare him up to a higher branch (which is a pain considering how much he doesnt care about my hand). From the higher branch he was able to get to the worms.

My question is this. Is this bad for him? can he hurt himself doing this, or it is just something the dumbass willl have to figure out on his own? The bowel does not have any sharp edges.

Speaking of not being afraid of my hand, i have found out that he DOES NOT LIKE the misting thing i have, even if i am not spraying anywhere near him. Hes going to have to live with it.

Jeff

lol awesome story and very good writing!

I've seen my cham do that a few times. I don't think it is really bad for them enless the thing they stick jerks away...which can pull out there tongue.

I read a story on here that someone was handfeeding their cham and when the cham stuck her she was frightened and jerked her hand away, tearing her chameleon's tongue off.

I would say it is fine and he will figure it out eventually. You could also try using a dark colored bowl/glass.

And yes, sometimes they hate the mising and sometimes they don't. Sometimes (even if it IS warm water) Dexter will just hate the misting and he will run to take cover under some leaves. Other days he doesnt care if I spray it right at him (this is usually when he is thirsty). My girlfriend's female cham LOVES being soaked with water anytime. Funny creatures =D
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1.0 Sunburst Veiled Chameleon -- Dexter
1 year old

sticking to someone's hand or even the cup would unlikely pull out the tongue :-O Sounds like the superworm eating thru the stomach stories.

It CAN damage the tongue by constantly slamming it into the side if a hard cup and as for "figuring it out" why make them suffer? Just use a solid cup.
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info
1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleon - Cyrus
0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she's back!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

I know that in a way it is "funny" to watch, but he can hurt his tongue and imagine it from his point. I switched to solid colored/designed containers (cottage cheese, etc.).

As for misting, try doing it from above where he can't see you doing it, and that it just lands on him. The finer the spray, the better. Use hot water, which will be cooled as it moves thru the air and will be warm for him.
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Chameleon Help & Resource Info
1.0 Nosy Be Panther Chameleon - Cyrus
0.1 Veiled Chameleon - Luna. She's now hanging from her big jungle gym in the sky
1.0 Beardie - Darwin
0.2 felines - Kyndra and Lita
0.1 African Clawed Frog - Skipper
0.1 Mad. Hissers and she's back!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

Will do, thanks.

Lele is right on with those suggestions. I have seen Jackson's frustrate themselves with my early attempts at feeding containers and solid colors are a must (not the smartest reptiles). Also it seems to help if the dish has a direct line of sight from a perch. As for watering i spent weeks perfecting this problem. In the end i used some very small diameter tubing that i rigged up to a peanutbutter jar via various connections and silicon adhesive. I put the jar atop the cage and kept the jar far enough from the light so it was room temp water and the tube was small enough that it released a drop about every 4 sec giving the lizards about an hour or more to drink as it dripped down a series of leaves. A very non-aggersive system. A second option is to turn a small fountain into a drip system by extending the pump tube to the top of the cage but the fountain dries up within a day or two.

-phillip