Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 9 month old female veiled chameleon misses her food a lot when she tries to catch it. usually when she misses it I am holding it or it is on a leaf. She gets enough to eat because I make sure that she eats the crikets when I put them in her cage. Could there be a problem or is she just not that coordinated.
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Meg

Tongue dysfunction can sometimes be caused by MBD. Would you like to go over your supplementation, gutloading/feeding of insects, and UVB/temperatures to see if there is a problem?

Its also possible that it could have been caused by an injury to the tongue if it was a sudden development.

Ok this is my set up.

She has a 100gal mess cage. There is a 5gal bucket full of damp play sand if she becomes gravid. I use a zoomed 100watt basking spot bulb for heat and a 20watt super uv coil-lamp fluorescent bulb for uva and uvb. There are branches criss crossing her cage anf fake plants at the moment because I am leting her hibiscus get a month or two of pure sunlight. She gets 5 large crickets every other day. I gut load them with royal jelly bee pollen and give them water. She gets one wax worm every few days and sometimes a wax moth, they are fed oatmeal and honey. I also dust the crickets every two to three weeks with phosphorous free tri-cal fortified with D3. I also fed her hibiscus flowers whenever one blooms, she usually eats most or all of the flower. There are no fertilizers or pestisides on the plant.

Every once in a while when it good weather I put her in a smaller cage that can be put outside. I usually leave her out there for a few hours for natural uva and uvb intake.

I really started to notice that she was missing her food about a week or two ago and she has not had any problems before. The only thing that I can think of is that I have started to hand feed her more and she will shot for my fingers thinking it is the food and is gets stuck for a little bit. I chould have pulled it away when it happened and injured her tongue.

Thats every thing I can think of. If there is anything else I can tell you just ask.
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Meg

What about misting and drinking water? Sometimes chams start missing prey because they are dehydrated and the glands in their tongue don't produce enough moisture to keep the tip sticky. What is the humidity level in the cage? It might be a lot drier than you realize. Check her skin elasticity by gently pulling a fold in your fingers. Release the skin. It should snap back flat quickly. If it remains "tented" for a few seconds she is dehydrated. Her casque should be bulgy and full looking, not concave.

Her cage is normally around 46% humidity. I also mist her 2 or 3 times a day. Her casque is full everytime I look at her really.

Here are some pics of her that I just took. She never likes getting her picture taken. It took me about 20 trys to get some good ones. HaHa

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Meg

Sometimes it can be a hydration issue. Is the aim off, or does the tongue have good stick power?

The air is on all day and it is set at 76. Yeah her tongue sticks good. I also mist her 2 or 3 times a day.
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Meg

Air conditioning really dries out the air. When the AC is in use you probably need to increase how often and how long you spray, or use a room humidifier. Get a good electronic humidity gauge and check...I'll bet that is the problem.