Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 1.5 yr old male Jackson's has developed a problem with his tongue. whenever he tries to catch food (crickets), he homes in on the insect as normal, but when he tries to extend his tongue to catch it, the tongue only comes out about 1 inch, and not very fast. It's very strange. It's like the tongue is weak, or sprained or something. He wants to catch the prey very much, but he can't "make his tongue work".

He is very healthy, and is eating well. The only thing is, I have to hand-feed him because he can't catch crickets on his own. He is otherwise very healthy, robust and alert. This problem has gotten progressively worse. He had a very mild mouth-juncture infection which has since gone away, but the tongue problem still persists. Has ANYONE ever seen or heard of this problem? Why is his tongue "not working"?

Please describe your supplementation and hydration procedures in detail. Tyhe problem you describer is often related to hyper- or hypo-vitaminosis, Ca ratios, etc. perhaps exacerbated by chronic subacute dehydration. You might also read the relevant articles on vitamins, minerals & supplements in the vet section of www.chameleonjournals.com.

What you describe is a symptom of an underlying husbandry problem and needs to be addressed ASAP. As for the mouth infection: was it in the corner of the mouth? Temporal gland infections are extremely common in jacksonii. I've all but eliminated them by performing regular inspctions of this regions. If I detect and cricket parts or any other kind of debris in this region, I clean the area with a cotton swab and a tiny bit of 10% chlorhexadrine or Betadyne. If you catch these problems early, they're easily fixed. If you let them go, they can become pretty bad and require a vet's intervention.
Ed

Hi, thanks for the reply.

Ok, here's how I supplement my Jackson's;

I feed my crickets Flukers™ cricket feed, the kind with additional calcium added. I water them with the Flukers™ cricket water, the product that looks like "jello".

I offer crickets to my Jackson's every day, and he usually eats about 4 or 5 a day. Once every week and a half or so, I offer vitamin-dusted crickets. I use a 50/50 ratio mix of Herptivite and Reptical.

I house him in a 4'x2'x'2 cage, with a live ficus benjamina in a pot in the center. I have 5 flourescent strips using Reptisun 5.0 bulbs. I offer a dish of water that 'bubbles' over a bit of synthetic plant using an airhose (aquarium pump), as well as spray the tree twice a day. He usually only drinks from the leaves of the ficus after spraying. He pretty much ignores the bubble dish and a drip system I had in place. I just like to offer a backup source of water in case he gets thirtsy.

He has no outward symptoms of dehyrdation, no sunken eyes, a thick tail, good weight, and some days he won't drink from the leaves when water is offered. He has no signs of gullar edema, no injuries, and is even shedding currently.

The tongue problem developed about a month ago and has progressively gotten worse. He is pretty much completely unable to catch prey with his tongue now.

As previously stated, he had a minor mouth-juncture infection, but I cleared it up by swabbing it twice a day with a q-tip dipped in hydrogen peroxide. At first there was some pus, but it has since cleared up, and there seems to be no swelling. I have noticed bits of caseous matter or food that accumulates around the mouth corners now and then, and I always swab it away immediately.

He seems to be in good health except for this "tongue" problem. He is a bit lethargic, but no more so than any other adult male Jackson's I've had in the past. He shows no signs of stress. He sleeps in the same spot every night, goes for a walk or two every day, and the rest of the time he spends perched in the tree. I keep the cage at 76 degrees with an 85 degree basking area, tighly focused.

Any thoughts? I really appreciate the advice.

Check the reptical. When I last looked at the label, it had a large amount of phosphorous in it, way more than it should have had.

Reptical was used by many people I knew, who thought they were using rep-cal, which is only calcium and d3. If I rmember correctly, reptical had more A than D3, and more phosphorous than Ca. This lead to MANY instances of MBD and tongue problems.

I would think they changed the ingrediants on it after all this time, but check. There should be a 2:1 calcium to phosphorus ratio at least, or no phosphorous at all.

Ok, I just realized I DO have Rep-Cal (pinkish bottle). This is what I've been using all along, not Reptocal.

I wonder if the problem is related to the vitamins/calcium. I'm so confused because I really only give him dusted crickets about every week and a half or so. I guess the only thing I can do is eliminate all supplementation for now and see if he gets any better. I mean, the crickets are gut-loaded, so he's not going to get malnourished. And he is full grown (or at least adult size).

Is this tongue-problem reversible, or is there danger of permanent damage?

His living conditions couldn't be any better. I've done a lot of research on Jackson's and I know how to house them. It must be his food.

Thanks for the advice. If anyone else has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Ok, after reading an article in the Chameleon Journals, it looks like over-supplementation may be the cause.

The article says that "excess Calcium causes muscles to become sluggish and weak".

Since the tongue is just a muscle, I'll bet calcium is to blaime for the inability to use it correctly. Like I said, it appears as thought the tongue is "weak".

I think I'll nix the calcium dust for a while, if not all together and see what happens. Hopefully he'll get better.

Thanks so much for the dialogue. This is the best message board I've found. Most message boards I've found about Chameleons have nothing but posts of how "cute" they are or how "my chameleon is special. he winked at me". Intelligent, scientific information sharing is much needed when it comes to these delicate animals.

I think you're right. Cutting the dustings out should help him out. If there is calcium in the cricket food, and calcium in the cricket water, then he probably is getting lots from just that. Let us know how it goes!