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good news, bad bad bad news

flammysnake Nov 14, 2005 09:05 AM

Good news: Thanks to my never ending insomnia, I finally saw my female use her tongue to try and grab a cricket!

Bad, bad, bad news: Her tongue came out, didn't catch the cricket, and stayed out for about 10 seconds. It was straight out and she seemed to be having trouble bringing it back in. Any idea what has caused this? If I continue to feed her slow moving insects out of a dish will she be okay? Rent and bills are due and the kitten is sick and going to vet today, so money is low, but I don't want to lose poor Cecilia. Any help is appreciated....

Replies (4)

Carlton Nov 14, 2005 12:22 PM

This sounds like 1 or 2 things or a combination of both. First, a rather remote possibility to pass by you. Chams can occasionally damage their tongue, either by overextending it (sort of a sprain), or by biting it unintentionally. It isn't that common, but can happen. Chams can learn to eat without extending their tongue, but it will take a while. If the tongue is damaged from a bite, check to see if the muscle is severed. If not, it will probably heal on its own.

The more common problems are nutritional deficiencies and losing muscle tone in the tongue because they feed out of a cup too long and don't have to hunt and shoot far.

Rule out nutritional problems...tell us what you gutload with, dust with, how often, and check your lighting (what brand, how old the bulb is). You can overdose as well as underdose calcium and vitamins.

Stimulate her to hunt and shoot free ranging insects in the cage. Crix just hide all day, as will superworms. Try houseflies. They are active when the cham is, tend to stay up high in the cage near the lights where the cham can see them. You can feed the flies in the cage by putting some fruit baby food in a bottle lid someplace where she can get near them. You can also give her more to hunt by getting the feeders out of a little bowl and letting them roam around in a larger plastic storage box in the cage. She will have to climb down to the rim of the box and shoot from there to reach them. That will help strengthen her tongue.

FlammySnake Nov 14, 2005 03:23 PM

The bulb is a reptisun 5.0, and is only about a month old. I gutload with a combination of cucumbers, carrots, apples, and collard greeans blended up, to provide the crickets with moisture as well. I use calcium(without d3) and another type of vitamin (I can't remember the name, and can't find the bottle....it's around here somewhere...) to dust with about once a week. She hasn't been going for crickets, until today. I've got some roaches started on breeding to provide some variety to her diet, but at least she finally went for crickets again. I usually keep the cup with food on the bottom to make her go and get it, occasionally hand-feeding, but not often.

Carlton Nov 15, 2005 01:02 PM

Let me clarify what I suggested as a feeding bin...it still might help. If the feeders are in a cup small enough that she doesn't really need to shoot her tongue to catch them it won't matter where you put the cup (unless there is no branch or other climbing route right up to it). In a larger box she can't get close enough to the food to avoid using her tongue. She may be bored with her food too, and not making much of an effort to get it. Do you feed her every day? If so, try every other day so she develops more of an appetite. Again, I really think active flying feeders help stimulate interest and shooting skills. Chams are predators after all, and you have probably heard about the problems zoos have with their predators...boredom. We all need a bit of challenge in life!

PHEve Nov 14, 2005 04:47 PM


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