Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey this is a follow up to my last post. My chameleon has had problems with using his tounge, he can only shoot it short distances and timid about using it, like he sticks it in firing position, but never pulls the trigger, I guess. Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Cage type: 36 gallon tall screen cage. Screen on 4 sides, glass on 2.

Temperatures: Basking temp around 98-97. Thermometer. Temperature in coolest spot is 72, 70 at night. Heat on all night incase it gets colder.
Lighting: ZooMed UV Coil lamp. On from 9-9. Heat lamp on all the time.

Humidity: I live in the south. I have a humidity meter. It is around 30/60 depending on the time of day (when I mist).
Water: I have a large bowl with bubbler, and have seen him drinking from it. Mist twice a day.

Food: I see him eating only crickets occaisonally, and now hand feed with this problem. I get them from a bait and tackle shop. Feed tomatoes, banana, collards, blueberries. Gut load apple, collards, lime, lemon, grapes, and carrots. Mealworms, gut loaded with tomatoes.

Supplements: Every other feeding - Trex 2:0 calcium/phosphurous and ZooMed Reptivite

Plants & branches: I have one large potho, a small umberella plant, and many branches, many places to hide.

Chameleon facts: He is around 3 years old. I got him at a petshop.

Handling: I handle him occasionaly, only when I clean the cage.
Veterinarians: Yes, I have seen him twice.
ocuments and SettingsLWBDesktopMY PICS" alt="Image">

Thanks for listing everything. it make it SO much easier to rule things out and/or see a problem. For the most part everything seems OK but a few things stand out

first, you are over supplementing. CA should only be given about once a week to an adult. I know that CA without phosphorus is recommended (Rep-Cal CA/Vit D3 Phos - free) b/c too high P can interfere with Ca absorption. Does the supplement contain vit D3? This is necessary for CA to metabolize properly, unless he spends time getting real sun.

This brings me to your lighting: is that the ReptiSun Compact Fluorescent UVB lamp? I don't know anythng about their coil lamp, does it give UVB? Also, do you replace it about evry 6 months?

You might want to vary your gutloading as well as fruits & veggies that your cham eats. If he is getting excess phosphorus it may be binding the calcium so he cannot absorb it properly and calcium problems often result in tongue problems. Bananas are very high in P. There is a great nutrtional chart here: www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html that gives the Ca ratio on lots of foods. and www.adcham.com has both dry and wet gutload recipes.

Luna had tongue issues a couple times and I believe it was nutritional (she had frequent Ca imbalance).

So try cutting back on Ca and get one w/o the P to see if this helps. I am sure others will chime in and may have others ideas as well.

lele

oh, here's an article all about Calcium supplements
Calcium

-----
Chameleon Help & Resource Info

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 is on the loose!
0.1 Chilean Rose Hair Tarantula - Rosa Leigh
0.1 Goliath Bird-Eater Tarantula - Natasha
?.? Pinktoe Tarantula - no name yet

One other thing I noticed...is your heat lamp on at night? You stated that it was on all the time...24/7? Not good. Your cham needs a 10-15 degree temp drop at night. Down to the low 60's is perfectly fine. Even a dark red or purple light on at night may keep it from sleeping well.

Also, can he shoot at anything free ranging? Chams can get very used to a feeding bowl and can lose the muscle tone in their tongue fairly quickly.

Tongue problems have been said to be caused/the result of imbalances in the chameleon's diet (calcium/D3, vitmin A in particular...although there may be more involved) or dehydration or from bowl feeding (lack of "exercise" of the tongue)or even from injury.

Its not necessary or even recommended to leave the heat on all night provided that the room is above 60F for a veiled. They can take cooler than that, but I have never tried it with my veileds.

All I can tell you regarding lighting is that I have used reptisun 5.0's mainly and had no problems with them. I'm not familliar with the one you are talking about.

Re: water: you could use a dripper as well. Are the pads on either side of his head crest protruding or sunken in?

Re: food...crickets...I don't know how healthy or unhealthy crickets from a bait shop would be. I believe banana is high is phosphorous so it wouldn't be a good choice to use to feed your chameleon. I never feed them tomatoes, but have no real reason for not using them. Try dandelion greens and a little ROMAINE lettuce, melon, sweet potato (slightly cooked or finely diced) diced butternut squash, diced red pepper. See the ADCHAM diet for further gutloading information.

Your gutload should be improved IMHO. While apple, collards,grapes, and carrots are good, try adding sweet potato, squash, red pepper, dandelion greens, mustard greens, etc. for the crickets. I use the same mixture for my mealworms and superworms.

For supplementation...how much you use or whether you use it at all depends on where you live and how much direct sunlight(not through glass or plastic) that your chameleon gets. I use Herptivite and RepCal calcium and RepCal calcium with D3...but my chameleons only get UV light from bulbs as a rule....so I need to use some supplements to make up for the lack of real sunlight. Check the vitamin A and see if its a preformed source or beta carotene. Preformed can be overdosed. There are several good articles about D3/calcium/A regarding interactions of them and their part in MBD that you might like to read on ChameleonJournals. There are several studies being done concerning lights that should be on the web too.

Re: plants...be careful that you use only non-toxic ones in case the insects chew on them or the chameleon chews on them. Make sure that they have been well washed (both sides of the leaves).

You said you have seen the vet twice....did he have any comments on the tongue or your chameleon's health?

Hope you can get this problem solved!