Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My Bufo is still active and hungry, but her tongue doesn't work. She tries eating her mealworms, but can't reach them. Sometimes she'll grab them with her mouth instead and shove them in with her hand. Is this an issue for the vet, or does it happen before the animal hibernates? Is it treatable or avoidable? What to do, what to do? Poor Boof.

have you seen your toads tongue besides when she's eating? my american toad used to snap his tongue and then use his hands to shovel the rest into his mouth? i don't think this usually happens before the animal hibernates. their tongues are only about 3 inches i think, are the food further than that away? and does it eventually eat the food?

Haven't seen her tongue except when she eats. She used to flick it out 3 inches and had great accuracy. But now it only comes out about half an inch if that. I have to position her right over her food and she still struggles to get it. If it's an infection, I hope it goes away.

i've never heard of something like that where they can't use thir tongue, but good luck fixing whatever is the matter with it.

Thanks, I'll start by calling the local pet store that sells lizards, ferrets, spiders, sea anemoneas and lots of other weird things. If they don't know, they must use a vet who treats their reptiles.

pet stores rarely take anything to the vet ,either they treat it themselves, or most of the time they will do nothing, but it's worth asking.

Took Bufo to reptile vet and found the tongue problem was probably due to a calcium defiency.

He gave me calcium drops to administer to Bufo orally and suggested I switch her food from meal-worms to crickets gut loaded with calcium feed. He also said to use a UV light on Bufo 4 hours per day because it breaks down vitamins and helps toads absorb calcium.

So, I try that.