Chameleon tongue completely detached

AaQb420509 said:
Wow smh . Chameleons aren’t even supposed to be handled why let a kid around it if theyre not prepared for something like a tongue punch lol. Sorry to hear that , but sounds like irresponsible ownership to me .
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This type of response is not helpful. Not only does it not help the OP but responses like this deter other New members from posting and receiving help.

In the future I hope you will treat others with the same kindness you have received from the members of this forum. And if you are not able to do that then please do not respond at all.
 
Beman said:
This type of response is not helpful. Not only does it not help the OP but responses like this deter other New members from posting and receiving help.

In the future I hope you will treat others with the same kindness you have received from the members of this forum. And if you are not able to do that then please do not respond at all.
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Yea i get that but so we cant even say whats on our mind . It was a genuine question why have a kid handle the chameleon if not ready for an accident tongue hit . Congrats she was cleaning the cage , and i get thats a great way to make a bond just makes no sense why get that scared to yank your hand away .especially If youve been hand feeding for a bit already .hope your cham recovers .
 
AaQb420509 said:
Yea i get that but so we cant even say whats on our mind . It was a genuine question why have a kid handle the chameleon if not ready for an accident tongue hit . Congrats she was cleaning the cage , and i get thats a great way to make a bond just makes no sense why get that scared to yank your hand away .especially If youve been hand feeding for a bit already .hope your cham recovers .
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Why would you want to say hurtful and judgmental things when you don't even have all of the information? Do you even know how old OP's daughter is, because she didn't say. Her daughter could be 35 for all any of us know. Plus, accidents happen to the best of us and that's just the way life is. Saying mean and judgmental things benefits no one and hurts us all. We have a very special community here and many of us have worked hard to keep it welcoming and helpful to all. I am holding back on my response to you in order to maintain what we have built here and simply ask for you to do the same. If you aren't able to do this, perhaps a different community would be better suited to you.
 
AaQb420509 said:
Yea i get that but so we cant even say whats on our mind . It was a genuine question why have a kid handle the chameleon if not ready for an accident tongue hit . Congrats she was cleaning the cage , and i get thats a great way to make a bond just makes no sense why get that scared to yank your hand away .especially If youve been hand feeding for a bit already .hope your cham recovers .
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If what is on your mind is not constructive or helpful then no it is better to say nothing at all. You have no information about how old the daughter is. I could say my daughter was handling my chameleon and something happened... my daughter is 19.

You based your response off assumption that came off extremely rude and unfriendly. It is not how we approach people in this forum.

It may surprise you but what her daughter did is actually human instinct... It is normal for a person of any age to pull back when they are physically targeted by a chameleon. I have seen this exact situation multiple times over the years being in this forum.

Please understand the way we treat people in this forum matters. The regular members here like myself have worked very hard to ensure this is an inviting place for anyone to come and get help without judgement.
 
Beman said:
If what is on your mind is not constructive or helpful then no it is better to say nothing at all. You have no information about how old the daughter is. I could say my daughter was handling my chameleon and something happened... my daughter is 19.

You based your response off assumption that came off extremely rude and unfriendly. It is not how we approach people in this forum.

It may surprise you but what her daughter did is actually human instinct... It is normal for a person of any age to pull back when they are physically targeted by a chameleon. I have seen this exact situation multiple times over the years being in this forum.

Please understand the way we treat people in this forum matters. The regular members here like myself have worked very hard to ensure this is an inviting place for anyone to come and get help without judgement.
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She is 12, for the record. And not scared of her cham at all. She was helping our breeder care for the chams for several months before we brought Kailie home. Unfortunately, in all our research and prep, we never ran across "careful, the tongue can fall out!"
 
KailieBug said:
She is 12, for the record. And not scared of her cham at all. She was helping our breeder care for the chams for several months before we brought Kailie home. Unfortunately, in all our research and prep, we never ran across "careful, the tongue can fall out!"
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Honestly it does not matter what her age is... I have mentored 12 year olds in this forum that have become some of the best keepers. I am sure this was very traumatic for your daughter as well.

Accidents happen and unfortunately chams target their people's hands because they relate it to food. My boy does this and I am constantly having to have one eye on him to make sure he does not take me by surprise.

I have seen tongue injuries happen with cup feeding too. Where their tongue gets stuck and the keeper pulls back the cup thinking that will help it to release and instead it causes it to hyper extend.

Regardless of the comment made to you know you are very welcome here and we are happy to help in any way we can. :)
 
Here’s some links you might find helpful. Plenty of chameleons live a normal life without a tongue. One of my little veiled girls when to a friend and she lost her tongue.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/tongue-swallowing.54957/#post-515928
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/ms-whats-in-a-name.136266/#post-1172309

Here’s another friend that her boy lost most of his tongue.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/i-cant-stop-the-tears-he-ate-2-worms-and-a-cricket.100742/

If you search on here you can find many chameleon do well without their tongue. Here’s one that came off the same as yours did.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/tongue-lost.135857/
 
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jannb said:
Here’s some links you might find helpful. Plenty of chameleons live a normal life without a tongue. One of my little veiled girls when to a friend and she lost her tongue.

https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/tongue-swallowing.54957/#post-515928
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/ms-whats-in-a-name.136266/#post-1172309

Here’s another friend that her boy lost most of his tongue.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/i-cant-stop-the-tears-he-ate-2-worms-and-a-cricket.100742/

If you search on here you can find many chameleon do well without their tongue. Here’s one that came off the same as yours did.
https://www.chameleonforums.com/threads/tongue-lost.135857/
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thank you!
 
Plenty of chams live without the tongue.

For me, two ended up hyper extending them, which caused them to never shoot out again. They turned into iggy/beardy tongued, and they learned they had to get right up to a feeder to eat. They all had to be tong fed the rest of their lives sans a silky placed on a stick for them to find later.

As others have stated, the complete lack of tongue has the issue of making sure water does not go down the wind pipe. Dropper training may be required, but then again i have only rarely seen my chams drink period. So may be that normal feeders and maybe some silkies/horns is all that is required.

Plus chams with tongues are known to not be big chewers (unlike beardies that chew every bite 32 times) So you just need to find feeders of correct size (and the size may be bigger, not smaller).

I would advice to not feed them BSFL and meal worms/supers unless the feeder has had its head pinched. Even chams with tongues that are known to just wolf it down, have had BSFL come out the other end and start wiggling again.
 
nightanole said:
Plenty of chams live without the tongue.

For me, two ended up hyper extending them, which caused them to never shoot out again. They turned into iggy/beardy tongued, and they learned they had to get right up to a feeder to eat. They all had to be tong fed the rest of their lives sans a silky placed on a stick for them to find later.

As others have stated, the complete lack of tongue has the issue of making sure water does not go down the wind pipe. Dropper training may be required, but then again i have only rarely seen my chams drink period. So may be that normal feeders and maybe some silkies/horns is all that is required.

Plus chams with tongues are known to not be big chewers (unlike beardies that chew every bite 32 times) So you just need to find feeders of correct size (and the size may be bigger, not smaller).

I would advice to not feed them BSFL and meal worms/supers unless the feeder has had its head pinched. Even chams with tongues that are known to just wolf it down, have had BSFL come out the other end and start wiggling again.
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Is BSFL black soldier fly larva? That's actually the worms most recommended by our breeder, as they're high in calcium.

I was also wondering about her ability to swallow without a tongue. Poor little baby 🙁
 
KailieBug said:
Is BSFL black soldier fly larva? That's actually the worms most recommended by our breeder, as they're high in calcium.

I was also wondering about her ability to swallow without a tongue. Poor little baby 🙁
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Yup there have been plenty of cases posted even in the last year of the unchewed ones coming out the other end and starting to wiggle again. There doesnt seem to be any harm to said chams, but i wouldnt take a chance with a large amount of them with a disabled cham.

Now you can still feed them the BSFL, but you have to squish head, or some poke them with a pin. You just have to give them a mortal wound. Plus if you think about it, if they come out the other end wiggling, then they had no nutritional value :p
 
Hello and welcome! I just wanted to jump on here and let you know you are in excellent hands with everyone that has been giving you advice on your darling girl. Sending you a virtual hug. I hope she recovers well and that you stick around so we can see how she does. ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
 
3.5 days post injury.
She does not appreciate the IM antibiotics, but she's doing better with accepting pain meds and syringe feeding. The vet thinks we can try to reintroduce live bugs in a couple of days.

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This photo taken last night at 8 days post injury. She was about to be syringe fed, which is why I'm holding her.
We have tried reintroducing live food, and she is definitely interested, as she kind of opens and closes her mouth, like she's smacking her lips. But then she runs away. Bringing the bugs closer to try to put them in her mouth makes her run faster.
I was getting really worried as she hadn't pooped since she lost her tongue, but she had a big poop yesterday. She's lost a bit of weight even with syringe feeding, from 32 g on day of injury to 29 g now, so also worried about that.
Seeing the vet again later today.
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kinyonga said:
How do you give her water now?
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The vet tells me that she should learn to kind of "mouth" the leaves, and get water that way, but I really worry about this. For now, the liquid diet she is on is mixed with enough water that she has been staying hydrated with that. The vet also has said that if she will go back to live bugs, it may be a good idea to give her more hydrating ones, like horn worms and silk worms more often, and that we may end up supplementing the bugs with injected vitamins, in order to ensure that Kailie gets proper nutrition. Of course, that all depends on if she will go back to live food.
 
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