Having trouble using his tongue

[HisNameIsBerto]

I’ve noticed ever since I brought him home he’s had trouble using his tongue. The bug could be really close & he’ll somehow still miss, sometimes by a little, sometimes by a lot. Did notice a white little bump around his right eye, but don’t know if that’s the main issue here.

I work at a Petco & they were brought in as a special order since I had been preparing to get one months before (wanted to make sure I had done my research & had everything set up & ready for when little baby Cosmo came in). He came in w/ a female of the same species & the female is at the store, but doesn’t seem to have the same issue Cosmo does, she’ll catch bugs perfectly w/ her tongue.

• He’s a Furcifer Paradalis Ambilobe Panther Chameleon from Reptiles By Mack (not sure how old, wasn’t specified).

• Have him in a Reptibreeze 18x18x36 (for now)
• Mini Deep Dome W/ a 75w Repti Basking bulb
Basking Temp at 86.7°F & Humidity at 60% (67% more towards the bottom.
• Temperature at night ranges from 64-67°F w/ Humidity at 90%+.
•ReptiSun T5HO Linear hood w/ ReptiSun 5.0 UVB bulb.
•Arcadia Jungle Dawn LED Bar 15W for plants.
•have a Pothos that is going from top right of cage all the way throughout branches to the bottom, a Philodendron golden Melinonii towards the middle growing straight up, dwarf umbrella tree in the foreground, button fern at the bottom & a Rubber Rig middle/back.
• Lights come on at 8AM. At 7:30AM I mist w/ the reptirain for 2 mins, have a dripper throughout the day, & then lights out at 8PM followed by a 2 minute mist again at 8:30PM w/ the Reptifogger going on until 7:30am. (All water being treated w/ ZooMed Reptisafe water conditioner.

• Since I’ve gotten him I’ve been feeding him Medium Crickets, Superworms, & Medium Dubia Roaches all gut loaded w/ Baby carrots & romaine lettuce & dusted w/ Repti Calcium without D3, except on the 15th when I dusted w/ Repashy Calcium Plus.

If any more information needed let me know, just want to know I’m doing wrong or if there’s anything I could to do improve him using his tongue.

 

[elizaann2]

Hello and welcome! My goodness you have such a beautiful boy! I LOVE his reds

Give me a minute and I’ll go through your husbandry. I do see a few things you can adjust better for him

 

[HisNameIsBerto]

Hello and welcome! My goodness you have such a beautiful boy! I LOVE his reds

Give me a minute and I’ll go through your husbandry. I do see a few things you can adjust better for him

Thank you! & yes take your time, I’m open to any advice!

 

[elizaann2]

Hello there! See my responses in bold below

Have him in a Reptibreeze 18x18x36 (for now) - I am not sure on his age either, however panthers do get quite large, I would suggest getting him a 24x24x48 as soon as possible. You can get the larger Reptibreeze, I just bought two on sale for about $60 online at Petsmart, you can also check out Chewy.com. Other great places for better quality enclosures are DIY Enclosures, Dragon Strand and Chameleon Academy enclosures.
• Mini Deep Dome W/ a 75w Repti Basking bulb
Basking Temp at 86.7°F & Humidity at 60% (67% more towards the bottom. - 86 degrees is a little too hot for your beautiful guy. You'll want his basking temp to be 80 degrees. The ambient temp of his enclosure should be a gradient of 78 degrees to 72 degrees. The humidity for him during the day is also a little high, you'll want that to be closer to 40=50% during the day, this allows your enclosure to dry out completely and prevent mold and bacteria from growing in his home.
• Temperature at night ranges from 64-67°F w/ Humidity at 90%+. Perfect!!!
•ReptiSun T5HO Linear hood w/ ReptiSun 5.0 UVB bulb. Perfect!! Panther chameleons need a UVB reading of 3.0 on their top branch, to achieve this have one branch running about 6-9 inches directly below his UVB light.
•Arcadia Jungle Dawn LED Bar 15W for plants. Fantastic! This is an excellent plant light
•have a Pothos that is going from top right of cage all the way throughout branches to the bottom, a Philodendron golden Melinonii towards the middle growing straight up, dwarf umbrella tree in the foreground, button fern at the bottom & a Rubber Rig middle/back. Fantastic! I am not sure on the Rubber Rig plant being safe myself, I have heard that the sap stuff inside the plant is not super great for chameleons. I'll attach some plant safe lists for you to have handy in case you ever need/want to add more foliage in your enclosure
• Lights come on at 8AM. At 7:30AM I mist w/ the reptirain for 2 mins, have a dripper throughout the day, & then lights out at 8PM followed by a 2 minute mist again at 8:30PM w/ the Reptifogger going on until 7:30am. (All water being treated w/ ZooMed Reptisafe water conditioner. Just a tip, if you RO water or distilled water you do not need to use the Reptisafe water conditioner. Your light and misting schedule looks fantastic too btw . The fog machine you may not have to run all night long, I run mine from 11 am to 6 am each night. What color are your chameleon's urates? Do you see your chameleon drink?

• Since I’ve gotten him I’ve been feeding him Medium Crickets, Superworms, & Medium Dubia Roaches all gut loaded w/ Baby carrots & romaine lettuce & dusted w/ Repti Calcium without D3, except on the 15th when I dusted w/ Repashy Calcium Plus. Perfect! Other great feeders are grasshoppers, bsfl, blue bottle flies, houseflies, and silkworms. Super worms are high in fat and addictive so feed those as a treat only. My treat days are on Saturday for example. Monday, Wed, Friday is my staple feeder days. The gut load is great, I am adding a list of other great gut loads for you to review, you will want to feed your bugs a variety of foods. Also consider dry gut loads as well, I use the dry cricket gut load from Josh's frogs and then I also use repashy bug burger as well. Regarding your supplementation schedule, the calcium is great, the Repashy Calcium Plus you will actually want to switch out to the Repashy Calcium LoD, it has a picture of a Jackson's chameleon on it. This supplement you will feed your boy on the 1st and 15th of each month.

Ok regarding his tongue being unable to shoot correctly, this could be caused by a few things, it could be that he did not have proper UVB, if he has been over supplemented with D3 or under or it could have been injured. If he were my cham, I would ensure he has branches 6-9 inches below his UVB light, adjust his supplementation schedule to what I recommended above and then just keep a close eye on him. If it gets worse I'd consider taking him in to an exotic vet with chameleon care experience to see what more could be going on. Chameleons take a LONG time to heal so this would not be something that fixes over night, it could be weeks.

I could be blind but I am not seeing the bump on his eye that you are concerned about. Could you give me more information on that?

 

[HisNameIsBerto]

Hello there! See my responses in bold below

Have him in a Reptibreeze 18x18x36 (for now) - I am not sure on his age either, however panthers do get quite large, I would suggest getting him a 24x24x48 as soon as possible. You can get the larger Reptibreeze, I just bought two on sale for about $60 online at Petsmart, you can also check out Chewy.com. Other great places for better quality enclosures are DIY Enclosures, Dragon Strand and Chameleon Academy enclosures.
• Mini Deep Dome W/ a 75w Repti Basking bulb
Basking Temp at 86.7°F & Humidity at 60% (67% more towards the bottom. - 86 degrees is a little too hot for your beautiful guy. You'll want his basking temp to be 80 degrees. The ambient temp of his enclosure should be a gradient of 78 degrees to 72 degrees. The humidity for him during the day is also a little high, you'll want that to be closer to 40=50% during the day, this allows your enclosure to dry out completely and prevent mold and bacteria from growing in his home.
• Temperature at night ranges from 64-67°F w/ Humidity at 90%+. Perfect!!!
•ReptiSun T5HO Linear hood w/ ReptiSun 5.0 UVB bulb. Perfect!! Panther chameleons need a UVB reading of 3.0 on their top branch, to achieve this have one branch running about 6-9 inches directly below his UVB light.
•Arcadia Jungle Dawn LED Bar 15W for plants. Fantastic! This is an excellent plant light
•have a Pothos that is going from top right of cage all the way throughout branches to the bottom, a Philodendron golden Melinonii towards the middle growing straight up, dwarf umbrella tree in the foreground, button fern at the bottom & a Rubber Rig middle/back. Fantastic! I am not sure on the Rubber Rig plant being safe myself, I have heard that the sap stuff inside the plant is not super great for chameleons. I'll attach some plant safe lists for you to have handy in case you ever need/want to add more foliage in your enclosure
• Lights come on at 8AM. At 7:30AM I mist w/ the reptirain for 2 mins, have a dripper throughout the day, & then lights out at 8PM followed by a 2 minute mist again at 8:30PM w/ the Reptifogger going on until 7:30am. (All water being treated w/ ZooMed Reptisafe water conditioner. Just a tip, if you RO water or distilled water you do not need to use the Reptisafe water conditioner. Your light and misting schedule looks fantastic too btw . The fog machine you may not have to run all night long, I run mine from 11 am to 6 am each night. What color are your chameleon's urates? Do you see your chameleon drink?

• Since I’ve gotten him I’ve been feeding him Medium Crickets, Superworms, & Medium Dubia Roaches all gut loaded w/ Baby carrots & romaine lettuce & dusted w/ Repti Calcium without D3, except on the 15th when I dusted w/ Repashy Calcium Plus. Perfect! Other great feeders are grasshoppers, bsfl, blue bottle flies, houseflies, and silkworms. Super worms are high in fat and addictive so feed those as a treat only. My treat days are on Saturday for example. Monday, Wed, Friday is my staple feeder days. The gut load is great, I am adding a list of other great gut loads for you to review, you will want to feed your bugs a variety of foods. Also consider dry gut loads as well, I use the dry cricket gut load from Josh's frogs and then I also use repashy bug burger as well. Regarding your supplementation schedule, the calcium is great, the Repashy Calcium Plus you will actually want to switch out to the Repashy Calcium LoD, it has a picture of a Jackson's chameleon on it. This supplement you will feed your boy on the 1st and 15th of each month.

Ok regarding his tongue being unable to shoot correctly, this could be caused by a few things, it could be that he did not have proper UVB, if he has been over supplemented with D3 or under or it could have been injured. If he were my cham, I would ensure he has branches 6-9 inches below his UVB light, adjust his supplementation schedule to what I recommended above and then just keep a close eye on him. If it gets worse I'd consider taking him in to an exotic vet with chameleon care experience to see what more could be going on. Chameleons take a LONG time to heal so this would not be something that fixes over night, it could be weeks.

I could be blind but I am not seeing the bump on his eye that you are concerned about. Could you give me more information on that?

I will definitely be looking into that cage! Wanted to start off w/ the one I have now cause I thought he would come in smaller, but I definitely will be upgrading.

For the basking, I was told to get the Fluckers dimmer, would that help w/ bringing it down?

Rubber fig will be taken out! Don’t wanna risk anything bad happening

For water I had filled up a sealed tub halfway w/ tap water & have been using that w/ the reptisafe. Was using bottled water at first, but was told some bottled waters could kill of springtails in the dirt? Not sure His Urates have been normal looking, whiteish- beige colors, w/ small hints of an orangey tone.

Will be switching the Repashy to the one you recommended! Also will look into different ways of Gutloading & feeding more variety from that list!


I’ll have to move the branches down a bit, the highest point (usual spot he likes being at) is 3 inches away from the UVB light. If it does get worse I will definitely take him to a vet

& regarding the bump it’s a super small white spot by the front of his eye, don’t know if it’s normal or if it’s maybe a piece of stuck shed? He hasn’t shed yet since I’ve gotten him so not sure what it could be.

 

[elizaann2]

Hello!

For the basking, I was told to get the Fluckers dimmer, would that help w/ bringing it down? There are a couple things you could do, you could get a lower watt light, mine are all 50s I believe. You could raise the heat lamp above the enclosure or you could get a dimmer. I currently use this dimmer found on Amazon. I do have a really good Govee hygrometer right next to the temp probe on the dimmer to ensure temps are not too high. Regardless of the brand you purchase, I would get another temp gage on your basking branch just to be safe.

For water I had filled up a sealed tub halfway w/ tap water & have been using that w/ the reptisafe. Was using bottled water at first, but was told some bottled waters could kill of springtails in the dirt? Not sure His Urates have been normal looking, whiteish- beige colors, w/ small hits of an orangey tone. Oh I have never heard that about the springtails. I'll have to look into that, I use RO water myself. His urates sound perfect

I’ll have to move the branches down a bit, the highest point (usual spot he likes being at) is 3 inches away from the UVB light. If it does get worse I will definitely take him to a vet . Oh ya 3 inches is too close. You want closer to 9 inches. I know with your size enclosure you don't have a lot of wiggle room so maybe for now you could actually raise the UVB light up above the enclosure so he still can use as much of his enclosure as possible? I sure do hope his tongue issues resolve, please keep me posted.

& regarding the bump it’s a super small white spot by the front of his eye, don’t know if it’s normal or if it’s maybe a piece of stuck shed? He hasn’t shed yet since I’ve gotten him so not sure what it could be. Oh I see, to me that actually looks like a piece of stuck shed. In which case that is nothing to worry about.