I am so sorry and ashamed

[vladdimir26]

Today, I did something that I think i will never regret. I made a huge accident and it probably hurt my little buddy a lot. I just want to confess because I feel neglected and ashamed and I am furious at myself for doing such thing. Today I decided to give Spyro a wax worm as a treat. I put it in the tip of my finger so he could shoot right at it. What I wasn't expecting was for him to shoot his tongue, and catching the worm AND my finger. When his tongue pulled back my hand automatically yanked back and he hissed hard like he screamed "OOOOUUUCHH!!!!!" He then was able to get his tongue back in his mouth with no trouble but he kinda opened his mouth a bit, kind of like biting his tongue then he closed his mouth. He is now all puffed up in his cage. It was a reflex and I am sorry for such horrible act I have done. and I am so sad and I feel like i have done something so incredibly stupid that a little kid would have done. I'll never forgive myself for this one. I just wanted to confess and get a little bit of the guilt I'm feeling off my shoulders.

 

[MojoStylee]

Don't be too hard on yourself. It seems like that was an instinctual reaction that would be hard to suppress if you were surprised. I'm sure it just scared both of you more than it did harm.

 

[Nellycool1]

Look everybody knows you don't want to hurt your Cham but at least u look after him which takes real dedication and time so don't beat yourself up over it he's better off in your hands than in an in experienced keeper.

 

[camimom]

Is his tongue back in his mouth?


It happens. it was an accident. lesson learned.

Just keep an eye on him, and don tbe surprised if over the next few days he doesnt use his tongue as much. its ok.

 

[xanthoman]

waxworm panic lol

im probably the most vocal against waxworms on the forum, but even i will admit that a single feeding of a waxworm or two isnt likely to cause an immediate health issue for an otherwise healthy cham.

imo, its sort of like the cham equivalent of a human eating a pound of bacon. its unlikely that an otherwise healthy human is going to drop dead from a single lb of bacon (i should know, ive had plenty of them). but it doesnt take very many before a significant health price is paid.

as new keepers we all make mistakes, its inevitable and human.

hopefully whatever health price your cham pays will be rewarded with a more knowledgeable keeper in the future. a good place to start would be sandra chameleons nutritional blog and actually study the issues for yourself. google and cf search are your friends, imo, always study every new feeder, every diet change, every supplement, every new piece of equipment. in most cases you can learn something you didnt already know about it in less than 5 min. jmo and oh yeah, stop feeding wax worms, not that big on hand feeding either. jmo

 

[camimom]

im probably the most vocal against waxworms on the forum, but even i will admit that a single feeding of a waxworm or two isnt likey to cause an immediate health issue for an otherwise healthy cham.

imo, its sort of like the cham equivalent of a human eating a pound of bacon. its unlikely that an otherwise healthy human is going to drop dead from a single lb of bacon (i should know, ive had plenty of them). but it doesnt take very many before a significant health price is paid.

as new keepers we all make mistakes, its inevitable and human.

hopefully whatever health price your cham pays will be rewarded with a more knowledgeable keeper in the future. a good place to start would be sandra chameleons nutritional blog and actually study the issues for yourself. google and cf search are your friends, imo, always study every new feeder, every diet change, every supplement, every new piece of equipment. in most cases you can learn something you didnt already know about it in less than 5 min. jmo and oh yeah,
stop feeding waxworms

i dont think he was concerned about the worm. so much as the tongue getting caught on his finger.

it wasnt about the food, gutloading whatever. its about the fact that the cham tried to eta the bug, and got his finger and got scared.

 

[xanthoman]

waxworm panic lol

sorry double post, i changed my txt size and now i cant get it back to normal ?

 

[ChameleonFan1989]

Don't be so hard on yourself, accidents happen and because it was a normal reflex its what the human body does and don't have control over our reflexes. As long as his tounge went back into his mouth fine, don't worry

Next time you hand feed him, try and let the wax worm wriggle on palm of your hand

 

[sdheli420]

it happens they will get your hand sometimes..you will have to force yourself to stay calm..(its like one of those old 25 cent sticky hands you could get as a kid)..if i get hit, i try to bring it closer to them, trying not to stretch the toungue..it happens..at least next time you may know what to expect..

 

[DekuScrub]

hey guys, all i feed my cham is waxworms...should i stop? jk jk

i had this happen to me once. the getting a tongue stuck on my finger.

it was one of my big nasty male veileds, i didnt yank back though. he wouldnt let go and i slowly let my finger closer and closer for what seemed an eternity then right before the impending chomp i felt the tongue release. he tryed to get me tho, that what i get for feeding hornworms. fingers are just like pink hornworms.

it was like when you fall off a bike and everything goes slow motion and it feels like half an hour. but in this instance everything turned into fluffy clouds and i was safe

 

[d3s5]

Wow, you are really hard on yourself. Yesterday, I had to pull my chameleon back through my neighbor's wooden fence by one leg! He was fighting me the whole time because he has some obsession with getting into their yard. I think they have a female cham over there! Anyway, things happen and chams seem to be pretty resilient little creatures. We can only hope to learn from our mistakes. And I learned to tie a little string on my cham's tail. . .

 

[Olimpia]

You think that's bad? I did something worse in front of Dr. Alfonso and JannB!
I had my little 6 month old panther at Dr. Alfonso's clinic with Jann, who had very generously let me share her appointment time with her. I was holding him, not moving around or anything, trying to pay attention to Dr. A when suddenly the little jerk bit me! Out of pure reflex I pulled my hand away... and he was still holding on by his teeth! So I ended up flinging him half-way across the little exam room! He was fine, and no worse for wear, but I didn't see it coming so it was just pure reflex.

Things happen, so don't be so hard on yourself. Even the best people make mistakes with their pets, it's just something that's inevitable.

 

[DekuScrub]

You think that's bad? I did something worse in front of Dr. Alfonso and JannB!
I had my little 6 month old panther at Dr. Alfonso's clinic with Jann, who had very generously let me share her appointment time with her. I was holding him, not moving around or anything, trying to pay attention to Dr. A when suddenly the little jerk bit me! Out of pure reflex I pulled my hand away... and he was still holding on by his teeth! So I ended up flinging him half-way across the little exam room! He was fine, and no worse for wear, but I didn't see it coming so it was just pure reflex.

Things happen, so don't be so hard on yourself. Even the best people make mistakes with their pets, it's just something that's inevitable.

roflcopter

 

[d3s5]

You think that's bad? I did something worse in front of Dr. Alfonso and JannB!
I had my little 6 month old panther at Dr. Alfonso's clinic with Jann, who had very generously let me share her appointment time with her. I was holding him, not moving around or anything, trying to pay attention to Dr. A when suddenly the little jerk bit me! Out of pure reflex I pulled my hand away... and he was still holding on by his teeth! So I ended up flinging him half-way across the little exam room! He was fine, and no worse for wear, but I didn't see it coming so it was just pure reflex.

Things happen, so don't be so hard on yourself. Even the best people make mistakes with their pets, it's just something that's inevitable.

That is TOO funny! Now I don't feel so bad about the whole wooden fence incident. Once, I accidentally flung my parrot into a bookcase. Oh, the things we do!

 

[Olimpia]

Lol yea, I thought it was very bad. I was mortified, because Jann was so lovingly holding her veiled female and I'd never met Dr. A before, so I was thinking, "Great. Now I'm that girl that flings chameleons around!" lol But you know, things happen. Both still talk to me, so hey!

 

[Elizadolots]

Olimpia, don't hate me...but I would pay to see that video...in fact, if you have it, you could post it on You Tube and make an armload of money....

I would totally do that by the way, just fling him.....I don't handle mine, but when I am required to remove one from the enclosure I usually jump across the room the first time it hisses at me.

 

[xanthoman]

self administered rept-aid

in about 2006 i was injecting some motionless(refridgerated) cricks with reptaid , the thing sprung to life as soon as i stuck the needle in it. it, scared holy bgezzez out of me and i jerked and injected myself with reptaid with the crick still on the needle lol i think im the only one on the forum to have officially injected a human subject with rept-aid. lol

 

[vladdimir26]

Thanks guys . and Olympia ur story made me laugh so hard that my 21 yr old heavy sleeper brother woke up and threw a pillow at me to shut up!. And thanks again everyone. He seems to be doing better. he had a little water and he slept fine. I appreciate all the nice things you all said.