Jackson Tongue Question

[roy hunt]

Hey guys,

I'm new to the forum and have a question.

A little info about my jackson chameleons first. I have 3 jacksons, all are around 5-6 months old now (kinda forgot when I picked them up, lol). They were 3 day old babies that I ran across in a local pet shop. I just happened to be in the back room of the store talking to the manager when I noticed a 10 gallon tank stuck in a dark corner of the room. I walked over to have a look and to my surprise they had baby jackson chameleons in there. Paper towels on the bottom, nothing for them to climb on at all, and stuck in a dark corner no lighting at all not even heat. Only 3 were alive and they hadn't even removed the dead ones. I ask the manager about them and what they intended to do with the 3 that were still alive. He informed me they were born there 3 days ago and they all were just going to die. I was horrified. I offered to take the 3 with me and they agreed.

Brought them home and set them up correctly and after a lot of TLC and many misting showers (several a day for 20 min at a time) they really started to thrive. They are now around 5" body length. I ended up with 1 male and 2 females.

I use zoomed 10.0 for UVB and have some spot lights for basking areas. I use repashy calcium plus and repashy supervite as supplements. They are feed gutloaded crickets, silkworms and hornworms, sometimes a few waxworms as a treat if I can find healthy ones that haven't been in the frig so I can feed them up on a honey mixture to gut load.

All was going really well until the male ate a large hornworm. After that he got to where he couldn't shoot his tongue out except for maybe a inch or two. Thought maybe the horworm might have pinched his tongue since it was so large, but it hasn't got any better. He still eats well and looks great, he just can't shoot his tongue to catch food. They all hand feed very well, so it's easy to make sure he getting food. I just hold it close where he just takes it out of my fingers.

Hoping someone might have some ideas as to what might be going on. His mouth looks great, very pink and healthy looking, no signs of mouth rot. Any advice would be great. Thanks

Roy Hunt

Thanks for looking, sorry for the long post.

 

[Solid Snake]

Hello and welcome to chameleonforums!

We are all super glad youre here.

There are many variables that could factor into the situation.

Please fill this out, in detail, it will help people understand the exact situation, and pass on useful experience:

Chameleon Info:

• Your Chameleon - The species, sex, and age of your chameleon. How long has it been in your care?
• Handling - How often do you handle your chameleon?
• Feeding - What are you feeding your cham? What amount? What is the schedule? How are you gut-loading your feeders?
• Supplements - What brand and type of calcium and vitamin products are you dusting your feeders with and what is the schedule?
• Watering - What kind of watering technique do you use? How often and how long to you mist? Do you see your chameleon drinking?
• Fecal Description - Briefly note colors and consistency from recent droppings. Has this chameleon ever been tested for parasites?
• History - Any previous information about your cham that might be useful to others when trying to help you.

Cage Info:

• Cage Type - Describe your cage (Glass, Screen, Combo?) What are the dimensions?
• Lighting - What brand, model, and types of lighting are you using? What is your daily lighting schedule?
• Temperature - What temp range have you created (cage floor to basking spot)? Lowest overnight temp? How do you measure these temps?
• Humidity - What are your humidity levels? How are you creating and maintaining these levels? What do you use to measure humidity?
• Plants - Are you using live plants? If so, what kind?
• Placement - Where is your cage located? Is it near any fans, air vents, or high traffic areas? At what height is the top of the cage relative to your room floor?
• Location - Where are you geographically located?

Current Problem - The current problem you are concerned about.


Pictures are helpful



Also, I recommend these links:

https://www.chameleonforums.com/blogs/hoj/634-montane-chameleon-care-info.html

 

[roy hunt]

Chameleon Info:

Your Chameleon - Jackson Chameleon, male, 5-6 months old, in my care for 5-6 months.
Handling - Almost never, only if he crawls out when I have the door open and he crawls out and needs to be put back.

Feeding - Gutloaded crickets, silkworms, hornworms, sometimes waxworms when I can find non refrig ones that I can gutload on a honey media I make up. Feeding is everyday, it just depends on what he will eat that day, sometimes 2-3 decent sized silkworms along with maybe a half dozen crickets, sometimes 1 hornworm and a dozen crickets or more just depends on what he wants. Silkworms come with there own media as do hornworms, crickets fed a variety of leafy greens and other fruits and veggies.

Supplements - Repashy calcium plus and Repashy supervit. I only dust crickets not the silkworms and hornworms, dust crickets with calcium every time I feed, supervit at least once a week sometimes more.

Watering - Watering is done by placing the cage in the bath tub and letting a pump up sprayer spray a fine mist all over the cage. Spraying lasts for around 20 min or so, I do this daily or every other day. I do observe him drinking. He seems to love the fine mist covering the cage.

Fecal Description - Never been tested for parasites, droppings look normal brown to dark brown firm nit loose.

History - I noted how I obtained my chameleons as 3 day old babies when I first posted, refer to above.

Cage Info:
Cage Type - Screen cage, 24"x24"x24".

Lighting - Flourescent lighting zoomed 10.0 for UVB and 2 small spot lights for heat. Lights are on for 12 hours a day on a timer.

Temperature - Chameleons are in what I call my frog room (I breed poison arrow frogs). Temp in room stays around 76F, cage temp at bottom is around 76F, top of cage under flourscent light is 78F-80F, basking spots are 82F-85F. Lowest overnight temp is usually 76F but if it's cooler outside may drop a few degrees. I live in Fort Lauderdale FL so not to much temp change.

Humidity - Not sure on humidity level, again this is a room dedicated to dart frog terrariums. Lots of spraying terrariums daily. Chameleons get 20 min shower misting daily to every other day. They all shed very well, no skin sticking and not falling off during shedding which leads me to believe that humidity is good.

Plants - Live plants all schefflera.

Placement - Located in frog room, no air vents blowing on cage, no fans blowing on cage, definitely not in a high traffic area. The chameleons are left alone and see me in the room a few times a day at which time they folow me around the room waiting for me to hand feed them. They are definitely not stressed by room traffic. Top of cage is about 5.5 feet off floor.

Location - Fort Lauderdale Florida

Current Problem - Male Jackson chameleon can't shoot his tongue more than an inch or two.

I hope that filling this out helps, any advice would be great. Thanks

 

[little leaf]

I am to new to give any advice on this, but I did want to THANK YOU for saving the little gals, and guy and the ppl on here are GREAT , and will help you

 

[roy hunt]

Thanks, I really love them. Hate he is not doing well. They are so calm, the one female will crawl out of the cage on you if you let her. I think where they are in a my frog room and undisturbed they associate me with food when they see me. It's funny to see them crawl to their cage fronts when I walk in the room.

Hope someone will chime in with help for the male.

 

[sandrachameleon]

Im glad you found then and saved them. How cruel that they were just going to be left to die like that unless you came along!

did the problem occur immediately after the hornworm, for sure, or is it possible this was a problem that was getting a little worse over time and it only became significant after the hornworm?

when did he eat that hornworm? How many days has the tongue been an issue? its possible there was an injury that is slow to heal.

Are you perhaps over-supplementing?

 

[Solid Snake]

Are you perhaps over-supplementing?

Even if thats not the issue (yet), in my experience the schedule mentioned is way to heavy for a jackson.

Roy, I had issues when using that much RC+ with a jackson.

The link to Hoj's blog I posted above should have more balanced schedules to look into.

Doing a search for supplementing jacksons will show that they tend to be...touchy...when it comes to supplements.

A LIGHT plain hos.-free calcium on most feeders, with a little repashy once a week would be much closer to an appropriate schedule.
I opted out of using the RC+ for my jackson, though others have had success with it. Im rusty on supp info, so Id definitely get some more opinions, and do a ton of research on the matter until you can sort it out. Id really just recommend researching nutritional info any time you have a free second, as there is a ton to learn, and the more you know, the easier it is to understand how the animals nutritional needs should be addressed.

The only other thing that jumps out at me, is that they need more misting.

One 20min session every day, or other day is going to cause problems.

You need to shot for 3-5 mitings in my opinion, from 3-10 min in length.(will vary greatly from situation to situation, depending on your RH levels in the environment they are kept in. You want things to dry out in-between misting)

Do you have a misting system for your frogs you could tie them into?

 

[roy hunt]

Thanks to all those who have added helpful information.

The problem did start after he ate the large hornmorm. He was shooting just fine until then.

I will look into supplementing and change my routine a bit. I will also change up the misting schedule.

The wierd thing is the 2 females seem to be thriving on what I'm doing. And he was until he ate that large hornworm. Not that it was the hornworm that caused this, but it was the very next day he couldn't shoot his tongue.

Would hate to lose him after I worked so hard to save him in the first place.

Thanks and any other advice is greatly appreciated : )

 

[sandrachameleon]

And he was until he ate that large hornworm. Not that it was the hornworm that caused this, but it was the very next day he couldn't shoot his tongue.

then it is likely that he strained himself eating it. hand or cup/bowl feed for awhile. It is possible he will get better.