Kiwi's infected tounge

KiwiTheChameleon10

KiwiTheChameleon10

Member
So, I was on vacation and my chameleon sitter told me that she come to feed kiwi and her tounge was out. Her tounge had a black spot on it and was at the bottom of the cage. when we got home she was dehydrated and hungry. I searched the Internet to help. I found out that I needed to put her in children's pedialight to rehydrate her and give her vitamins. We have to feed her chicken and chicken gravey baby food by diping a cutip in the jar and put it in her mouth and on her tounge for her to swallow. We took her to the vet and he gave her antibiotics and I could tell he didn't know that much on chameleons. This happened because of a infected cricket going in her water bowl and infecting it, causing her tounge to swell. I also read to increase the heat. I now am looking for a dripper system, if you can recomend one that would be great! Her tounge has not gone back in yet and it's been 4 days. If you have any tips or have experienced this yourself please post. I posted this because I searched for help on this website and couldn't find it. Please, let this be a lesson for new cham owners, DO NOT BE CHEAP AND BUY A BOWL INSTEAD OF A DRIPPER
 
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@KiwiTheChameleon10 Can you post a picture? What do you mean, her tongue has not gone back yet?

I've dealt with one chameleon that had an infected tongue but she used it just fine. I've also dealt with a new import that ripped her tongue off by wrapping it around a branch. I've dealt with tongues that didn't work.

I'm really unclear about what is going on.

I would not recommend feeding chicken and chicken gravy. There are other better things to feed. I've used prescription powdered carnivore food. I've force fed bugs.

For water, you really need an automatic mister--one that won't break when the reservoir runs out of water.

If you can post your location, perhaps @jannb can find a decent vet close to you.
 
If the tongue is hanging out it needs to be kept moist so it won't dry out.
Also...how is your chameleon going to eat anything if it's tongue is hanging out without biting it's tongue. This is a medical emergency if the tongue is hanging out of the chameleons mouth and you need to find a good reptile vet ASAP. If the chameleon cannot take its tongue back I to its mouth then it may have to be amputated. It has to be amputated in the right spot when this happens.

How do you know the tongue is infected? How do you know it didn't injure it somehow?
 
When we went to the vet we called petsmart because that's where we got her and they recomend ed one but they were full so they recomended another. She can put ti in her mouth for a few seconds but it's too big, we have to put the baby food in the sides of her mouth and on her tounge, I think its good for her because she has to pull her whole tounge in her mouth. We tried to feed her a dead cricket but she just drop-ed it put of her mouth, we had to crush it into peaces and that worked. Here's a pic. She can wobble around her cage a lot and we know she's doing better because she's now struggling when we pic her up again and gets bigger and hisses, she's not very week but it's just the swollen tounge.
 
I just took this picture, the black part is her tounge
 

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This is him basking in the pedialight, we put her here so she can absorb it and get vitamins from it
 

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I think she is carrying eggs and may be eggbound. I also think she has MBD and that may be part of her tongue problem. I'm not a vet but I don't think it looks infected but it does look like it may be drying out and that is not a good thing. Not sure about amputation yet...it depends on whether she can/will eat and drink without chomping the tongue or choking. She needs to see a good reptile vet ASAP.
 
Today she/he looked kinda pale, the tip of her tounge looks red, we always make sure it's wet. I don't think he knows it's attached to her because she pulls on it and grabs it. It might be numb. Today she pooped and it was big, later she threw up, but I was about to feed her and smelt how bad the baby food smelled and found out since it wasn't refRidge rated it expired. About 2 hours ago she pooped again. She definatly eats the food. But, today she hasn't pulled in her tounge. I live in south Pasco florida, in Trinity/New Port Richey. Tomorrow we are going to take her to the vet. And a diffrent vet, if you can recomend one that would be great.
 
Tampa/St.Pete will probably be your closest vet with chameleon experience.
Dr. Anderson has been seeing chameleons for a long time. I'll get you the info

Dr. Tracy Anderson, 7620 66th Street N ... 727-398-7601, St Petersburg, FL
 
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