OMG Freaked Out!

[Wykd]

I came in from mowing to check the cham's before lights out and this is what I found in Havana's enclosure. Havana is our new Female Nosy Faly adult, she is WC but had been doing fine and was pretty active.

There is some blood on her tongue and a little bit was on the back of the cricket feeder. She is very lethargic at the moment and she let me pick her up and put her tongue back in her mouth for her. I tried to be gentle and she seemed to be ok with the help as she tilted her head back and opened wide as I kind of dangled/wiggled it down her gullet leaving the big knob up near the front of her pallet. The tongue did not look good and it was bluish in color.

I called the vet after hour line and the reptile vet is on vacation this week of all things, and they will call him to ask about what to do and recommend an alternate vet. I am not having a good month to say the least!

 

[maxttu]

That is terrible news! I hope she can make a speedy recovery. Good luck with the vet and def keep us posted!

 

[cooper9934]

wow.... I'm really sorry. That is horrible. I hope you can get him to a vet soon and he makes a full recovery.

I hope your month improves

 

[Wykd]

She is sitting up on her feet proper now and moved down to her sleep hide but her mouth is not closed, she has it about a quarter open. She is not wheezing or making any labored breaths, just looking at me sad eyed like "wtf happened?"

Does this happen, they get their tongue over extended or something and do they get the use of their tongue back?

 

[Zubi]

Oh my, thats horrible Any idea what happened? I hope shes alright

 

[SpartyTessy]

Wow I am so sorry that is just horrible. I have never ever seen that Poor girl I hope that she makes a speedy recovery. Was there anything sharp on the cricket feeder that may of caused that??

 

[Wykd]

Nothing sharp on the feeder. I make sure to round corners and I heat the edges that I cut with w lighter so it smooths the cut edge. I even use a fiberglass screen in the feeders vs an aluminum screen.

I watched her for abt 45 minutes after I found her and put her tongue back in for her. I dont think she has swallowed it as she had her mouth closed and has only opened it slightly at the moment and no big gulps.

I can only fathom she over extended or her tongue was kind of dry and stuck to the plastic feeder or something. I do not know and thats worrying me since all 3 cham's have the same type of setup. But no issues to date with the others feeding.

I have been searching and reading and hope we dont have to have her tongue amputated. She is not that keen on human interaction being WC and all.

 

[ataraxia]

Sorry this has happened.

Looks like the initial problem is in the end of the tongue. It does not look right to me. The blood down the tongue is more than likely from her biting it. I would not put her tongue back in her mouth. She may swallow it and choke on it. A vet will have to amputate at this point and till then i would try to keep the tongue as moist as you can with just plain water.

 

[Elizadolots]

We've had a number of stories of tongue injuries that resulted in amputation. I wanted to assure you that they can learn to eat like a regular lizard. If you haven't been cup feeding, you'll want to start that once she's had the surgery.

 

[okiroo]

^^^^^^also teaching to hand feed might be helpful. all my chameleons hand feed and its quick. i try a method i call finger wiggle. i wiggle my finger before them every time they are going to get food, so they know it eating time. then whatever i put in front of them they eat. Clair eats ANYTHING i put in my hand and show to her(don't need to winger wiggle with either anymore) . because your chameleon is already injured starting with cup feeding would be easier (probably) so you wont stress her out during recovery. Im sorry about your chameleons tongue

Goodluck

 

[ISA my Veiled]

Oh my goodness this just looks awful...I feel so bad for her, it must of been a heart stopper to just walk in on that. I hope she gets better, her tongue just looks awful, i still can't comprehend it. But I really hope she does well and makes a great recovery. Good luck!

 

[chameleoman]

awww poor girl i hope she gets better

 

[laurie]

You must be freaked out. I don't see how you could be anything else. I am so sorry for your baby and you. Please know we are are all hoping and praying for her.

 

[PantherEnvy]

You actually sounded like you kept your cool through it all. I hope your cham recovers from this with full function of the tongue again.

 

[Wykd]

The vet did call me back and I went over what I saw and assume what happened and told him what I did and how she was doing at the moment. He said normally he would agree to not put the tongue back in because it can go down the throat if not careful. but that I may have gotten lucky and the positioning of her head and willingness to take the help allowed it to drop back in the gullet it sounds vs down the throat.

He said to watch her for a few days until monday if possible and if she seemed to choke or gape or tongue fall out again to bring her in 1st thing. But if she didn't have issues to just keep an eye on her. He suggested no feeders for 2 days so she has no reason to extend it.I dunno about the no food part, makes sense but at the same time I worry no food for 2 days would make her more aggressive that 3rd day and possibly hurt the tongue more when she does try to feed. Anyways he said he thinks since the tongue is in now and no choking etc.. and if it stays in that we may be ok, but if any issues over the next few days to bring him in monday and he would do what he could.

We just got her this week, she is a WC Nosy Faly. I have her in what I call quarantine (she is not out of her enclosure any and I use disposable latex gloves when in and out of her enclosure) until she settled in and I could get her checked for parasites. So I have tried to limit our interactions, to feeding and cleaning. This has not stopped her from rushing over to chomp on me when ever my hand goes in the enclosure though, and she has no problems drawing blood from me.

 

[blackened]

So sorry that this has happened. No wonder you freaked! I really hope that she's ok. Keep us posted, please.

 

[Wykd]

Like I said she just got here this week. Very sad and confused, I had actually thought she had a chance i had just checked on her 3 hours ago and she was sleeping. I waited for the lights to come on and got myself some coffee and she was at the bottom of the floor tongue out black and bloody dead on the bottom.

 

[oldskoolmodder]

I'm sorry to hear she didn't make it. I saw this yesterday and it looked awful!

 

[Psychobunny]

Oh no!! I am sooooo sorry this happened
I would be frantic and freaking out.

I dont think you want to try to put it back in her mouth as she may choke.
As already said, try to keep it moist.

Poor poor little girl I have never seen anything like that before! I know there is a small bone which supports the tongue, I wonder if it got broken?!

I wish you both luck and if it were me, I would be on the phone calling every vet I could find!!!

P.S. Awwww, I didnt see the part where she died! That's terrible! I am so sorry for your loss

 

[Rambully]

I'm so sorry to hear she didn't make it...