Poor aim - what’s up?

[TruffleMonster]

Are you seeing any sign of a bite to the tongue? It has been a full month. I would expect his aim to be more spot on at this point. How many feeders a day is he managing to get down? Is he still gaining grams and growing well?

Oh, he’s eating well (between 10 and 20 feeders a day, lots of variety) and growing like a monster. This doesn’t seem to be stopping him getting the food he needs.

He also still uses his tongue, which is good, just from a closer distance than he necessarily should need a lot of the time. I do think he’s missing less, but I’m still hoping for more improvement than I’ve seen.

I still haven’t really seen a visible sign of an injury, but I haven’t given myself a ton of opportunities to peek in there. I’m also not sure if an injury caused by the tongue not being able to retract properly (such as from a hornworm sticking tight to a branch) would necessarily be visible? This is what I kind of suspect would have been the culprit for injury.

 

[Beman]

Oh, he’s eating well (between 10 and 20 feeders a day, lots of variety) and growing like a monster. This doesn’t seem to be stopping him getting the food he needs.

He also still uses his tongue, which is good, just from a closer distance than he necessarily should need a lot of the time. I do think he’s missing less, but I’m still hoping for more improvement than I’ve seen.

I still haven’t really seen a visible sign of an injury, but I haven’t given myself a ton of opportunities to peek in there. I’m also not sure if an injury caused by the tongue not being able to retract properly (such as from a hornworm sticking tight to a branch) would necessarily be visible? This is what I kind of suspect would have been the culprit for injury.

If it was caused by a bite you would see an injury... If it was caused by trying to take the worm off a branch and it holding on then you would not necessarily see the issue. As long as he is eating that is the main thing. Targeting should get better with time if it was a strain.

 

[TruffleMonster]

If it was caused by a bite you would see an injury... If it was caused by trying to take the worm off a branch and it holding on then you would not necessarily see the issue. As long as he is eating that is the main thing. Targeting should get better with time if it was a strain.

I hope so!

 

[MzLaurie11]

My little guy (3 1/2 months old) seems really healthy except for one thing - he misses his food with his tongue quite often - even at just over an inch away. He still eats plenty, just usually involves sticking his tongue out a very short distance or getting close enough to gobble them with his mouth.

This has me worried as I know this can point to bigger issues/problems with their husbandry, so I’m looking for some feedback about what we might be doing wrong, or some suggestions about how to tell what else might be going on (such as an eyesight or tongue issue).

Enclosure: Dragon strand hybrid enclosure, 2x2x4. Live plants, oak sticks. I’ve attached a photo of his setup. A fan runs low outside the bottom to encourage airflow through the enclosure.

Basking/Heat: We’re using a 150 watt incandescent bulb hanging 16” above his main basking branch. It is on from 7:30am to 5:30pm. Basking temp (measured with heat gun and a digital thermometer) ranges 84-86.

Ambient daytime temp: low-mid 70s.
Nighttime temp: Mid-high 60s

UV & Grow Light: We’re using arcadia T5 12% UVB hanging 14” above his main basking branch. It is on from 7:00am to 7:00pm. We also have a grow light (Sansi 70 watt full spectrum LED) that is on for the same hours, and sits about 8” above his cage. UVB measures 2.5 to 3.0 on the solar meter at the top of the cage.

Misting: Twice daily (6:30 am and 7:30pm) for 3 minutes, a half hour before lights go on and a half hour after they go off.

Fogger: 30mins on, 30 minutes off from 1am to 5:30am

Food: Marty eats an average of ~11 bugs/day, consisting dominantly of black soldier fly larvae (~40%) and small dubias (~25%), with some super worms, wax worms, crickets, and the occasional hornworm thrown in. All but the black soldier fly larvae are dusted with ReptiCalcium (no D3) daily and all bugs are dusted once every couple of weeks with Repashy Calcium Plus. We gutload daily with carrots, sweet potato, dandelion greens, and bee pollen, and throw in occasional fruits (mango, blackberry, apples). So far he almost exclusively cup feeds - he’ll take horn worms off the branch.

Daytime humidity: ~45-60%

Nighttime humidity ranges ~67%-86%.

Water: Aside from misting and fogger, a dripper goes from about 9:30am-1:00 daily, and he also has a shot glass full of water. We’ve never seen him drink but he doesn’t seem to be dehydrated from what I can tell (Eyes aren’t sunken, no persistent skin wrinkles, urates are white or creamy white). Also may be worth mentioning all the water we use for his cage is distilled water to avoid lots of buildup on the plants/in the misting system.

Behavior: Marty stays mostly in the top half of his cage (wonder if he needs more of a warm temperature gradient?). He basks a lot but moves around to different places and positions (he’s active) during the day and snuggles up in a hiding spot to sleep at night. His coloring seems healthy - most of the time his coloration is about as pictured, though he gets a bit darker when basking sometimes, and brightens and poofs up if we do something that frightens him. He usually will eat first thing in the morning and go back for a second round sometime midday.

Alright, I think that’s all the pertinent information. Any advice appreciated

You must understand that the readon why they have eyes that move independent of eachother is to hunt. Each eye is looking for mivement of food. Once movement us spotted with one eye it locks target then the cham moves its head so the other eye can lock target. Then moves head to center and tongue shoits out to that targeted spot. immediately pulls in and cham starts chewing even if nothing caught. Now we have no idea whst other factirs are involved. Wind? Movement of orey? The list can go on and on. What happens when food is always readily available and they dont have to hunt? is this a skill that is honed? And if it is, does honing it deminish if the need is not there? Is sticking out te tongue only an inch to pick up food a skill that is also learned? I mean in the wild there arent bowls of food perfectly positioned. I have a cham that has a targdt issue with the left eye as he is missing part if an eye brow. His targetting is off to the right. I did notice when he was young he was much more energetic with targeting and hunting. it maybe that your cham is developing the skills needed for the enviornment and food. It is always best to have it checked out by a vet if you are unsure. Remember as your cham grows the size of its food should too.

 

[MangoTango]

My little guy (3 1/2 months old) seems really healthy except for one thing - he misses his food with his tongue quite often - even at just over an inch away. He still eats plenty, just usually involves sticking his tongue out a very short distance or getting close enough to gobble them with his mouth.

This has me worried as I know this can point to bigger issues/problems with their husbandry, so I’m looking for some feedback about what we might be doing wrong, or some suggestions about how to tell what else might be going on (such as an eyesight or tongue issue).

Enclosure: Dragon strand hybrid enclosure, 2x2x4. Live plants, oak sticks. I’ve attached a photo of his setup. A fan runs low outside the bottom to encourage airflow through the enclosure.

Basking/Heat: We’re using a 150 watt incandescent bulb hanging 16” above his main basking branch. It is on from 7:30am to 5:30pm. Basking temp (measured with heat gun and a digital thermometer) ranges 84-86.

Ambient daytime temp: low-mid 70s.
Nighttime temp: Mid-high 60s

UV & Grow Light: We’re using arcadia T5 12% UVB hanging 14” above his main basking branch. It is on from 7:00am to 7:00pm. We also have a grow light (Sansi 70 watt full spectrum LED) that is on for the same hours, and sits about 8” above his cage. UVB measures 2.5 to 3.0 on the solar meter at the top of the cage.

Misting: Twice daily (6:30 am and 7:30pm) for 3 minutes, a half hour before lights go on and a half hour after they go off.

Fogger: 30mins on, 30 minutes off from 1am to 5:30am

Food: Marty eats an average of ~11 bugs/day, consisting dominantly of black soldier fly larvae (~40%) and small dubias (~25%), with some super worms, wax worms, crickets, and the occasional hornworm thrown in. All but the black soldier fly larvae are dusted with ReptiCalcium (no D3) daily and all bugs are dusted once every couple of weeks with Repashy Calcium Plus. We gutload daily with carrots, sweet potato, dandelion greens, and bee pollen, and throw in occasional fruits (mango, blackberry, apples). So far he almost exclusively cup feeds - he’ll take horn worms off the branch.

Daytime humidity: ~45-60%

Nighttime humidity ranges ~67%-86%.

Water: Aside from misting and fogger, a dripper goes from about 9:30am-1:00 daily, and he also has a shot glass full of water. We’ve never seen him drink but he doesn’t seem to be dehydrated from what I can tell (Eyes aren’t sunken, no persistent skin wrinkles, urates are white or creamy white). Also may be worth mentioning all the water we use for his cage is distilled water to avoid lots of buildup on the plants/in the misting system.

Behavior: Marty stays mostly in the top half of his cage (wonder if he needs more of a warm temperature gradient?). He basks a lot but moves around to different places and positions (he’s active) during the day and snuggles up in a hiding spot to sleep at night. His coloring seems healthy - most of the time his coloration is about as pictured, though he gets a bit darker when basking sometimes, and brightens and poofs up if we do something that frightens him. He usually will eat first thing in the morning and go back for a second round sometime midday.

Alright, I think that’s all the pertinent information. Any advice appreciated

can’t help in this situation oops, but I am wondering what is rolled up right above his cage! i’m assuming you use it to cover the cage when it’s bedtime, so i’m interested in it!