tongue concern

[budthecham]

i have a vieled about 4-5 month old. he is getting big an i recently upgraded him to large crickets he was eating fine for a few days and then he was not able to get them he could getthem in his mouth then once he went to re-bite they would kick and most of the time jump away before he could get them down. so i switched him back to small crickets. just the other day i saw him mistrike and i assume he got a branch but his tongue was hanging out after he shot and he took off "running" and it went back in a frew seconds later. now about 90% of the time he has a very small piece of his tongue sticking out and his mouth is barely open as if he is smiling. now he has a small red dot on the end of his tongue. is it a cut? i have never noticed it before so it may be normal in chams. but he does seem to be eating fine. and drinking lots of water. but his mouth is just barely open, and he has never done this before its been a few days now. any input would be greatly appreciated. thank you

-concerned cham lover.

 

[budthecham]

my cham is getting worse i need some help

 

[dodolah]

sorry to hear that..
this is definitely where you should go to the vet if you still want him to be alive.
It seems the condition is pretty serious.
take him to the vet ASAP and we can help out in correcting the husbandry and the diet in the mean time.

 

[mika]

Here's something you might want to think about from a book by Linda J. Davison. "Chameleons Their Care & Breeding".

"In captivity if a chameleon strikes the glass of its enclosure, or cuts its tongue causing damage, it may lose the use of it either temporarily or permanently. It will become necessary for the keeper to provide a feeding dish or, in more extreme cases, even feed by hand until the tongue is back to normal. A chameleon that has an impaired tongue is a severely handicapped creature"

It sounds like something like that may have happened. I would personally take a trip to the vet and have him checked. Their tongue and eyes are very important to them. It's better to do it now, then later when the situation is worse and he really isn't eating anything at all.

I hope he gets better & hopefully you don't wait too long to bring him to the vet.