Tongue shooting

[thewise21]

So my veil this morning tried shooting crickets and tounge came out short. First time I ever seen that with him. His supps are good and uvb is fine. Just wondering if temps got lower if being cold could be reason. It’s all controlled by muscles and wondering if not warmed up might be reason

 

[Jpeff]

Mine shoot fine when light frist come on and temps around 64. It usually supplements or uvb are off

 

[thewise21]

Mine shoot fine when light frist come on and temps around 64. It usually supplements or uvb are off

I use calcium every feeding without d3 I use calci d3 once every 2 weeks and multi vitamin every 2 weeks his lights are zoo med t5 wondering if free ranging without light on weekends might be affecting what brand of supps do u use

 

[kinyonga]

You might like to read this...
https://www.npr.org/2010/03/08/124471846/chameleon-tongues-stay-speedy-in-the-cold

Tongues can be injured or infected or the chameleon lack nutrients all of which could be reasons for difficulty shooting the tongue out.

How long is your chameleon out of the cage free ranging?
How often do you change the UVB light?

 

[nightanole]

I use calcium every feeding without d3 I use calci d3 once every 2 weeks and multi vitamin every 2 weeks his lights are zoo med t5 wondering if free ranging without light on weekends might be affecting what brand of supps do u use

Nah they need very little light. Like 30min of outdoor like 3x week is all that is required to go off of even D3 suppliments. So having no UVB on the weekends is not a problem.

He could be dehydrated.
It could be a vitamin A issue.
Hell it could be a calcium phosphorus ratio issue.

Just keep an eye out for continuous misses or not shooting very far out. A few times is fine, he might have pulled his tongue reeling one in a few days ago. Ongoing misses is cause for concern.

They never miss. Either the bug moved, or held on for dear life.

 

[kinyonga]

Another...
"The special mechanism that operates the chameleon’s tongue, however, means they can feed at all temperatures in their habitats, from 3.5°C in mountainous areas up to 39°C in the desert"...
https://phys.org/news/2010-03-chameleon-tongues-cold-video.html

 

[IanGlo]

So my veil this morning tried shooting crickets and tounge came out short. First time I ever seen that with him. His supps are good and uvb is fine. Just wondering if temps got lower if being cold could be reason. It’s all controlled by muscles and wondering if not warmed up might be reason

I've seen my cham miss when he's not super interested in the food especially with dubias holding still in his feeding bowl. He'll just sit there and stare at them for several minutes at a time and maybe throw a half power tongue at them once in a while as if he's just playing with his food.

If I take the same bug and release it on one of his branches for him to hunt he almost never misses from much further away. Sometimes it seems like he can shoot around corners and still tag them on the other side.

If it's super worms or horn worms he never misses and they're all gone within a minute or 2.

It's like the dubias are broccoli and the worms are ice cream and he doesn't really go after the dubias in the feeding bowl unless it's been a few days.

I wonder if your cham is just well fed and not so hungry is he still eating a lot? What happens if he gets treat feeders?