# Missing Half of Tongue? PLEASE help!!



## Guest (Jan 18, 2010)

I was feeding my female argentine black and white tegu Isabella last night, and she wouldent eat, which is very strange for her because she is extremely food agressive, and she is a total pig.. but she wouldent go anywhere near her plate of boiled egg, and ground turkey, I was concerned so i grabbed a piece with my feeding tongs and dangled it in front of her and she chomped down on it, then the horror struck me after she licked her mouth afterwards.... the whole fork part, the front half of her tongue is GONE!
completely gone, when she flicks her tongue it hardly even comes out because theres not even enough there.. it pokes out less than 1/2 and inch.. I dont know what to do, she is still eating which is whats important, but shes not eating as much as she was a few days ago.. also when i put her food down she doesent even know its there.. i have to dangle it in front of her and let her see it for her to know that "oh! theres food there!" im wondering since she has half of her tongue missing, does that mean she cant "smell" anymore?? also, should i be feeding her liquid/mush foods right now until it heals up a little to make it less painful for her? because i mean if i were missing half of my tongue that would hurt! 
I have no clue how it happened, could she have accidently bitten it off??? 
please someone help me im really worried about her.. thanks..


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## Meg90 (Jan 18, 2010)

She's housed by herself right? Can you post some pictures? I am not sure if it will regenerate...but keep alerting her to food. Its not good for her to stop eating if thats out of the norm. Also, keep her hydrated.


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## chelvis (Jan 18, 2010)

Her tounge will not re-grow. Also this is probably why she is not eatting. How she lost her tounge i can not tell you, maybe a cage mate? She forgot her toung was there and bit it, hard to say. But heres a small lizard anatomy lesson for the day: The reason for the fork tounge is to locate food via smell. When the stick their tounge out sent molecules stick to each end of the fork. When they bring their tounge back into thier mouth the forks tough up agasints the roof of their mouths to the jacobs organ (i might have gotten the name wrong, its been a year scense my herpotology course). This organ has to sensor spots and when it detects a sent on one side it knows food is on that side. So thats why the tongue is forked. Becuase your tegu has lost this ability all it sees is a lump of somthing, without smell its hard to tell what is food. As time goes on i'm sure she will adabt to relizing the food comes from a bowl if you don't switch it. You can also use other cues that food is there. I tap on the side of the cage with my tegus bowl and he comes running out, even if the bowl is empty. 

Im sorry about you poor tegu though. Hope her tounge feels better soon.


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## Jefroka (Jan 18, 2010)

Sorry this happened to your gu. She may recquire you to hand feed her for a while, perhaps even the rest of her life, who knows for sure. The tongue is not a vital organ, albeit it does serve an important purpose in reptiles.

She should be fine, she just may be "special".


...Jefroka


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## Guest (Jan 19, 2010)

thanks so much everyone.. im keeping her hydrated and fed. shes not much into eating but she takes a bite or two and i offer it to her several times a day to make sure she gets enough.. shes having trouble finding her water, i show it to her and she just looks at me blankly. i feel so bad for her. shes not herself. im sure she will start getting better soon though, shes already showing a little improvement today, i opened her cage and she charged out at me so im hoping shes not in much pain. thanks again!!


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## mis jaksin (Jan 20, 2010)

do you keep your tegus together or in separate enclosures?


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## Guest (Jan 22, 2010)

mis jaksin said:


> do you keep your tegus together or in separate enclosures?



I keep them in seperate enclosures. Reason being that Isabella (the female with missing tongue) is extremely agressive towards ANYTHING that moves, and im terrified that she would completely tear appart Urban, who is a bit smaller than her.


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## TanMan57 (Jan 22, 2010)

I am so sorry to hear that I hope she gets better and starts eating again


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## ashesc212 (Jan 23, 2010)

Wow, that is really strange. Do you have pictures? 

I think you should take her to the vet just to check out the tongue to make sure there is no rot in her mouth that may have caused it or something else. If it is something bacteria related you wouldn't want that to spread. 

I hope she gets better soon. I would just keep hand feeding her and as Jefroka said, you may have to do that for the rest of her life. You can even syringe feed some water into her if you are concerned that she is not hydrated enough. 

Anyway, I am so sorry that this happened to your gu and I hope she gets better soon.


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