Hello everyone!



I'm new to the forums but I've had a pair of Texas alligator lizards for about 2.5 years and I'm looking for help concerning their health....



My male developed a mouth infection last spring which consisted of small bits of yellow cheesy gunk in his gums between his teeth and lips. I was able to clear it up by removing the gunk whenever it showed up, cleaning his gums with Nolvasan, dabbing the area with Silvadine, and giving him oral Baytril. But last fall, the infection came back and was worse. He has been consistently sluggish, and also throughout the winter was "coughing" which led me to think he was getting a lung infection. The coughing ceased when I got them an undertank heat pad which I keep on all the time (cage temp is in high 70s-80s, basking temp 90s). I started misting heavily daily and have plastic wrap covering most of the screen top to increase humidity. But these haven't seemed to help my male significantly.



He spends most of the time lying on the bottom, eyes closed, and body inflated, sometimes opening and closing his mouth. And the lower part of his lower eyelids are bloodshot... his vision must be getting impaired because he bites in the air toward movements thinking it's food (me cleaning cage, wiggling my finger or sometimes just walking by). This started within the last couple weeks. He's still as enthusiastic about food as ever though. He can eat on his own but takes longer to catch crickets now. I still remove the mouth gunk and dab it with Silvadine (the Nolvasan & Baytril expired) but he doesn't improve.



Plus, my female developed the mouth gunk this January too. I'm starting to think there's a connection between the mouth gunk, lung/breathing issues, and eye problems. I'm trying to find a way to get new Nolvasan and oral Baytril (or Cephtazadine... I hear this is stronger than Baytril).



My gators live in a 20 gal. tall and are fed crickets every 3 days, dusted with Ca Vit. D3. I separate them into plastic shoeboxes for feeding to ensure "cricket count" and prevent ingestion of substrate (coconut husk).



I apologize for such a lengthy post! Figure the more specific I can be the better. Thanks for any advice you have!!

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Hide Replies ]