Hey. I have a 2year old female red tegu. I couldn't help but notice that her lower lip is sort of lowered. It seems to stick out a little bit on the side. Like it curls down. I don't know if it's something to be worried about but any info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks a lot
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lip lowered???
Taidus
Jul 31, 2003 06:38 PM
Replies (5)
attentiveear
Jul 31, 2003 07:44 PM
Hi there! What is her diet consist of? Then we can go from there. It could be a variety of things from mouth/tooth infection, to a cut or damage due to rubbing on its enclosure, mainly the glass. Red females are not known too frequently for that though. A picture would help out greatly here........
Greg
Taidus
Aug 01, 2003 01:48 AM
K....I can't help you with a picture. Her diet consists of mostly mice, kiwi, cherries, finches, canaries, reptomin gel stuff and some wellness canned dog food on occasion as well as crickets every now and then for exercise. She NEVER seems to rub on the glass but she was given a couple of live mice the other day when I ran out of frozen. The only thing I can think of is that the mouse bit inside the mouth. It doesn't look serious but better safe than sorry. And as for the finches and canaries...I work in a petstore and take the "stiffs" home for her.
pgross8245
Aug 01, 2003 07:47 AM
Hi,
Is she getting enough calcium in her diet? I have seen Iguanas with MBD and some of them have a hanging lip which is referred to as "rubber" jaw. Just another thought.
Pam 
attentiveear
Aug 01, 2003 08:09 AM
Hi there! Well the diet sounds okay. I would not feed the finches/canaries though, espeically if you are unaware of how they died......disease, etc. Make sure you are usually a vit.D3 calcium supplement. Also you could be right regarding the live mice.........this is one of 3 reasons I do not feed live prey to them. They can bite, scratch the tegus mouths pretty, or have a tendency to lodge in their esophagus. Pam brought up a good point regarding MBD, though tegus are not prone to this. They seem to resist MBD more easily than other reptiles. It's not impossible, just difficult if they are getting ample vit. and mins as required.
Greg
Taidus
Aug 01, 2003 11:42 AM
All the finches and canaries...I've also wade sure it was like agression or something similar to that that brought them down. I have a ExoTerra 5.0 and a second 2.0 and I dust every third mous or so lightly. So I DOUBT if it MBD but a possibility nonetheless. Well It's just about time to take it out, so I'll check inside the mouth for scratches or that. Thanks to the both o ya
