Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys I picked up a jackson's from NERD recently and hes been eating like a pig (including right from my hand same day as coming home hehe, great personality) and I was taking care of his cage today and emptying the catch dish for his drip, and noticed tward the back of one side and a bit further up his mouth wasnt closed all the way like he had some kind of sore, one on each side.

I've got a low watt heat lamp on one side of the cage 24 hours a day(not touching the screen but slightly raised above it) and an 18" uvb bulb... it generaly stays in the lo 70s ambient in the room hes in but his cage obviously stays a bit warmer with the heat lamp on it, hes got a large live pothos , and a couple of those fake vines in there, I have newspaper on the bottom, and as I mentioned I water him with a drip, hes been eating crickets. Any idea what could be the problem? Hes a sub adult male by the way.

I'm concerned about his condition as NERD has no sort of guarantee on chams, but I figured it would be better to get one there than mail order because of the stress of shipping and all the good luck I've had with their animals. Any help?

One other thing is that I have noticed the cham cant really SHOOT its tongue out, not like other chams I have seen ,but I dont have much experience with jacksons, he catched them by sticking out his tongue, the prey do stick to it, but not great, and pulling it back in, the whole thing is done at a very un-speedy pace. This too come to think of it, now that I'm noticing other things sounds problematic. Is it?

Are these sores in the joint where the upper and lower parts of the mouth join? Jackson's are prone to temporal gland infections.
http://www.mythicalchameleons.com/ivanjax.htm

Regarding the tongue...it might be hurting him to eat because of the sores (as indicated in the site above). It could be an nutritional imbalance (like MBD) that is causing the tongue problem. Dehydration can also result in lack of distance and difficulties retracting the tongue.

I would recommend that you take it to a vet for treatment.

Forgot to mention...you might want to review more of your husbandry...what do you do regarding supplementation, gutloading for instance?

Well, reguarding husbandry I'd like to remind you I havent even had him 2 weeks yet, and he had the tongue problem when I got him. There hasnt been much of an opertunity for me to get into a supplimentation routine.

Only one of his swellings are near the back, the other is midway tward the front and is nothing near that severe. Im going to take a couple pics and link them.

Ok so here are a couple really poor quality pics I apologize, but I think you can see the problem

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/5629/cham1eh2.jpg
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/2158/cham2yf1.jpg

Jax are prone to temporal gland infections as mentioned and this can be very difficult to treat. If there is swelling and inflammation already, you will need help from a vet to clean out the infected matter, culture the bacteria and treat with the CORRECT antibiotic. There are a couple of things you can do also. Swab the gumline with a antiseptic scrub like Nolvasan or Betadine (check this with the vet) in case there are any open sores. I have found that adding more vit. C to my feeder diet helps prevent them in future.

If one of the soars is halfway tward the front, not anywhere near the back could this still be from such an infection? I'm going to talk with a vet tomorrow (I have mornings off) and hopefully find a good herp vet, and set something up. Whats strange is that the little guy still eats like a pig . Well not so much funny as makes me hopeful he'll pull through. I'm going to be looking over my husbandry very carefully and try to do the best for him I can. I've kept reptiles for years but never a jacksons, and man, this is alot different from keeping other herps Thanks everyone so far for all the help I'll update when I find out more.

Regardless of where a sore on the gum is, it can still be a problem. He may have knicked his gum on a crix leg, or it could be a site of secondary spread from an original infection. Gum or lip infections go by a general term "stomatitis". This is not the name of any particular disease but rather the resulting symptoms. It may be an indication that the cham's immune system is compromised. You are lucky that he's still eating. Stomatitis can be very painful and chams often stop eating or drinking. Make sure the vet does a bacterial culture rather than "shotgunning" with Baytril. There may be effective antibiotics for the particular bacteria that are less toxic. Keep the sores very clean and add some vit C to your feeders (more citrus seems to help).

Ok, I'll keep on top of it. Yeah... who knows could be as simple as him eating something too big for him(or trying) or something but uh I am taking him in either way, hes too damn cute, I feel so bad. Yeah hes a PIG , and does take interest in water, authough isnt a pig with the water, may be that hes drinking more when I'm at work. Yeah he loves food, he eats like a pig right out of my fingers, he'll eat 2-4 crickets a day on average ( that I know of, I usualy keep a few loose in there so he can snack whenever also ). He goes right after em. Great little guy.