Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, maybe I'm just cynical - but I would appreciate if others can give me a reality check.

Can you tell me if the roofs of your dragons mouths are pink, or very dark, almost black. All 3 of my animals have very dark tissue only on the upper portions of their mouths.
When I have seen similar coloring in the past, in water dragons, it was usually indicative of a bacterial infection - and affected appetite, much as I now am seeing with my MHD's. I'll be curious to hear your input before I decide to shell out the $230.00 bucks for a gram stain.

Wow. All the more reason I would love to start contributing to the CB pool. I'm horrified to think of what the mortality rate is with these imports.

try $45 at my vet
and he is looking into a group discount for a salmonella screening on all my animals from his lab

and on the mouth, my Vet said it looked like Pigment, not inflamed (and yes I asked when I saw 2 of the babies mouths were dark grey, white, and pink)

Just what I have been told by a Vet who admits he knows no specifics about this species (or Genus), but he is looking at tissue, not just the mouth

I M interested in seeing what all this is as well
-----
Elizabeth (ecb)

Make this world a better and more beautiful place that You have been in it
*Edward W Bok*

>>try $45 at my vet
>>and he is looking into a group discount for a salmonella screening on all my animals from his lab
>>

I agree that the asking price for the screening seems a bit high. I do realize that cost can vary considerably from one area to the next though. I paid a lot to see a good vet who didn't know much about MHDs but was willing to learn when I was in Omaha. Here in So. Dakota I pay about half to see a vet (is the zoo vet) who knows what MHDs are.

>>and on the mouth, my Vet said it looked like Pigment, not inflamed (and yes I asked when I saw 2 of the babies mouths were dark grey, white, and pink)
>>

I believe your vet is correct that this is pigment, not disease. All of my MHDs, including the CB, have a blueish-black pigmentation in the upper mouth just as chows have black tongues. Very normal. What would be a better indicator of health is to watch when you dragon opens its mouth to eat or display. If when it opens its mouth you notice a stringy mucous that sheets from the bottom to the top jaw then you can be pretty sure that your mhd has some sort of ailment. This could simply be parasites or could be an indication of a more serious infection such as upper respiratory or mouth rot.

-----
Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html

Adrianna's snake had that when i dosed her with PanCure directly instead of in a rat (she would not eat)
Vet said that it was stress from the meds irritating her throat/windpipe/mouth
not an additional infection to worry about (she did drink directly from the water bowl that night though)
-----
Elizabeth (ecb)

Make this world a better and more beautiful place that You have been in it
*Edward W Bok*

That could be so but usually with MHDs you see this with any illness.
-----
Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html

now I know the difference
-----
Elizabeth (ecb)

Make this world a better and more beautiful place that You have been in it
*Edward W Bok*

The $230.00 I paid four years ago for a water dragon was a bacterial culture - not a gram stain (DOH!)Asked my current vet today for the cost of a gram stain (anticipating one for some leopard geckos) and it's $25.00 bucks.

ok, that sounds a bit high for a culture (unless it was maybe a viral or specialized culture)
but a gram stain is really easy
U just swipe the slide with the specimen (usually from the patient or a culture form the patient) and put a drop of a chemical wash on it and look at it
color change, is Gram
- Color change is Gram -
*BTW I loved Biology*
-----
Elizabeth (ecb)

Make this world a better and more beautiful place that You have been in it
*Edward W Bok*

I'm glad to learn about the tissue coloration in the palate.

Although the dragons appear to be settled in; always perching high in the enclosure, eyes are bright and alert, I'm still not at the point of being confident that I'm over the hurdles.

I still have yet to see any of my animals drink. Both females are off feed (the appearance of the small female Daisy, has remained unchanged for the last week), and Zoe went on hunger-strike about 3 days ago. The male has thinned out some, but he is still feeding. Today is the day they get their second treatment regimen of Panacur as well. I had thought to dose them with a pedialyte/baby food/vit&min cocktail as well, but I don't know if in my efforts to assure their health, I may be actually stressing them more.

It may be stressful to give the pediolyte, etc. cocktail but if you are already giving the meds you can just pop the extra mouthful of whatever and I don't think that would be harmful. If they are eating some or the hunger strike has been short I would stick to the pediolyte for now and consider the addition of mush and vitamins if they don't start eating soon. If your gravid female is visibly lumpy I wouldn't force anything other than liquids as I would hate to force food if she just can't take it.
-----
Marcia - FroggieB Dragons
www.froggieb.com/MHDHome.html