Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just curious is this is normal. Bender just finished a good shed (tiny bit left on fingers). The past 2 days I've noticed that his neck seems kind of swollen, I've posted a pic of it but not a very good one really. He's been eating okay, a little bit less than normal, like 1 less cricket. Temp and humidity is fine. Maybe dehydrated? Or could it be a reaction to the mosquito??? Thanks!!

Sorry about that. Here's the picture. I hope lol

I had the same problem with my Montiums from time to time. If I would suppliment more than once every 1.5 to 2 weeks their necks would get way swollen. What worked for me was to super hydrate them by giving them luke-warm showers once every day or two, plus mistings and not to use any suppliment. After a week or two their throats would go back to normal. If you gut load you might want to look into that being a problem as well. The gutload or the food you are feeding the crickets might be the cause, maybe. Are you by chance feeding your crickets spinach?
-Matt

Are you gutloading your crickets with carrots? I heard too much of this could cause edema.

Also, my Carpet is having the same problem, and a vet (a very good one) told me that edema can be caused by undersupplementation, as well. I was being too cautious with the supplements since I've read that Carpets can be succeptible to oversupplementation.

Kristen
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1.1 pygmy leaf
1.1 carpet
1.0 jackson
0.0.3 red eared sliders

make sure he is able to use his tongue, the same thing happened to my jackson's chameleon... apparently when he went for a food item, the tongue bent back into his mouth and stayed that way.... it was the saddest thing ever.
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Brandon Bukunt
SF Bay

1.0 Veiled Chameleon
1.1 Jacksons Chameleon

That looks like Gular edema. An excess buildup of fluid. It could be caused by a few things such as liver problems or infection. Its best to take him to a vet and get it checked out before it becomes a big problem.

Thanks... I was hoping it wasn't something big but looks like it might be. I gave him a nice warm shower this evening. If it doesn't look better tomorrow, I'll take him to the vet.

This might have something to do with the problem... He has been hanging one of his hind legs off of the vine while basking.

Thanks again for all the help!

Please let us know what the vet says...evidently, there can be many causes for edema, so I'm interested to know what your vet does to try to determine the cause...and what he/she says to do to correct the problem.

Good luck!
Kristen
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1.1 pygmy leaf
1.1 carpet
1.0 jackson
0.0.3 red eared sliders

I was only supplimenting every other week. So hard to know what exactly is correct in this area*sigh*. I'll sure let you all know what the vet says! Oh, I gave the crickets some carrots last week, mostly dark green lettuce, and some grain gutload. I haven't fed him any of the crickets that battled the ants.

The iodine in it sometimes helps.

The swollen neck is called Edema. This is caused by over supplementing. Cut back on the vitamins. If you feed your crickets the proper food, you should only need to dust them about once a week.