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Hi out there to the chameleon keeping community!! I have a Dwarf Jackson chameleon , and i am not sure if she is suffering from mouth rot. She appears to have dark/black coloring on the corners of each side of her mouth. It doesn't really look like a disease, but i never seem to have noticed it before. I can't quite decide to sound the alarm, or is it normal to have that kind of colouration on the corners of her mouth. I seem to remember the colour around there to be white. Does anyone own a dwarf jackson, and does she have similar colour in the mouth? Any suggestion and help will be greatly appreciated. Happy chameleon Keeping!

A few ideas for you. I have not seen dwarf jax in person so don't know if they would have some dark coloration at the corner of the mouth. I do know that jax have small temporal glands at the mouth corners, but they tend to be light colored. If this is something different than normal for her (unless she's just becoming an adult) you should look further. Get her to open her mouth and check for redness, sores along the lip or gum, patches of pale cheesy material in the mouth or along the lip, and swellings. Mouthrot hurts, so she will stop eating and will be very sensitive to you touching her lips or gums. Mouthrot can also lead to abcesses in the cheek so look for swelling in the face that is not normal. This is no easy thing to cure, so if in doubt have a herp vet check her also.

Thanks for the comments. Do you mean to say that a juvenile and an adult would have different coloured temporal glands(or color in tha tregion of the mouth)? I didn't notice any redness, cheesy material in the mouth or any swellings. She appears to have her normal demeanor. I wonder if it could be an early sign of mouth rot. There is a product from naure zone called Rot guard. Have you heard of it? Do you think that works?

I'm not sure if coloration changes with age as I'm not familiar with johnstoni. Its just a possiblity as your cham doesn't have other symptoms. I've never used "Rotguard" but suspect it is just a topical antiseptic. You can use other topical antiseptics too (Betadine, Silvadene), but often mouthrot is a symptom of a systemic problem (unless you know there was a local injury such as a cut from a crix leg). You would have to get a culture from an infected area to test for sensitivity and get a specific systemic antibiotic as well as treating any local abcess or sores topically. But, first things first. You could go to species info on www.adcham.com, www.geocities.com/ccicenter, or www.chamresearch.com and look at pics of johnstoni to see what the lip or temporal gland color should be. A big symptom will be the cham will stop eating, as mouthrot is painful. I have also heard that adding more citrus to the gutload increases vit C. and helps prevent some types of mouthrot. Hope I've helped!

Thanks for the suggestion carlton. And yes...it is a Jacksonni merumontanus... Lol!

OOPS, sorry, I meant to type jacksoni! I haven't worked with the dwarf jax.