Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was trying to feed my male veiled some greens today and he was in a defensive position so took it as an attack...he hissed and gaped blahblah but i noticed something different about his mouth.

He doesn't often open wide while hissing at me, which he does often.

About 45-55% of his bottom teeth were lined with/ were darkly coloured.

I'm going to take a pic ASAP and post it, and if you guys think he should go into the vet this week then i'll do so.

I always hand feed him, I have been for a couple of months now (he stopped growing late spring and has since calmed down enough to hand feed, but is still a little @#$%! )
None of my chams seem to care about variety, so I don't feed much except crickets. They are kept as sanitary as possible, always stinky, but I disinfect their bucket a few times a month.

I can't find a source of anything dirty entering his mouth...He doesn't eat the leaves off his ficus, which might have poop on them, so it's not from that either.

Any ideas where the infection may have come from? Any pointers about antibiotics or how to give them to a large stubborn veiled such as my own would be welcome.

send him pictures and see if he can prescribe something for you that you can pick up at a pharmacy or that you can purchase from his clinic and he can send you.
I had a problem with a chameleon that had an awful case of mouth rot. He gave me some stuff to use called Zymox that is actually for ears (dogs and cats). The stuff worked wonders if he really has mouth rot. He also prescribed an antibiotic. In the mean time you can use a bit of hydrogen peroxide. Swab it on with a q-tip along the teeth/gums.
Here is Dr. Ivan's site and I think his e-mail is somewhere on it. His clinic is in Orlando FL. http://www.mythicalchameleons.com/
Tomorrow I will post some pics that I took of mine when he had the problem and there is a good shot of me opening his mouth.
You can try and open it like I did in the photo. I put my fingers over his nostrils and he opens up to breathe.
The pics are not for the squeemish as it was a pretty bad case but the cham is alive and well and can eat on his own now.
He has also mated with one of my females and has a clutch incubating so he did very well with the meds.
As for the cause who knows but just go over temps, supplements, husbandry and everything again. Plus I like to keep my Veiled's a bit on the dry side. Too much humidity can cause infections.
If it is mouth rot it sounds like maybe you caught it early.

Thanks alot.

It certainly will be hard to give this guy any kind of meds...he's not very positive about fingers or hands and would LOVE to bite mine off until they're nubs. I'm going to take another couple of looks, as it may just have been dirt or food.

I just went to take a pic of him and got him hissing, his mouth was nice and pink.

Looks like it was some food or dirt...

Phew!

That happened to me once. Freaked me out a little. I looked at it closer and realized that it was just some old collard greens stuck in between his "lip" and his teeth. It'd been stuck there for a few days I guess and a pair of fine tweezers fixed it in 2 seconds.

To me, healthy gums, lips, and no signs of infection in the mouth would be the key. Also, if I see signs of missing teeth I would worry. Some of my chams' teeth have appeared banded, but they never had problems. Recurring infections, swollen jaw or gum, mouth rot and losing teeth would be another story.