Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I noticed today that little Manny's bottom jaw seems to protrude further than his upper jaw. When you look at him from above, it's quite easy to see that his bottom jaw is slightly larger than his top and it sticks out a little. When you look at him from the side, he rather looks like Popeye. Is this normal, or should I be worried?

--Mark

is the jaw just out further, or does it "bulge"?

Do you supplement with Calcium and does your Ig have access to unfiltered UVB light?

"Rubber Jaw" is a sign of Calcium Deficiencies and can be a very serious problem if not address by a herp vet quickly. Try to post a pic of your ig's face on here, if you cannot, i would take him to the vet.

good luck!
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1.0 green iguana-Deitrich
1.1 Common Boa-Un-Named, Ursula
1.0 Ball Python-Anabell (go figure!)
1.0 Red Tegu-Uteg
1.0 Albino Cal King-Pig
0.1 Mexican Black King-Morticia
1.1 Bearded Dragons-Unnamed, Hanabil
1.0 Albino San Diego Gopher-Unnamed
0.1 Hermans tort-Esio
1.1 JCP-Milton, Medusa
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0.0.1 Rose Hair Taruntla-Unnamed
2.0 Leopard Geckos-Reptar, Pogo
4.1 cats-Tucker,Poe,Abhib,Emerald, Felicity
0.1 Bullmastiff-Asha

Now that you mention it, it really is kind of a bulge. Manny has two small plates of Collard greens every day. His UV light is a special UV light thing I bought in a pet store. Do collard greens have enough calcium? And if not, what should I be adding?

I won't be able to call the vet until Monday, and, needless to say, I'm rather alarmed by this. Do you think he'll be all right until then?

Thanks for your help,
Mark

...though you'll need a vet to make that diagnosis.

There are a lot of UV bulbs out there. Very few actually have usable amounts of UVB. It needs to say UVB on the package, and have at least 5% of it. Are you using fluorescent tubes, or screw in bulbs?

I made this mistake. I had a screw in bulb that said it was UV. It was UVA, not UVB. My Xander broke his leg in June and was diagnosed with MBD. We've since learned that we were doing a lot wrong.

Collard greens are good, but not if that's all you're feeding him. He should be getting a wide variety of foods. My Xander gets 6-8 different kinds of greens every day, and 2 different kinds of veggies (the types are rotated out every week - I buy different kinds each time).

It's not an immediate emergency, but you do need to get to the vet. For now, take all the climbing furniture out of his cage and lower his basking bulbs so that he can't fall and break a bone. Look into that light of yours a little better, and possibly change it. If it's a screw in bulb and it cost you less than $80 in a store, it's not the right kind. If it's a fluorescent tube, it should be a Reptisun 5.0 or higher. You can also go and buy some more greens (see http://www.greenigsociety.org/foodchart.htm) like mustard greens, turnip greens, dandelion greens, watercress, endive, and arugula and figs and papaya are high in calcium. Those are things to work on over the weekend until you can get into the vet.

You can also start reading up on www.anapsid.com, www.greenigsociety.org, and www.iguanden.com. If you don't have a good book, you can try to find Iguanas for Dummies by Melissa Kaplan and/or Green Iguana: Utimate Owner's Manual by James Hatfield III. The information in these places will prepare you for your vet visit, and help you get your husbandry back on track.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes!

Alika
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~Alika~
1.0.0 green iguanas
0.1.0 cockatiels
1.0.0 senegal parrots
0.1.0 blue-fronted amazons
0.0.1 red belly piranha