Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey I have a general question, what are some of the common causes, both husbandry and otherwise of mouthrot. The big one i knew, in water dragons anyway, was obbsessively rubbing against the tank but what are other causes, in both lizards and snakes? Any you have had experience with would be great.

I dont have any animals with mouthrot but i was just trying to gather some more knowledge. I realized the other day, when someone asked me for other causes, that i couldn't think of any. I was sure i had known more at one point but must have forgot

Thanks for the input everyone!
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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican kingsnake
1.0.2 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Rose Hair Tarantula
1.0 BTS
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

This article explains most of the common causes of stomatitis.
Snout rubbing is not really a cause of it. I guess if you let you herp rub without intervention, until they rub into their jaw bones, you could eventually end up with it. Stomatitis is usually a husbandry issue. I disagree with Tricia Powers in this area. She says it developes from a pre-existing systemic infection. I believe it CAUSES the systemic infection if not treated in time. Treatment and prompt intervention with nolvasan and/or betadine can prevent a systemic infection and the use of antibiotics, but you have to be willing to de debriding of the involved gun tissue several times per week and daily oral rinses with nolvasan. Hope this helps!
Stomatitis causes

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dianedfisher@yahoo.com

My 3 CWD-Avanyu, Tripod and Drago

I agree, snout rub, is not mouth rot, but should still be treated. As stated in the article, improper husbandry and vitamin C deficientcy are the culprits. The best way to cure mouth rot is to eliminate the cause first, raise temperatures and use a oral vitamin suppliment with vitamin C. If you treat the infection alone, you either will fail to cure it, or end up seeing it reoccur shortly thereafter.

Sorry! I didn't mean to imply that snout rub wasn't important-just that I couldn't imagine anyone allowing it to advance to the degree that it caused stomatitis! I'm sure you've seen many more pictures than I have of mouth rub progressing into erosion of the gum line and into the teeth. Pitiful! The original question appeared to be that snout rub could cause mouth rot and I wanted to point out that only in the most severe case would that happen and that the mouth rot is mainly caused by improper husbandry.

Rick, BTW, Eternal had me look up a wetlands filter that you posted on this forum-unfortunately the picture is no longer there in the archived article. Any chance of resurrecting it? I am thinking of redoing the dragons pool area, but I think I might like to do it on my 2 small outdoors ponds also. I have minimal maintenance with my current set-up but the dragons LOVE to sit on the filter and let the water run down themselves with their tail out of the pool and they soak the eco-earth and then the viv leaks (bad design-I cut the EPDM liner to fit the corners and covered them with self-stick rubber flashing and evidently didn't do a very good job.)
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dianedfisher@yahoo.com

My 3 CWD-Avanyu, Tripod and Drago

I'll email it to you, I've meaning to put a website together on the subject, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I meant to agree with you on the snout rub issue, too often the two conditions are confused, while they are both treated the same, true mouth rot is far more serious condition and can be deadly.

Thanks, that article is great
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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican kingsnake
1.0.2 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Rose Hair Tarantula
1.0 BTS
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

You are very welcome. I hope it helps whoever had the concern. If caught early, with judicious care you can tackle it at home, but if left too long it'll become systemic and then mega doses of baytril, at a programmed series of intervals is required, and it can be fatal if left untreated for too long.
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dianedfisher@yahoo.com

My 3 CWD-Avanyu, Tripod and Drago