Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Everyone has been really helpful in suggestions for my sick baby, but I had another thought. Could it be mouth rot? I'm not sure what the syptoms for mouth rot are but it might make sense. He keeps opening his mouth at random times, it doesn't matter if it's hot, cold, dark, or light. And I know rubbing of the head isn't too abnormal, but I'm thinking maybe he's trying to rub the sides of his mouth...cause that's what it looks like. Maybe it's bothering him so he tries to scratch/rub it? The other thing is that he's not really eating too much. I mean he poops pretty much everyday which is weird cause I don't really think he's eating other than when I take him outside in the sun. In the tank he kinda just looks at the crickets and ignores them. I just don't get it! When his mouth opens I have tried looking inside to see if it looks all gross but I can't really tell. What are symptoms of mouth rot and what does it look like? If anyone can find a pic for me of what it looks like that would be great. I'm just going crazy not knowing what's going on with this little one!
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- Harley -

Sounds to me like he is getting ready to shed. My beardies do the mouth opening closing thing, rub their heads on their rock and slow down on eating when they are getting really close to a shed.

Wow...that is good to hear! Thanks! Do they lay around a lot too? Cause this one isn't very active at all...he just kinda lays around. I hope it's just that. Thank for the tip!
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- Harley -

Most dragons lay around a lot. They do move around some but for the most part they just hang out. If they are sleeping all the time then that's a different story.

Yes,, when they are going to shed, the "nose plugs" clog their nostrils and they can't breath well through their nose so they do a quick gasp. The first time I saw one of mine do it, I thought respiratory infection etc. Now I notice it all the time with the babies because they shed so much.

Good luck.
Joel

Cool...thanks! That's good to know for the future. I thought it was a respiratory infection as well, cause yeah he does the quick gasp of air thing. And the rubbing the side of his face...do you think that's also a shedding thing? Cause maybe his eyes or something are itchy from the shedding...I don't know. It doesn't look like he's shedding though. I'm hoping he snaps out of it soon though. My adult beardie never acted like that when she was a baby, so I'm just a bit concerned about this one. Plus the other 4 that were shipped with him are very active and eating a lot! That's why I took this one home to take care of because he didn't look so great. I think the other ones were also stressing him out. About the sleeping thing...he doesn't sleep all the time but definitely seems to lie around a lot. The temp is fine in the tank, but when I take him out in the sun or put him smack under the light he wakes up and runs a bit, so I'm hoping he's okay. I'll let you know what happens. Thanks again for the advise though
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- Harley -