Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my australian water dragon 's mouth is slightly open at the front. not by much, and it's not open at the sides, all i can see is the tip of his tongue i'm not sure if he only does this when he sees me, but i know its not all of the time. i'm not sure if this is a sign of illness, i just want to know if there is anything this may be the first signs of. maybe low humidity? the scales of his mouth and head are pristene and he eats like an absolute glutton. less than a year old and he's allready outgrown his 70gallon tank. spyro is an ausome waterdragon and has won me over to the australian crowd. i had a chinese water dragon before. i like the temperment of the aussies better. plus there tougher, bigger, and easyer to care for.

any and all info is greatly appreciated.

can you see into it's mouth? sounds like you are taking good care of it, but do you think it could be metabolic bone disease? it probably isn't. my best bet would be mouthrot. they can get it fairly easy, even if they are being well taken care of. if it's tame (and if it's not, just will be much more difficult) take a look into it's mouth. you can get it open with a popsicile stick to take a peek. you are looking to make sure he/she has all its teeth and you are looking for anything that looks like it shouldnt be there. this would be blood, pus (often yellowish), or swollen tissue. sometimes they just have something thats embedded in their gums. good luck and tell me if you see anything so i can tell you how to treat. i'm not a vet or anything so don't quote me.
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Hedgehog, bunnies, dog, fish, crawfish...

i'll do that. i think he needs a new uvb bulb, he's had his for about 8 months, i think they ain't good after 6, can they start getting mteabolic bone disease that fast?

the sides of his lips are maybe a tiny bit swollen, when i get home i'll get him to open his mouth, all i gotta do is touch his mouth and he'll open it.
when i was a kid my chinese water dragon had mouthrot her whole life from a snout rubbing wound she had when i bought her. i would use hydrogen peroxide neosporin and later some nasty smelling stuff just for mouthrot, but after months it never really did any good. if i do find any signs of mouthrot what actions do you recommend?

i don't think not having a bulb for a few months would do it. were you using a reptisun 5.0? if you were using florescents i would suggest using to floods, they last a year and are 50, which is still less than if you would buy 2 florescents. they provide both a basking spot of the mid to high 90's and the source of uvb light. you can get them at drfostersandsmith.com, i think they are made by t-rex and the floods not the spots. i use them for all my turts, torts, and lizards and they work really well.

so i'm guessing it's mouthrot, to treat it you will need to look in it's mouth. poke around in there and find the source of the rot. if you see yellowish puss then it's mouthrot. again, i'm not a vet, but have treated mouthrot before sucessfully. you need something like a toothpick to pick out the puss. it will probably hurt the dragon a little. after you got all you can get take a q-tip and clean it with water. then take a different toothpick and put some bedadine on it. you can get it at CVS for less than 20.00 and that size bottle will last you a lifetime. it looks like taco sauce and you just put a small amount where the wound is. good luck! and remember i'm not a vet.
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RES
WTF
FBT
Russian Tortoise
Hingeback tortoise
Leos
Lawsons Dragon
Aussi
Ocelot Gecko
0.0.3 Vietnamese Mossy Treefrogs
Oregon Newt
Japanese FBN
American Bullfrog
0.0.4 D. tinctorius
D. auratus
D. leucomelas
1.1D. imitator
0.0.2 imitator intermedius
1.1.1D. lamasi
Grandis Day Gecko
Mali Uro
0.0.4 Hourglass Treefrogs
Hedgehog, bunnies, dog, fish, crawfish...

so i checked his mouth, bright pink, no discoleration at all, not even a tiny bit. was quite easy. all i do is touch the sides of his mouth and he opens it wide to act like he's gonna bite.

bought him an 80$ mercury vapor bulb. not sure if thats what you were talking about. seemed like a quality light though.

snuck up on him while he was sleeping last night. his mouth is shut tight at night, seems like he only cracks his mouth during awake hours. could he be regulating heat? maybe i should take a good look at his nose, mebbe he's got a stuck shedding and is breathing through his mouth.

do you know what they do if there tank is too hot? i imagine he'd go into his water, but if it was just a little too hot would he crack his mouth a bit to let heat escape?

thanks for your help.

sounds good with the mouth. if you don't see mouthrot, all the other stuff that could go wrong isn't really fixable like MR, so just keep taking good care of him. one of my dragons opens his mouth when i "ask", but with the others i have to use a popsicile stick. if you're paying 80$ for any bulb i bet it's good. i use them for all my stuff and they are well worth the $$.

what you are referring to when they regulate heat is called gaping. it's hard for me to say without a pic, but that could be it. with mouthrot and other problems it will usually look uneven, and when they are gaping it just looks like they are smiling. it looks "healthier." how hgih are your temps? anything about 95F would be rather high. if it is too high then mist more often and put the light on a dimmer or something. as long as you have a temp gradient though you should be fine, even if temps are high on one side.
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RES
WTF
FBT
Russian Tortoise
Hingeback tortoise
Leos
Lawsons Dragon
Aussi
Ocelot Gecko
0.0.3 Vietnamese Mossy Treefrogs
Oregon Newt
Japanese FBN
American Bullfrog
0.0.4 D. tinctorius
D. auratus
D. leucomelas
1.1D. imitator
0.0.2 imitator intermedius
1.1.1D. lamasi
Grandis Day Gecko
Mali Uro
0.0.4 Hourglass Treefrogs
Hedgehog, bunnies, dog, fish, crawfish...

yea, i don't know what to say, he's fat, healthy and growing far too fast for my inclosure budget. mouths perfect, and he likes his new bulb much better than the old one. i guess he just likes to sit with his mouth cracked. thanks for all your help, i feel better knowing it's not an obvious sign of something wrong.

Hey, one of mine also cracks his mouth, but that is due to an infection from tearing all the leaves off a fake plant. Never use peroxide, that will destroy good tissue as well as bad. Use a q-tip, with a solution of betadine and water, 1:10, or iodine and water, and clean out his jawline. When they mouthbreathe like that the old food gets stuck and bacteria in it. Anyway, clean out his mouth with that solution, and apply neosporin with a clean q-tip, and it should heal up.