Need Help ASAP>>>

nomadbean · #1 (**permalink**) 10-26-2002, 05:49 PM

Hello-
My water Dragon has been eating pickily lately and when I went to feed them today i noticed it looks like she is wearing lipstick(dark skin around her mouth)??? So, against her wishes I pried open her mouth and it looks pretty gross i.e. mucous, white, icky. I made a vet appt for next week, but I need to know is this mouth rot, if it is how did she get it, and how do I fix it? She is not eating enough because of it, her brother is a little fatty compared to her, and when I got them they were the same size.....Could humidity be a factor, their cage is a terror to keep up the humidity in.....Thanks for your help.
Trina
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morti · #2 (**permalink**) 10-26-2002, 05:56 PM

Hi Trina!

I am not the right guy for this question since I don't have any water dragons, but it sounds to me like that vet visit could come sooner. It does sound like mouthrot or some other nasty bacterial infection.

Good look and keep us posted.

-Morti.
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nomadbean · #3 (**permalink**) 10-26-2002, 10:27 PM

There is one vet in town and she is booked until the middle of next week....I am hoping she will have a cancellation and I can go sooner, but I am trying to be patient. The next closest vet is over 4 hours away and I can't take a whole day to go to a vet that may or may not know what they are doing, you know? I will let you know what happens.....
Trina
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Dr.Oviparous · #4 (**permalink**) 10-28-2002, 08:49 AM

Sorry to hear about your Sick little gal Trina [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_frown.gif[/img] Say.... have you seperated them? if not, you want to ASAP. What has their diet been like? How about temps and (I know you said it was hard to keep up) Humidity? Do they have a large enough water dish to get into? Keep us updated! -Juggalo
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#5 (**permalink**) 10-28-2002, 09:19 AM

This does sound like mouthrot to me. What you need to do in the meantime for the water dragon is to make sure to clean the mouth out fully on a daily basis of that "crap" that is in there. You can do this simply with just a q-tip and water even [ I use hudrogen peroxide myself but don't know the dragons well so don't want to suggest doing such with it at all]. Just remove all the gross i.e. mucous, white, icky stuff that you possibly can till you can get to the vet. BTW.. You will need to do this even after the vet also to keep on top of controlling the infection also even.
Take the lil guy off substrate also and just use newspaper for the time being also. AND definately separate from the other one too !
It is most likely caused by ingested substrate that a piece remained in the mouth or something like that. What are you using for substrate ?
YES the lil one will also not really have an interest in eating at all while this is going on in the mouth also btw.
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nomadbean · #6 (**permalink**) 10-28-2002, 05:25 PM

Well, I had them separated and they both freaked out, running around the cage and "looking" for the other one and the healthy one started not eating too. After a day I put them back together. I was afraid it was stressing out an already sick animal..??... They are never more tham 10 inches apart and their cage is large enough they could be a good 2 feet apart. I am using Forrest bedding in there. I use it because it tends to hold more humidity than anything else I could find.... I took it out when I realized what I was dealing with. The temps are 85 during the day and 80 at night. The humidity....I would say 30%. I got them an open air tank so they could climb and such and can NOT kep the humid up. They have a huge water bowl in the middle of the tank, big enough for both to soak in at the same time. I had two smaller ones for a time, but like I said where one goes the other follows...soo they both did not fit in it at the same time.
As for cleaning out her mouth, any suggestions for opening the mouth? She moves A LOT when I try to open it, and is very hard to hold on to. I have gotten it open once for more than three secs.....their tails hurt a lot when they start whipping around.
This is definately a first for me, I am an expert mite-taker-care-of person but beyond that and not eating....I am lost with health issues. Thanks to you guys I recognize the problems and sort of know what to do, but not the finer details.
I got a vet appointment for her this afternoon, I'll let you know what happens.
Trina
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nomadbean · #7 (**permalink**) 10-29-2002, 05:36 PM

Ok, I went to the vet yesterday......and I was really wrong. She shed a week or so ago and evidently blocked up her nostrils while shedding. She has been mouth breathing due to that and the "lipstick" look is blood and mucous from having her mouth open in the dirt and rubbing it on stuff. She got a nice little mouth cleanout, some Baytril (just in case she got an RI while doing all this) and instructions to have her in the bathroom when we shower everyday to loosen the blocked skin from her nose and a bath every other day until I can see her nostrils again.
That was a new one to me...................................... I basically heard she has a head cold, unblock her nose. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_lol.gif[/img]
Anyone else ever had this one happen to them?
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Dr.Oviparous · #8 (**permalink**) 10-31-2002, 09:46 AM

Never had it happen. I'm glad to hear everything is going to be alright though. -Juggalo
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