Jackson’s chameleon with swollen mouth

[adhdreptilenerd]

I am a new chameleon owner and I got this chameleon from someone who’s son got it but gave it to her so she wasn’t really prepared to take care of it but he seemed to be in pretty good shape. I have a full spectrum UVB light and an 85ish degrees basking spot. I offer a salad but I never really see him eat it. I give him collard, turnip, and mustard greens, bok choi, berries, bell peppers, and some other veggies. I make him and my bearded dragon a big salad and give them both some. He eats crickets and mealworms that I dust with calcium with d3. I have a humidifier I turn on 1-2 times a day as well as mist it down with a spray bottle 3 times a day. He seems to only drink a significant amount of water every 2-3 days but I don’t really see him drink otherwise but I don’t watch him all day to be fair. He’s in a screen cage, it’s 16x16x30 and is a zoomed front opening cage. His substrate is paper towels and he has lots of branches and fake plants. He’s active and has full eyes. When I got him he had some stuck shed and his top two horns are turned slightly downwards. Today when he was drinking a bunch of water I noticed the left side of his mouth was bulging out. After doing some research I don’t think it’s a temporal gland infection, I think there’s literally something like stuck in his mouth. He’s eating and acting normal besides that and doesn’t seem to be in pain but I can’t read his mind. We never handle him unless he crawls on us for some reason but I did hold him to get a better look.
I tried to get a picture but I didn’t want to hurt him or put him through too much stress so I did the best I could.
We have a trusted reptile vet literally 3 minutes away from our house and my mom shares this chameleon with me and loves him to death so I’m sure she’d be willing to take him (she’s usually the one who doesn’t want to spend a lot of money on my animals).

 

[kinyonga]

@JacksJill is a good person to talk to about jacksons chameleons.

It does look like it has some mouth rot starting and will likely be best to take it to a vet ASAP.

Jacksons don't eat veggies...but any loose crickets in its cage might.

Jacksons don't need the same supplementing that veileds or Panther chameleons do...but I'll leave that to jacksjill to tell you too.

 

[Ares05]

One thing that shocked me is you are giving d3 everyday/every feeding. Jacksons, a more montane species, only need d3 one a month, if that.

 

[adhdreptilenerd]

when I was researching I found information that wasn’t specified to a certain species which is why I was giving him salads, it does give him an easy place to get crickets though. I don’t give him the calcium with d3 everyday, probably every week or every other week but I’ll cut that down now, thanks.
also, I noticed him 3 times now rubbing that side of his face on a stick

 

[kinyonga]

When a chameleon has mouth rot it's not usually just a simple case of putting it on an antibiotic. Usually the cottage cheese like pus has to be cleaned out of the area. The most often bacteria involved is pseudomonas.

 

[SourGrape4u]

It almost looks swollen like a bug bite. Could a mealworm have bit him? A superworm did that to my Jackson once and he had a small bump for about a week. But I hand fed him the worm and saw the bite because he dropped it and now 6 months later still wont eat superworms. He actually runs from them!

 

[JacksJill]

I would get that mouth checked by a vet asap. If it continues it will affect his ability to eat and/or invade the rest of his body. Antibiotics and treatment early can prevent that.
As mentioned D3 is only given once a month. Plain calcium (phosphorus free) should be given twice weekly. I mix mine with powdered bee pollen it might be beneficial. All those wonderful veggies in your salads will make great gut load for your insects. I would also give a multi vitamin once a month as well.

 

[adhdreptilenerd]

it could be a bug bite, there’s actually been some gnats flying around and i’ve found some fire ants. they weren’t anywhere near him but they were in my room where is tank is. i’ll change his supplementation, thanks for the advice and I’ll talk to my mom about taking him to the vet.

 

[JacksJill]

if you need a vet in you area we can probably help you find one. Keep an eye on it.

 

[adhdreptilenerd]

we have a vet super close, I’m gonna talk to my parents about taking him and set up an appointment

 

[adhdreptilenerd]

Sorry, I completely forgot about this thread. His mouth was looking a lot less swollen but a week later there was still a bump so we decided to take him to the vet. It turns out he broke his jaw and then just healed it himself. The vet was sort of confused of how he broke it because he didn't have a calcium deficiency and he looked other wise healthy. At this point we still don't know how he broke his jaw. I never saw him fall or hit his head on anything. He's doing well now, eating and drinking normal and it doesn't seem to bother him. He even shed his face and is working on shedding his body and tail right now.