Mouth Issues and Lethargic Behavior
- Thread starter DUSCRAFT
- Start date
Texas Ranger
Avid Member
Home Depot or Lowes. Then you have to change the soil and wash the plant and put rocks over the soil. But there are alot of theads on how to do this. Oh and DIY cages.com does free shipping. It would cost you $95.00 total for the 24x24x48. Best deal I have found. Also go to the resources link at the top of the page for plant help.
While you definitely need to make some husbandry changes right you also need to address the infection, lethargy and health issues at the same time quickly IMHO.
With these glad infections/mouth infections, you need to have them cleaned out properly (as you seem to be trying to do) but you also need to have a culture and sensitivity test done on the exudate to see what bacteria you are fighting and get the chameleon on the antibiotic that will work the best. Often in these infections, its Pseudomonas aeruginosa that is involved....and its an opportunist and hard to eliminate. If the bacteria has spread to the rest of his system and he's not on the right antibiotic to kill it that might be why he is acting lethargic now (if its not due to the light).
You said you use a Reptile Vitamin solution for skin moisture...I've never used anything like this and don't know what it would do for him.
Some of the UVB compact bulbs have been known to cause health issues...especially eye issues...so your bulb could be part of the problem. The most often recommended bulb is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 since it has had no bad reports against it.
Is the black light the type that emits UVB? You don't need a heat source for Jackson's anyhow unless the temperatures drop into the low 60'sF.
For a basking light you can use a regular incandescent household bulb of a wattage that provides the appropriate basking temperature. Jackson's are a montane species and need to be able to warm up (maybe low 80'sF). What is the basking temperature in his cage? The rest of the cage?
You don't mention misting the cage at all...do you?
The only supplement you mentioned is the vitamin spray...he needs a phosphorus-free calcium powder to be dusted on the insects before they are fed to him.
I certainly hope you can get his mouth issues solved!
With these glad infections/mouth infections, you need to have them cleaned out properly (as you seem to be trying to do) but you also need to have a culture and sensitivity test done on the exudate to see what bacteria you are fighting and get the chameleon on the antibiotic that will work the best. Often in these infections, its Pseudomonas aeruginosa that is involved....and its an opportunist and hard to eliminate. If the bacteria has spread to the rest of his system and he's not on the right antibiotic to kill it that might be why he is acting lethargic now (if its not due to the light).
You said you use a Reptile Vitamin solution for skin moisture...I've never used anything like this and don't know what it would do for him.
Some of the UVB compact bulbs have been known to cause health issues...especially eye issues...so your bulb could be part of the problem. The most often recommended bulb is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 since it has had no bad reports against it.
Is the black light the type that emits UVB? You don't need a heat source for Jackson's anyhow unless the temperatures drop into the low 60'sF.
For a basking light you can use a regular incandescent household bulb of a wattage that provides the appropriate basking temperature. Jackson's are a montane species and need to be able to warm up (maybe low 80'sF). What is the basking temperature in his cage? The rest of the cage?
You don't mention misting the cage at all...do you?
The only supplement you mentioned is the vitamin spray...he needs a phosphorus-free calcium powder to be dusted on the insects before they are fed to him.
I certainly hope you can get his mouth issues solved!
DUSCRAFT
New Member
Thanks so much for the info! We've had his infection site cultured and our vet said it's just a basic mouth infection like they all seem to get. We do mist his cage... We use to do it more when he was in the screen cage because I thought with the open air cage like that it would get dry faster... I don't do it as often now that he is the glass enclosure (which I am currently shopping for a larger wire enclosure) because I thought it would be too much moisture trapped in his cage with him all the time and I didn't want him to suffocate with too much moisture being trapped in the air. But when I get him in a new wire screen enclosure he will have a real plant, more to climb on, higher branches and more good things to eat ha ha. I really do thank everyone on this forum for realizing that I am genuinely concerned and I trying my best to do right by my little friend.
carol5208
Chameleon Enthusiast
DUSCRAFT
New Member
I just got my cage from DIYCAGES.COM and it's the 24"x24"x48" and I'm going to assemble it later on tonight. I'm excited ha ha.
The vet said it's just a common case of mouth rot or a mouth infection. The antibiotics are really helping and his swelling and scabs are going away more and more everyday.
As for his lethargic behavior... I asked around and someone said that it could be the antibiotics but he could also be dehydrated. I thought to myself about how I haven't sprayed him in a while because he had been using his drip system and the humidity was, what I thought to be, high enough. Well after people started telling me that I had the humidity way too low I decided to get some warm water in his mister. I sprayed him and his surroundings for about 5 to 10 minutes and he came back to life like he had always been... After sleeping for a whole week straight all he needed was to be sprayed ha ha. I felt like such a bad lizard dad ha ha. But I've been spraying him a lot and he loves it. Also, with his new cage I will buying a hibiscus for his cage and that along with his dripper and sprayings he should have a great huge humid home.
Again, thanks everyone for all of your insight and help! It means a lot to me and even more for Cayman ha ha. Thanks again!
The vet said it's just a common case of mouth rot or a mouth infection. The antibiotics are really helping and his swelling and scabs are going away more and more everyday.
As for his lethargic behavior... I asked around and someone said that it could be the antibiotics but he could also be dehydrated. I thought to myself about how I haven't sprayed him in a while because he had been using his drip system and the humidity was, what I thought to be, high enough. Well after people started telling me that I had the humidity way too low I decided to get some warm water in his mister. I sprayed him and his surroundings for about 5 to 10 minutes and he came back to life like he had always been... After sleeping for a whole week straight all he needed was to be sprayed ha ha. I felt like such a bad lizard dad ha ha. But I've been spraying him a lot and he loves it. Also, with his new cage I will buying a hibiscus for his cage and that along with his dripper and sprayings he should have a great huge humid home.
Again, thanks everyone for all of your insight and help! It means a lot to me and even more for Cayman ha ha. Thanks again!
