Panther chameleon mouth issue

[Patterson the panther]

Chameleon species: panther(amilobe)

Age: 2.5 years

Enclosure: exo-Terra xl 36x36x18. News paper bottom changed regularly. Usually weekly as needed


lighting: zoomed ho 36” uvb fixture changed in accordance with their recommendation.

Heat: 150 watt lamp in the winter, 100 watt in the summer. Basking area about 95°. Ambient temperature around 75° during the day, low 60s at night.

Water: monsoon mister runs for 2 minutes in the morning to stimulate drinking. Dries out completely during the day. big dropper as well

Food: crickets, super worms and wax worms. Mostly crickets dusted in zoo med calcium/vitamin powder.

Yesterday I noticed a lump on his mouth and his jaw doesn’t seem to be lined up perfectly the way it used to be. He’s still eating, well hydrated and remains extremely friendly. I’m hoping not mouth rot. Let me know what you guys think. I’ll attach a photo of his enclosure too. Before anyone gets all uppity about using a terrarium, there is a fan on top drawing air out and plenty of documentation out there that glass terrariums are fine.

im hoping not mouth rot. Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks,

Greg

 

[Patterson the panther]

Anyone?

 

[kinyonga]

Could be a bug bite or could be the start of mouth rot...what does it look like inside his mouth/lip?

 

[Patterson the panther]

The inside of his mouth looks clean and normal. He’s not fond of showing me in a manner that I can photograph. I’ll try to feed him a superworm tomorrow and get a picture.

 

[Dbash44]

The inside of his mouth looks clean and normal. He’s not fond of showing me in a manner that I can photograph. I’ll try to feed him a superworm tomorrow and get a picture.

This might be a bad suggestion, but you could always put him up to a mirror and see if he fires up and opens his mouth. Another option is to put some slight pressure on either side of where his top and bottom jaw connect and that will open his mouth. Make sure your hands are clean. The done this and I've seen the vet does this. Either way is stressful for him so that's why I say it might be a bad suggestion.

If you can get pics with a super worm then great. I'm just thinking it will be hard to get a good photo of the entirety of his mouth that way. It's your cham so decide what you want. Good job for being on top of it and reaching out.

 

[skoram]

I don't think anyone on these forums can tell if that's mouth rot based on the current condition. As you said, it is just a small lump on his mouth. Thankfully, none of my chameleons have experienced mouth rot but I've seen plenty of photos and the tissue decay is evident. Your chameleon could have an infection that will eventually lead to mouth rot - the only way to know for sure is to take him to a vet.

 

[Patterson the panther]

He refuses to gape at me or the mirror. This what it looks like since I’ve been giving him reptaid. It’s definitely healing.

 

[Ragsterdragster]

Just curious how Patterson is doing since you've had him on reptaid?

 

[Patterson the panther]

He’s doing much better! I’ll try to get a pic or two tomorrow. Thank you for asking.

 

[Ragsterdragster]

Glad to hear! He's beautiful. I've been trying to find some posts from members that have recently used Reptaid for my own research. Always good to hear from others on how it's benefiting their guys or gals.