Please help me!

AnimalLovers

AnimalLovers

Member
Iv wrote this for one of the many awesome vets of this forum. But it wouldn't hurt to post it here as well. I have a 2 yr old male panther chameleon, about 180 grams. When we first got him 2 months ago we took him to the vet for a check up. She saw something in his front teeth that didn't look right. She thought it was from an injury so she sent us home with betadine solution to clean it. Last night when he yawned we noticed something didn't look right in his mouth. We opened his mouth an saw that front pecice of tooth fell out! Plus some parts of his teeth look brown :/
We kinda wiped some away but there is still quite a bit of brown left. We made an appointment with the vet for Tuesday . But she doesn't know that much a out reptiles :( she's the closest to an exotics vet there is in red deer.
Please if you have an idea what could be causing this please help me an my vet figure it out.
I love Rango more that I can explaine. He's my baby :) please help me
 
Wow, I'm thinking it may be mouth rot. A photo would be really helpful. There is also a link in the "Health Clinic" section that provides vets that specialize in exotic species in your specific state/area. Hopefully, some of the senior members can chime in regarding this issue.
 
Thanks for the reply. Ya a pic prolly would be more helpful. For some reason it doesn't give me the option to do that on my iPhone. I thought mouth rot as well. But everything else in his mouth looks fine :/
 
AnimalLovers said:
Other than brown spots on his teeth. Is mouth rot possable even though his mouth looks quite healthy?
Click to expand...

It's very possible that it could be an early sign of mouth rot, so you don't want to disregard it completely because the odds are it will spread to the other unaffected areas of the mouth. I honestly believe a vet visit is in order simply due to the fact that a piece of his tooth fell out and you're seeing some sort of brown residue. JannB is a senior member on this forum. Shoot her a message and maybe she can refer you to a vet with experience in exotic reptiles. Is your cham still drinking and eating normal?
 
I've only seen pictures of mouth rot but it matches te description found here https://www.chameleonforums.com/care/health/head-neck/
I would recommend you to visit a vet that have experience with chameleons. I have read too many posts about ppl got bad treatment from vets who had no idea how a chameleon would react to treatment or even identify whats wrong.
Follow ChamDE89's advise here
 
Ya I keep trying to upload a file but it won't let me. My iPhone hasn't been updated for the past 6 updates. It doesn't even let me down load apps Lol. I did make SN appointment With the vet. But my biggest concern is that they don't specialize in herps :( but they are the closest thing to an exotics vet clinic where I live. I red deer Ab an other than them I would have to go to Calgary or Edmonton . But I don't have a car :(
Trust me I would love nothing more than to take my lil boy to a vet that knows everything about chameleons
 
I think it's mouth rot too. Like I said , I took him in 2 months ago an I saw the brown spots on his teeth an told her it looks like mouth rot , an she said ( noooo he's fine it's prolly just a lil decay ) an she she sent me off with betadine solution. I'm so worried I'm gonna take him there on tuseday an they are gonna say the same thing an not do anything. Im really really hoping they will give him antibiotics an clean his mouth. I just can't stop worrieing that nothing will be done like last time
 
I wonder if anyone on this forum lives in red deer Canada that could give me a ride Lol. I'm so desperate to get my lil guy the treatment he deserves
 
CHAMDE86- he is drinking awesome! Not eating as much as he was at all ever since it started to get cold here in Canada. I dont know if hes not eating cuz it's winter an cold or if it's cuz a mouth problem
 
As promised, here are some photos of Rango’s teeth. AnimalLovers is at the vet today with Rango but any second opinions on what is happening here is welcomed.

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AnimalLovers said:
Other than brown spots on his teeth. Is mouth rot possable even though his mouth looks quite healthy?
Click to expand...

I don't want to add confusion to all this, but just a note...many chams' teeth have a brownish tinge to them. This doesn't explain the tooth loss, but it might ease your fear that all his teeth are involved. If he has active stomatitis (mouth rot) it can lead to an infection in the bone of the jaw, and that could certainly cause tooth loss. Let's hope not! Bone infections are difficult to treat. Something could have caused the tooth to fall out...maybe an injury to that particular tooth for example. I really can't tell and am not a vet! However, I don't see major inflamed gum tissue in the pics, and you say he's drinking OK. A cham with major stomatitis probably isn't going to be drinking, eating at all due to pain. Just wanted to suggest that it might be a dental issue rather than a bigger infection. All this aside, losing a tooth isn't normal, so an experienced vet needs to take a closer look and maybe try to isolate the bacteria causing an infection if one is there.
 
A) He's a big of a pudge! A handsome one, though. Rango doesn't miss a meal :D
B) Ditto on Carlton's comments above. Since chameleon's teeth are formed integrally with the jaw bone, typical causes of tooth loss could be nutritional deficiency (broken bones due to MBD, which he doesn't appear to have based on the photos), an underlying infection causing deterioration of the jaw bone, or an injury.

Was it just a "single" tooth or a whole area of dentition? A single tooth spike could be damage/injury, where I would worry that a longer chunk might mean a more serious underlying cause. We've seen severe cases on the forum where one whole side of the jaw comes loose due to infection. Did the vet culture a swab from the area to see if any nasty bacteria might be present in the saliva?
 
Lol ya he's for sure a bit of a chubbo :) he weighs 230 grams !
Trace - thank you again so much for posting these pics :)
Carlton- your right on! Everything you said is what the vet said . unfortunatly he does have a bit of infection in his bone :( but we caught it fairly early ! So hopefully my lil guy will make a speedy recovery :D
Il keep you guys posted on how he's doing .
Thanks again everyone :)
 
What bothers me the most is that 2 months ago when we first adopted Rango my fiance an I both thought he had mouth rot . So we took him to the vet an they said ( no he just has an injury in the front of his mouth but he doesn't seem to have infection) so here we are 2 months later an finally they see it's an infection. Don't get me wrong, the vet clinic we got to is awesome. They'r really good at what they do . It just bothers me that if they would of listend to me an given antibiotics then . It might not have gotten this bad
 
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