Jackson chameleon SWOLLEN MOUTH

[lecham]

my chameleons mouth unfortunately got swollen this week. In the past i have delt with his iner lip bleeding..(its the same side were the swelling is at) i think that was due to a little bite he recieved from a super worm. but this new swelling has cought me off guard.here are some pics.

 

[sandrachameleon]

time for a vet appointment ASAP to deal with the infection - possibly an inflamed/infectedtemporal gland

check these previous threads out:
https://www.chameleonforums.com/temporal-gland-info-please-74955/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/possible-abscess-mouth-infection-79373/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/problem-mouth-swollen-cheek-80021/

 

[lecham]

yea i will be taking him to the vet pretty soon. he also has a respitory infection...do you know why or have any idea to how these infections are caused??

 

[sandrachameleon]

yea i will be taking him to the vet pretty soon. he also has a respitory infection...do you know why or have any idea to how these infections are caused??

I read others say the temporal infection could be due to feeders being too large / too much food in mouth at once. That seems odd to me. But I dont own a jack so ....

 

[Carlton]

yea i will be taking him to the vet pretty soon. he also has a respitory infection...do you know why or have any idea to how these infections are caused??

Temporal gland infections are pretty common in Jackson's but I don't think we really know why. It could be some sort of nutritional deficiency that makes them more susceptible to it in captivity. Respiratory infections often show up because of dirty habitats that develop fungi, molds, high bacteria levels, poor air quality or not enough air flow in a setup that is constantly too wet. Respiratory infections could also be a general sign that your cham's immune system response is overloaded because of other infections or health problems.

Describe your setup in detail (use the "how to ask for help" sticky question at the top of this forum) so we can figure out what else might be wrong.

 

[Minxystinx]

Honestly it looks just like what my chameleon had and still gets. It's from eating and there is no way around it. There are two pockets in their mouth, one on each side where the upper lip and lower lip meet, and food gets stuck in there and turns to puss therefore making it look swollen.

This freaked me out when I saw my chameleon like this but the vet said it was totally normal and you need to delicately squeeze from the back to the front (on their swollen cheek) with a Qtip or your finger like if you were squeezing a tube of toothpaste and where their lips meet is where the toothpaste, or in this case, pus comes out. YOU MUST HAVE THEIR MOUTH OPEN FOR THIS

They don't like having this done to them but it's totally normal, it may even bleed, or make their eye(s) look kinda weird. it's uncomfortable for them but not deadly unless it sits there. The swelling also may get worse but should go down considerably within 24 hours.

My vet gave me Silver something to put on it once the pus is all out but only if you think it's infected.

Really not worth a vet trip ($$$$) unless you're going for something else besides this. In a way it's kind of like their version of wisdom teeth, only it can happen more than once, and it is MUCH easier to deal with.
It's kind of hard to figure out how to keep their mouth open and do this so having a friend help works out.

I'm no vet but I have an EXTREMELY large amount of knowledge with animals of all kinds and I know 20+ vets of all kinds and my personal friend is a chammy vet at the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and told me this is 100% normal if it's only the mouth area that is affected. Otherwise go to the vet.

 

[SouthCentralFeeders]

I hope you get your cham better, my daughter just saw the pic and said 'daddy can he take it to the doctor' so she is pulling for you too

 

[MelissaB]

That looks like it's painful, poor guy. If it was my chameleon, I'd take him to the vet, so he can get on the right meds asap. I hope he feels better really soon.

 

[Seiryu]

Most definitely a temporal gland infection. He does need to see a vet contrary to what was said above by someone.

Just squeezing it out without anti-biotics will just prolong it getting really badly infected. Which is why the person above's keeps getting re-infected and coming back.

One of my Jacksons, Trident had this a while ago. It isn't *supposed* to come back like said above. He's been fine without it coming back for about 8 months now.

While it is somewhat common, it isn't something most Jacksons have problems with.

Baytril is a common drug, although did not work in my case. Ceftazidime is what worked. Another is ciprofloxacin. Your best bet is to get the vet to culture it and find the best drug instead of trying many drugs and hoping it's the right one. It can be a bit expensive though.

EDIT: Oops looks like someone necro'd an old thread! Going to keep my post here though in case anyone has the same problem!

 

[Minxystinx]

Just going to say, I did say I used an antibiotic and that it can* come back more than once, not it should. My chammy only had this for about a month before it completely went away. Maybe you could read and not skim before you try to insult someone.
Also only putting antibiotic on it won't control how or when the food gets into those pockets. It's how they're born, and how they eat. It's more common for some and less for others.

 

[pigglett79]

This thread is from 2012. Probably don't need to give him advice as I'm sure it's been taken care of since then.

 

[Skywalking35]

Can this be a possible mouth

 

[jajeanpierre]

I hate accidentally responding to an old thread.

 

[Remkon]

I hate accidentally responding to an old thread.

yes, but now I've seen this infection up close so I'm thankful I learned something from it.