Sick water dragon

[justinO]

Alright, so, i'm at my mom's today, and she tells me a friend of hers has a lizard that has something wrong with it's mouth. So, I go to take a look at this lizard, and my heart sunk. It is a water dragon, which I believe to be australian. First of all, it's at least 2 years old. it is approximatly 18". very emaciated, and it's mouth has been injured for "about a year." it looks like some serious nose rubbing. The tip of the snout is brown/black, and looks to be mouthrot or something. Lucky me, I volunteered to rehabilitate this dragon for them. Their hearts are in the right place, and they just need to be better educated.

So, i'm just reading up on some care sheets on water dragons now. Basking area around 95 degrees, nice big water dish, 60%-80% humidity. omniverous..

So, currently, i'm cleaning out a 33 gallon long aquarium for it, i'll have a hide spot or two and nice water dish. I'll go get some crix tomorrow, as well as some lettuce and collards. We have some assorted fruits and stuff already. I will assume that I need to liberally dust everything, as I don't think the owners of this animal knew what i said when i asked if they "dusted the food."

Also, she has a fair amount of retained shed on her tail, so, she's soaking in the tub right now.

Sooooo... help. First of all, she (so i was told) needs to be fattened up ASAP. also, how can I clean up her mouth?

How does it sound so far? i've kept basilisks before, but that was many years ago. I need a refresher!

Now, onward to setting up the tank.

thanks for help!

Justin

[frogman]

OK well congrats on being the one to try and help.

Let me say this advise is only for if you can't go to a vet.

I have been through this with water dragons (chinese) that were rescues and they are awesome critters(1 lived and 1 passed on).

OK if it really has mouth rot as indicated by a gross cheezy substance in him gums and mouth.

Then you need to clean it with Qtips and saline solution (most drug stores make it free) then if it it is bad you will need anti biotics which you can handle one of 2 ways go to a vet and get them or you could go to a pet store and buy tetracycline tablets (the ones for fish tanks). break them into some water and then syringe them into my into his mouth but make sure he swallows. This should work though not as good as a vet perscription. The advantage to this is that you can not over dose this way the problem with may perscription anit biotices in herp is dosing can be hard.

The temps you listed seem good. He will not likely ever eat greens or fruits. Crix and superworms are good. Pinkies are best if he is 18" pinkies and supers are about all I feed mine. if he will not eat you can try opening his mouth and putting the pinkie in. DO NOT FORCE FEED. Just put it in his mouth and let him eat it. He will start eating on his own eventually but if you get him eating he should start on his own faster. and if he is healthy he should be eating like a PIG.

He likely needs to have a fecal done and make sure he is pooping B4 you feed him to much if there is some kind of blockage you will have to hit a vet and soon.

That is all I think I can help with now.

Remember it is advisable to go to a vet if there is a good herp vet in your area.

Thanks
Charles

[justinO]

Thank's for the info. After looking at its nose more, it doesn't appear to be mouth-rot, more just some rostral trauma. (don't know which is worse :P). I've applied a tiny amount of polysporin ointment to the injured area.

as for feeding, it has already deficated in it's water dish, so i know it's not impacted. It has also eaten a few pieces of cut up kiwi, supplimented with Ca. Going to try it with some crickets in a few minutes.

thanks for the help!

justin

[Siretsap]

Try not to overfeed it with pinkies, it can developp liver problems.
Water dragons are quite easy to rescue, I had one who broke her leg 2 times and she is still in perfect health and all healed up.
Australian water dragons are easier to feed fruits and vegetables than asian ones. As for the mouth irritation, you can try tu use original listerin (the yellow one) it will kill the bacteria on the shout and then use a little bit of antibacterial polysporin. Of course some prescriptions of antibiotics and maybe even a shot from the vet would work faster.
But I have had really good results using listerin and polysporin.
The problem with saline solutions is it doesn't disinfect that good. Just take for examples piercings, when I had my 1st one done, I used a saline solution and infection wouln't go away. Now, when you get a piercing, they recommend other things than saline solutions.
Anyhow, the fecal exam would be a good thing to do.

[frogman]

Good Idea on the listerine I never thought of that but it should work good. If it is just snout rub it is not as big a deal as mouth rot almost all water dragons have snout rub to some degree I have seen very few without it. it is not a good thing but it shouldn't harm him in anyway.

Ohh and if you are going to keep him in an aquarium then you need to cover 3 sides of it or he will just rub his snout worse.

And yeah the fecal is a big deal.

frogman

[justinO]

Thanks for the ideas! I never would have thought about the Listerine. A question thou.. how would I go about administering it? I can hardly see this lizard gargling for 30 seconds then spitting it out :P. should I dilute it and then swab with a q-tip or what?

Today it wolfed down 25 dusted crix. I picked up a few pinks and more crix today for it.

Now, this dragon's tail has a lot of retained shed on it. what would be the best way to get that off? just lots of soaks in the tub?

While examining the lizard last night while putting polysporin on its mouth, i noticed that its bottom jaw appears to have been fractured or something. at the very tip of the snout, there is a space where teeth should be. I had the lizard open its mouth, and i could see where it appears there is a slight amount of bone/teeth missing from the tip of the snout. I might just be paranoid, but it doesn't look like it should be like that. I'm not sure if there is anything I can do for that, but, I suppose if it eats without a problem, then it's not a big issue.

As for a fecal, I'll try to get one done on saturday.

thanks again for your help!

Justin

[DarkHunter]

Congrats on the rescue. Thats really good to hear ! As for the retained shed on the tail try putting some mineral oil on your hand then wiping it over the tail....put a fair amont on leave it over night and keep doing it untill it softens up and it should come off easily!! Too many soaks in the tub and it might get a little bit pissed off at you or stressed out!...oh and about the listerene....yes i would use a q-tip to put it on but if you can get a picture of the WD rinsing for 30 seconds then spitting...ill pay money for the picture Good luck!!! its really good to hear that its eating! Keep us posted
~Shannon