New to this world

[Sandilynn15]

Hi guys!

So, I have owned many kinds of reptiles throughout my life from iguanas to boas to chameleons, but I am new to the BTS world.

About six months ago I was walking around a small privately owned petshop near my home. I noticed a BTS in a pretty small tank off to the side. I knew what he was because I have volunteered at our zoo countless times and show all the little kids the animals, including BTS. I thought it was odd that this shop was selling one because the only other reptiles they had were your typical ones like a couple turtles and corn snakes, it seemed way too exotic for this little shop. After looking more closely he was definitely very ill. First, he was very very skinny. All that was in his food bowl was some dried lettuce, and from my experience with reptiles lettuce (especially head lettuce- which was what they offered him) is not extremely nutritious and their diets require more, like ours. His mouth was all crusty and he looked exhausted. Then I noticed his tank said "Reptile plus setup, $250"....I walked back up to the clerk and said "do you realize that your lizard back there is very sick, a very exotic species, and needs help immediately?" She looked at me, sadly I must add, and said "sweetie, some lady brought that guy in about 3 months ago and asked us if we could put him back there with a sign and sell him for her". I said "well, unless somebody comes along who knows what it is, how to take care of it, and wants to pay $250 for a dying lizard, you will not ever sell him". She told me they really wanted him gone because they can't pay for vet care for an animal that isn't theirs and having a sick looking lizard is bad for business. I said "how about you call this lady and tell her that you found a home for him. But she isn't going to get any money from me". So, three weeks after calling her and getting no response and about 7 visits from myself to take care of the poor guy, they gave him to me. The lady still hasn't called them back.

So now I have had him for about six months. He is doing much much better because I have been feeding him the proper diet for a BTS and placed him in a 50 gallon tank with all the requirements I read online and other sources. I did take him to the vet. Poor guy has no front toes because of improper humidity and inability to shed the skin off of his toes. He had severe mouth rot which I gave him antibiotics for and ointment.

My issue that I still struggle with is this: while he has mouth rot, I use news paper in his cage so I can see any feces and urine and clean it immediately. But the paper always gets pushed to one side so he ends up crapping all over the glass which is unhealthy for him because I can't always clean it immediately if I am not around for a few hours and its hard to clean up. The minute I switch to bedding, his mouth rot goes insane. The bedding gets stuck in his mouth and I have to always wipe his mouth which makes it bleed a little bit and obviously makes him uncomfortable.

Does anyone have a solution to this?
I want to make him happy and healthy but even after six months of my care he still looks like he wants to die...

[Linnea]

welcome to the forum

a chronic mouth rot?
first of all, how long has he been on antibiotics? which one?

do you have photos which can help us a little?


usually it should subside and then you can put back all his items and substrate, but not before it is healed. a clean terrarium with paper towels (not newspaper, for several reasons, one being the ink) as substrate and a few good hides and good bts temps is what is needed to avoid re-infection.

if you want a free fecal exam then a nice person on this forum can help if you send it (Reptileking)

wait till the other members who have more experience with mouth rot can give you better advice. i have not treated an ill bts, but i am online most of the time so i give quick answers x.x

[Fatal_S]

Is he still on antibiotics? If he has mouth rot he needs medicine to fight the infection. If he just has mouth crusties (dried gunk stuck to the mouth) you'll need to clean it off any time it starts to form so the lips have time to dry out and heal.

I've used newspaper. I use several layers and lots of heavy hides to hold it down. Of course they still manage to push it around. Maybe tape it down? Paper towels are more absorbent, but just as hard to keep in place. Towels are another option.

[Sandilynn15]

He is no longer on oral antibiotics but every day I put on his ointment called "silver sulfadiazine cream". The antibiotics that I gave him, for I think what was ten days, was called baytril. He gets these crusty scabs along the rim of his mouth, which to take care of I put him in a warm bath for ten minutes to soften them up and then I hold him in a towel and I pick/rub them off with a Q tip. Then I rub his ointment on his mouth with a Q tip. i have been doing this for six months but he still gets nasty scabs on his mouth all the time. (Only when I am using bedding like aspen or care fresh...not when I use paper towels or newspaper...which I have used both). So I guess my question is this 1. are the scab mouth rot or do the scabs mean he is over the mouth rot but his mouth is still recovering from the secondary injury of mouth rot? and 2. how long do I have to wait to stop using news paper/ paper towels before I can switch to beddings again so the scabs/mouthrot don't get worse?

I will post pictures

[Joey1983]

Poor little guy... hang in there. It is very nice that you are doing this. I wish I knew more abou mot rot to help you.

[Linnea]

dont use bedding at all until its fully healed. as said, you dont want any kind of bacteria harvesting or possibly get-stuck item around him.

also, i think you should know that the actual mouth rot will not go away by itself, likely you will need more antibiotics if the infection isnt actually gone. if it gets worse then you definitely need it cause your skink cant fight it off by himself in the state he is in.

fully healed = no black/green/yellow. just pink.

[Fatal_S]

Hmm. Those crusties sound more like the normal buildup than actual mouthrot. They're actually kind of common, and annoying re-current. If you believe there is still infection then talk to the vet and get more baytril.
My case of mouthrot:


In this case there is definitely an infection, and about a month of Baytril was needed to fight it. Part of his lip was necrotic and we had to let it die and fall off. Mouth rot is pretty nasty.

Crusties on the other hand are annoying, but not really deadly. They can lead to mouthrot if they get infected though. Basically you need to keep the crusties off and keep the mouth dry. The wounds need to heal. The crusties are usually formed from saliva, dirt and food. The crustie traps moisture on the lip underneath and it starts to rot away (not really mouthrot because it's not an infection, just flesh kept too moist). Thus, take the crusty off and then dry the lip. You'll need to keep the tank dry too. It can take a few sheds before the lip is back to a fairly-normal state where the crusties won't re-form.

[Richard.C]

yep,definatly return to vet if u dont think its healed yet, 6 months is a long time,can u see infection in his mouth,the gum tooth area?

without seeing pics its hard to say whats going on,but when in doubt,always good to to see your vet

[El Lobo]

Maybe taking him back to the vet and requesting a C&S (culture and sensitivity) test to help identify what is actually causing the infection, appropriate medication can then be prescribed. With the slow metabolism of reptiles in general a 10 day course of Baytril does not seem long enough to be of much effect. A reptile vet I know will not prescribe less than 21 days administered at 48 hourly intervals to compensate for the slow metabolism. If the vet agrees to a further course of antibiotics it could be worth discussing a higher initial dose to achieve peak load with subsequent lower doses for maintenance. Some vets will agree to this, but not all.

Good luck with getting his issues resolved.