Somethings wrong with leo mouth - HELP

[Krow]

About your leo:
- Sex: F
- Age & Weight: 2 yrs, healthy weight, exact unknown(not a breeder, dont have a scale for stuff that tiny)
- How long have you owned your leo: Close to years & a half
- Where was she obtained: Fallen Angel Geckos

A) Health/History
- How often do you handle your leo: twice a week, if that.
- Is your leo acting any different today? If so how does she normally act which differs from now: No, acts like she always does.
- Has she had any problems in the past, if so please describe: No
B) Fecals
- Describe (look any different than normal): They look normal
- When was the last time she went: Today, it was normal
C) Problem
Kirsa has a hole in the left side of her mouth, hole makes upper lip swell slightly, rest of her mouth looks normal.

Housing:
A) Enclosure
- Size: 20g long
- Type: glass
- Type of substrate: Eco Earth Coco Fiber (dry)
- Hides, how many, what kind: 4 hides, 1 rock, 3 wooden
B) Heating
- Heat source: UTH
- Cage temps (hot side, cool side): HS: 90-93, CS: 80
- Method of regulating heat source: Rheostat
- What are you using to measure your temps: Thermometer w/ probe
- Do you have any lights (describe): No
C) Cage mates
- How many (males, females): 1 female shtct, same age, same size
- Describe health, or previous problems: Eats & sheds just as well as Kirsa

Describe Diet:
A) Typical diet
- What you're feeding (how often, how much): Main: Superworms, Varied with mealworms & crickets, every 2-3 days food is offered
- How are you feeding (hand fed, left in dish, ect): Each leo is fed separately in plastic tub
B) Supplements (describe how often)
- What vitamin/minerals are you using (list brands): Repti-Calcium w/o D3 & Rep-Cal Herptivite with Beta Carotene(multivitamins)
- What are you gut loading food with: Superworms & mealworms get apples, potatos & banana peel. Crickets get normal cricket gut load.



Something is wrong with Kirsa's mouth, I dont know if it's mouth rot or something else...

There is a small hole in her gum on the left side of her mouth, the hole makes her upper lip swell slightly, the rest of her mouth looks normal & fine.
(sorry my pictures suck, my camera isn't the greatest)

Without flash...

With flash...

 

[T-ReXx]

How does the inside of her mouth look? Any cheesy looking material around her gums/teeth? Is the tissue on the inside of her mouth swollen? These things would point to mouth rot. I suspect either that or possibly an injury with infection from the pics.

 

[Krow]

No, her mouth looks fine other than the hole & swollen upper lip. I touched the swollen part of her lip above the hole & a little bit of blood seeped out of the hole :/

 

[fuzzylogix]

ive had this happen before with superworm bites. i just used a qtip with peroxide to clean it, and applied a small amount of an antibiotic to the spot. went away in about a week. if it is infected and gets worse, it will more than likely need to be examined by a vet.

 

[AlexB]

looks like a cricket bite, one of my leos had the same thing and it just healed by itself, as long as your leo eats, you shouldnt worry too much

 

[Krow]

ive had this happen before with superworm bites. i just used a qtip with peroxide to clean it, and applied a small amount of an antibiotic to the spot. went away in about a week. if it is infected and gets worse, it will more than likely need to be examined by a vet.

Hydrogen Peroxide?

She did eat a superworm the other day, upside down, she didn't crush his head, after he was completely in her mouth she shook him back out & then crushed his head. So maybe that one could have bit her gum. :/

looks like a cricket bite, one of my leos had the same thing and it just healed by itself, as long as your leo eats, you shouldnt worry too much

I dont feed them crickets very often, maybe once every 2 weeks. A friend's leo got pin worms from crickets, because crickets were the only thing he would eat, so Im a little more cautious now when it comes to feeding crickets.

 

[fuzzylogix]

yeah i know it sounds crazy, but a tiny dab of hydrogen peroxide on the open sore will kill any bacteria. a vet recommended that to me when i had this issue. didn't seem to do any harm at all to the gecko. but that is exactly what it looks like to me, a superworm bite.

 

[T-ReXx]

I agree. Since she doesn't have any damage to the inside lining of her mouth it is most likely a wound. Could be from a prey item, could be from the other gecko, no way to be certain. I also recommend a little Hydrogen Peroxide clean up and a little dab of neosporin to help prevent infection. I'd consider keeping her on PT until it heals up. If it is infected, it will take longer to heal and if it starts to get worse she's going to have to see a vet for injectable or oral antibiotics.

 

[Spots]

Looks the same as my girl. She eats meal worms and I noticed that too. Her behaviour never changed and the hole went away. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't get worse is what I'd say

 

[Krow]

yeah i know it sounds crazy, but a tiny dab of hydrogen peroxide on the open sore will kill any bacteria. a vet recommended that to me when i had this issue. didn't seem to do any harm at all to the gecko. but that is exactly what it looks like to me, a superworm bite.

Oh, I dont think it sounds crazy, after all we use it on ourselves & mammals to clean bacteria out of wounds. I just didn't know if it was ok since it is on her mouth & she will lick it.

Im glad its not mouth rot, other than this thread Ive had a few other people tell me it just looks like a superworm bite, so relieved. Thanks for the help.

 

[T-ReXx]

Oh, I dont think it sounds crazy, after all we use it on ourselves & mammals to clean bacteria out of wounds. I just didn't know if it was ok since it is on her mouth & she will lick it.

Im glad its not mouth rot, other than this thread Ive had a few other people tell me it just looks like a superworm bite, so relieved. Thanks for the help.

Hydrogen peroxide is H202, it's basically water with an additional Oxygen molecule. It's perfectly safe to ingest, just doesn't taste all that great and if you drank it you'd most likely puke. Just FYI for an interesting related fact, when a dog eats something poisonous(like chocolate or rat poison) if you catch it within 20 min and force some Hydrogen Peroxide down the throat(the amount depends on the size of the dog) they'll ALWAYS throw up. I've seen it save quite a few dogs' lives. So it is safe to injest, and a small amount won't give her any stomach troubles.

 

[Krow]

Thanks Ted.

 

[fuzzylogix]

yep he's right on. some people even use hydrogen peroxide as mouthwash and its in a lot of toothpaste as well. just don't get any in your hair, lol

 

[UnicornSpirit]

It looks like some sort of abscess on her throat too.

 

[Krow]

It looks like some sort of abscess on her throat too.

No thats just her pokeing her throat out, she does that a lot, so do my other 2 leos.