I just got Harley a week ago today at a local pet store. I have no clue if Harley is a boy or girl either. Harley took instantly to me in there he wouldn't even let me put him down. They told me he/she was 3-4 months old. ( I also found out Harley isn't 3-4months more like 1 year old. Harley measures 3 1/2 in from S-N and 12 1/2 inches total length.) Well to save him from having to adjust too much i purchased the same cage and set up mostly as what he was in. Well the first two nights were good. He ate and then I held him till he fell asleep. He picked out his sleeping corner from day 1. Everynight between 11-11:30 he was in his corner going to sleep. Well then i started noticing about wednesday his bottom (lip?) looked like it waspeeling. Well now it looks sore. Harley is still devoreing Crickets though. Ate about 10 so far today. He has been Real skttish and that just started yesterday, he only left me hold him for like 2minutes compared to the 15 minutes the day before. He WAS real calm, last two days have been odd. Today what topped it off was he left me pick him up, but the he started squirming and this yucky mucos like stuff came out of his mouth (At first I wanted to say it was like he spit it at me)so I put him in his cage (I have no clue what he was doing but...) it looked like he had the dry heaves. His tongue looked real white. Then harley went to his corner and started moving his head and it looked like he was trying to push down on his pelvis (if that makes sense). That "episode" lasted about 2 hours, now he is back to being really skittish. There are no vets any where near where i live that deals with reptiles so I am at a loss. Can anyone give me some advice? What do I do? Thanks to everyone that replies!
The mucous could be the start of mouthrot but it also might not be. Without seeing him I can't really say. Do you know much of his history? Being that old in a petstore makes me think he's either been rehomed and then you don't know how he was being looked after, or maybe wild caught - then you have problems with parasites and things. Is he still drinking, pooping and eating? You could try some antibiotic cream if he is sore. Has he banged himself recently? That's all I can think of for now.
See, as of yesterday when he did all this weird stuff he/she started, almost like breathing through his/her mouth. Harley is still eating drinking and all that..very active still. I am hoping maybe just taking some time to get adjusted....i just don't want nothing to happen to him..or her. And what if he likes that stuff after i put it on him? Can it hurt and what about like bag balm would that work?>]
If harley's breathing with it's mouth open it could have a respiratory infection or the early stages of one. From places I've lived with my dragons, that is a direct result from low humidity. Couple things that I've done to get rid of that. Find a way to higher the humidity in the cage. Mist more often, put in a plant, buy a nice expensive, high-quality humidifier, etc... Another thing that we now do semi-regularly to prevent problems is to put the lizards on our towel rack in the bathroom and turn the water on hot. They really love all that steam and it will really help. You may see mucus coming out of its nostrils, this is good and is just the mucus clearing up. Good luck with harley -Mike
