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 #1738767


AdmYrrek
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 Broken Jaw?

My wild-caught male alligator lizard, "Steve", is not particularly friendly. When I was taking things out of his cage to clean them he tried to bite me. No big deal. He went for me, caught the tip of my thumb and his mouth slid off my thumbnail. I head a slight noise, but I assumed that it was just his "teeth" skidding along my thumbnail. When I got a good look at his face a few moments after however, I noticed his jaw wasn’t matching up on the side of his mouth where he bit me. It’s not horrible, just barely not matching up, but its enough to notice. He’s also licking it a lot. I tried to get a look in his mouth to check it out (when he was opening it to lick the side of his mouth) but don’t see anything really. When you look at him straight on eye-level with him, his normal side matches up properly, but on the damaged side it looks like he has a slight under-bite.

Is it possible he’s broken his jaw? I’m hoping that’s not the case, because I don’t really know what to do in that situation. If this is the case, what can I do? is there anything specific I should feed him? I usually feed him large crickets. Is there anything I can do for him in case he’s in pain?

Any suggestions of things I can do would be appreciated.

Photo below
05/18/08  12:23am

 #1738808


Aliceinwl
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   Message To: AdmYrrek   In reference to Message Id: 1738767


 Broken Jaw?

It looks like he may have injured / broken his jaw. This isn’t something that usually happens in a healthy al. My guess would be that metabolic bone disease (MBD) is a contributing factor. I’d make sure that you have a UVB light less than 6 months old, within 10" of the basking site. Make sure that every prey item is appropriately gutloaded and generously dusted with a phosphorus free calcium supplement containing vitamin D3. I’d downsize the prey items to small crickets and try to incapacitate them so that he can catch and eat them without doing too much chomping. If you can feed him pre-killed small crickets off tongs, that would probably be best. If it’s broken, you want to avoid anything that will cause further damage (like trying to chomp a large cricket until the bones heal).

It’s important to figure out what is causing the underlying problem. Double check your calcium supplement; you need one that is phosphorus free (no calcium phosphate etc.) it also should contain vitamin D3. It should be used at every feeding. Do some research on your UVB; check out this site: http://www.uvguide.co.uk/ Is your UVB close enough, is anything filtering it (glass and plastic will filter out UVB), is it due for replacement (UVB production typically drops off after 6 months)?
05/18/08  01:05am

 #1738816


AdmYrrek
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   Message To: Aliceinwl   In reference to Message Id: 1738808


 Broken Jaw?

Alrighty, thanks for the suggestion. I doubt he’ll eat crickets off tongs due to being so against me sticking my hands in the cage, but I’ll make sure all small crickets get fully dusted. The bulb is probably too old as well. Is there anything I can do for the probable pain?
05/18/08  01:16am

 #1738854


Aliceinwl
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   Message To: AdmYrrek   In reference to Message Id: 1738816


 Broken Jaw?

I don’t think that you can safely self medicate for pain. A vet visit wouldn’t be a bad idea as they could give you a better idea of what you’re dealing with (break, dislocation etc.) and could determine if more dramatic intervention is necessary.
05/18/08  03:36am

 #1738860


AdmYrrek
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   Message To: Aliceinwl   In reference to Message Id: 1738854


 Broken Jaw?

Unfortunately, it’s not really in my ability to take him to a vet. When I catch wild lizards for pets, it’s always short term. In his case, I happened upon him hibernating (I think?) and nearly killed him (an inch further with that shovel, and oh , dead lizard) during the winter when I was doing some yard maintenance. I thought it would be a fair trade to keep him away from the predators and get free meals ’til summer. But now here he’s injured. That’s the last thing I wanted. I don’t suppose it would be fair or beneficial to him to release him now or until he’s better.

What do you think? I can certainly spring for a new bulb and better supplements and give him the extra TLC ’til he heals, or I can release him (it’s now definitely warm enough), but I can’t really afford to take him to a vet.

If I should keep him and tend to him (which I’m leaning towards; I feel quite guilty about his injuring himself), how long does it take lizard bones to heal? And how might I know when he’s better?
05/18/08  03:56am

 #1739724


Aliceinwl
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   Message To: AdmYrrek   In reference to Message Id: 1738860


 Broken Jaw?

In many states (California is one) it is illegal to release herps that have been in captivity.

In his current state release would likely be a death sentence (there would be no one adding extra calcium to his food to replace what’s been lost and no one making sure he only came across small soft bodied insects that would not aggravate his jaw injury).

The healing process could be slow due to the metabolic bone disease and the act of eating. Chomping prey items combined with already weak bones may continue to aggravate the injury (kind of like walking on a broken leg). All his bones not just the jaw are going to need to recalcify (breaks happen in lizards suffering from MBD because the body is metabolizing the calcium stored in the bones). I’d try normal sized live prey items after a couple months and see if he can handle them (kill and crush), if he can the bones have probably healed. Even if the bones do heal, the jaw alignment may always be off. This would be a big disadvantage for a wild lizard. He would only be able to exert full pressure on one side, the old injury site may be vulnerable to rebreaking if over taxed (picture him trying to eat a bird egg or subdue a Jerusalem cricket) and the exposed gum tissue would be vulnerable to injury. I think that right now you should plan on having a long term pet or start looking for a long term home for him.



05/18/08  11:05pm

 #1740965


AdmYrrek
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   Message To: Aliceinwl   In reference to Message Id: 1739724


 Broken Jaw?

I thought as much with the issue of releasing. Thank you so much for your info and help!
05/20/08  04:44am


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