My Chinese Water Dragon has developed what looks like a sore on the corner of his mouth. He has been shedding and growing a lot lately, I don't know if the sore is related or not. It is yellowish in color.

We've had him about two months now, in a 4x2x2.5 tank. I try my hardest to keep the humidity at 80, the daytime temps stay between 70-80 and half the enclosure has a heater on the bottom. He eats crickets that I gutload and dust with calcium. He likes to take occasional swims in the bathtub. He hasn't been acting any differently- but this is the first day I've seen the strange growth. I'm very worried about it, should I take him to a vet or is this related to the shedding?

I think thats all the specs... any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks for taking the time.

welcome! First of all, your tems are too low. you should be between 80 and 88 during the day and down to 75-80 at night. This will cause all sorts of problems if not helped.
http://reptileguides.herpcenter.com/...ragon-t27.html

Check out our caresheet. I can't tell you about mouth rot, but when in doubt, get a vet check up by a certified herp vet.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Well the temps are lower at night... but right now the daytime temps are averaging btwn 70-80. Could this be helped by getting another heat lamp? The one we have now is 75 watt.

of course you can get another heat lamp!

you could also try a ceramic heat emitter if you don't want any more light in there. What do you have for UVB?

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

does that mean you do not have a UVB light?

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Have you tried using a MVB? They provide proper UV lighting and keep temps up. It sounds like it could possibly be mouthrot...any way you can take pics for us? You should make an appt with the vet an thy will give you an antibacterial ointment to treat mouthrot with, for now you can put some neosporin on it and clean it with betadine, make sure not to overdo it with the neo. you only need a little. Temp during the day shold be in the mid 80s

We DO have a UVB bulb!

Here is a pic. He is developing another sore-looking spot on the other side as well, slightly below the corner of his mouth. What could this be?

Attached Images

Bruce.jpg (9.7 KB, 25 views)

yes, but what type? Not all UVB bulbs are created equal. And when was the last time you changed it?

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Yuck!! That does infact look like some nasty mouthrot your little dude has! I suggest a trip to the vet for some ointment, if you dont take care of it now its just gonna spread and get worse

The bulb is a fluorescent... says 2.0 UVB. I haven't changed it yet... I know the pet store said the fluorescent would last longer- we've had it for almost two months.