Young Green Iguanas Jaw

Question
I have a young green iguana and he has the proper habitat and lighting, I also feed him a good diet. All of the sudden it appears his jaw is dislocated or just swollen on the left side of his lower jaw and I was wondering why?

Answer
Hi Jillian, Two possibilities come to mind for a distorted jaw in a young iguana, mouth rot or metabolic bone disease. When MBD becomes evident in the jaw, the effect is usually symmetrical, that is both sides are affected. The jaw bone becomes soft and is literally pulled out of shape, like an archery bow, by the jaw muscles. By the time you see this symptom you sometimes can notice others as well, notably thick bulging arms and legs. As the limb bones soften the body wraps them with connective tissue to re-enforce them. At this stage iguanas tend to have difficulty climbing or holding their body off the ground while walking. I have linked Melissa Kaplan's site on both MBD and mouth rot but I would encourage you to go over her lighting, diet and vitamin/mineral supplementation information as well. I know you feel you have the proper lighting and diet but that completely depends on the source of your information. There is plenty of incorrect advice about iguana husbandry both on line and from pet stores and you would not be the first person to have followed it, thinking you were doing everything right, only to have major health problems develop with your iguana.

I am hoping that since the swelling is only on one side that you may be dealing with a bit of a mouth infection. In the early stages this can usually be treated at home successfully. It can develop into something far more serious so if it does not seem to respond to treatment in 2 or 3 days I would seek out a vet's advice. Check your hot spot/basking temperature ( should be about 100F or 38C), mouth rot is often related to inadequate temperatures which in turn hinder the immune system.  In addition to the swelling, mouthrot will usually present with red, inflamed membranes just inside the jaw and there may be a deposit of yellow crust or cottage cheese like substance. Reptile pus forms as a semi solid rather then liquid. You can initially remove the pus and dead tissue with a cotton tip swab dipped in hydrogen peroxide which is excellent for the first stage cleaning of an infected wound but should be replaced after that with a dilute povidone iodine soltution (brand name Betadine) or chlorhexidine. The swabs should not be "dripping" wet, you want to avoid having the antiseptics run down the reptile's throat.    

http://www.anapsid.org/stomatitis.html

http://www.anapsid.org/mbd.html