veiled chameleon bubbling at mouth

Question
We have a very baby cham - only about 3 inches long.  he seems to be bubbling out of his mouth everytime he drinks....one of your previous comments suggests taking him to a vet, but there isn't a vert that knows anything about reptiles in our town.  Any suggestions that we can work on without a vet?

Answer
Hi Lori

From your "bubbling" description, it sounds like he has excessive mucous in his mouth. In my experience that can be an indication of a respiratory infection or a mouth infection. With mouth infections ( often called mouth rot) you tend to see a swelling around the mouth so that the upper and lower "lips" don't align very well. There might be redness on the exposed tissues and a white, cheesy deposit forming.

With respiratory infections there is usually excessive mucous in the mouth, sometimes bubbles forming at the nostrils and often, an audible clicking or rattling as they breathe, although that would difficult to detect in such a small cham.

In either case, the first step would be to boost your cham's own immune system. Make sure his basking temperature is at the upper end of the optimal temperature range, which would be around 100 - 105F. If caught early, increasing the temp. can sometimes be enough to curtail an infection in reptiles. He will need a suitable amount of space to move away from this temperature as well. A small enclosure such as a 10 gallon will overheat with a 100F basking area.

Try to keep his stress level down as well by reducing or eliminating any handling. Stress can really limit the immune response.