# Leopard Gecko - constantly licking mouth



## cakitten1825 (Nov 28, 2010)

I have a male leopard gecko who has started constantly licking his lips and widening his mouth. When he tries to eat his mealworms, he picks it up and can't keep ahold of it. I haven't seen him eat very often lately because of this. I tried soaking him in warm water but it doesn't seem to help. 

He opens his mouth really wide, and licks into the corners of his mouth. Any ideas of what may be wrong with him?


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## mariex4 (Oct 19, 2009)

does he have any like scabbing starting , or sore patches if so he will prob need a vet as it could be start of mouth rot, if im wrong tho somebody will correct me. i had a rescue who was doing that and had mouth rot if he has anything like this get him to the vets 









if you can see the red sore spots it could be sign of mouth rot , sadly champ passed away due to other problems .


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## cakitten1825 (Nov 28, 2010)

I just checked again and he doesn't have discolorations, marks, or anything around his mouth. I am watching him now trying to eat and he keeps licking the mealworm because he can't keep it in his mouth


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## sam12345 (Dec 28, 2007)

From experience when a leo finds it hard to "crunch" livefood and cant, or when the livefood escapes from the mouth. This has been down to early MBD or mouthrot (infections or abbesses in the mouth).

A nice easy way to see if MBD has progressed very far is to just VERY gently squeeze the bottom jaw inwards. I cant stress how much this has to be gently!
If there is only a spongey resistance it means MBD has progressed.

I would suggest the vets if you can put your finger on it or resolve it in a few days. And straight away if you suspect MBD.


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## cakitten1825 (Nov 28, 2010)

What causes mouth rot? I can't tell if he jaw is as you described. My female gecko is showing the same symptoms now though. She is eating but at times has a hard time grasping her food too. I am very worried about them now, but don't see any of the marks around the mouth or any of the other symptoms of mouth rot according to what I've seen on Google


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