# Do tegus have scent glands in their cheeks?



## AP27 (Mar 14, 2012)

I sometimes see adult males scrubbing their jowls on things, and whenever Odin comes near my face I notice he has a stinky face lol. No matter how much, or how recently, he's been bathed, he always seems to have a slight odor that seems to be coming from his cheeks. It's not terrible, and I can only smell it if I stick my nose in his face. So could it be possible that they have scent glands there, or does he just have bad breath? lol.


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## reptastic (Mar 14, 2012)

Lol I know what you mean, idk about scent glands I think it could be just stinky breath,but I see my male do that sometimes and he is constantly marking everywere, if you see my recent thread you can see a video I got today of him doing it, so maybe its a good chance they do


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## AP27 (Mar 15, 2012)

I saw that video. Interesting. It's a shame tegus have never been studied very thoroughly. Does Rayne have a stinky face too? Lol. Or just Storm? maybe that could solve the question of glands or bad breath. Unless females had them too. Guess there's no way of really knowing for sure.


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## laurarfl (Mar 15, 2012)

I don't think they have scent glands. The smell is usually debris stuck in the corner of their lips. It can get quite nasty. Sometimes I get a Q-tip, roll back the skin a bit, and wipe the corners. It's like old food, saliva, and mulch dust all mixed together. YUM!


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## naturboy87 (Mar 15, 2012)

the smell is due to extremely hight bacteria in the back cornor of he mouth wher the joul gap is up in the upper corner of the mouth it can lead to be extreme bacteria wich could be threting to the handler if ever biten since sum bacteria can take over the human amune sistem very quickly . u can use q-tips diped in (Kids) mouth wash to cleen the lips joul gap and teath of your tegu at least thats what i do to keep their bacteria levles as low as posible . i was tought this frum a frend that was a monitor breador .


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## AP27 (Mar 15, 2012)

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for solving the mystery for me!  I'll be sure to start cleaning the corners of Odin's mouth from now on.


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