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I have two beardies that are almost 4 years old. I have had them on play sand for the last 3 years. I have a large enclosure that gives them plenty of room to run. There are two areas for basking and three areas for hiding. There are also several rock piles that they can climb on. They eat greens daily (I give them a variety....depends what looks good at the store) Typically it's a mixture of Kale, mustard, and collard greens. They get supers and crickets regularly with an occasional pinky. I make sure to dust the live feed. Here is my problem.... Last week I noticed that the bottom of my one Beardie's feet looked pinkish. He was in the middle of a shed so I just soaked him and put him back in his enclosure. I have kept an eye on the bottoms of his feet but now it seems to have gotten a bit worse. His femoral pores are now somewhat pink looking as are some areas down the underside of his tail. I totally cleaned out their enclosure this week and scrubbed everything down. Tonight I noticed my other Beardie's feet are starting to look pink. Does anyone know what this could be??
Thanks for any help,
Tina

Not to sure what t his could be. First, I am going to assume the washed playsand doesn't have any dyes in it (ie it's just natural sand color, not tinted red or terra cotta). Check the surface temperature of the rocks and sand, make sure it's not getting too hot, causing burns on the feet. Next, use a magnafying glass to check the feet for any abrasions or cuts. If this doesn't reveal any cuts or other injuries, it may be best to take your dragon to a vet to check for bacterial infections or fungus infections. These may not be easy to see with a basic magnifying glass, but could be detected with blood work or a swab from the affected areas.

Another possibility is the sand itself (if a new batch perhaps?) is causing the problem. If the sand has silica in it (though there are sands out there that are in fact silica, some are actually finally crushed granite and don't contain silica at all. This is what washed children's playsand should be. Silica is a bad irritant, being fine particles of glass, which can irritate the lungs and is very dangerous for us, to breathe in the silica dust). Remove all the sand you have in the cage and replace it with just paper towel for a week or so, and see if their feet improve. If they still get worse or show no improvement, once again, I advise getting them to a vet for examination.
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PHLdyPayne

The sand I had in the enclosure is playsand that is not silica. It is the standard color.....no dyes. I too was worried that maybe a basking rock was too hot but I have been double checking the temps on all the surfaces and none of the basking areas get above 108 F. I did remove the sand for fear that some irritant may have gotten in it. I had no clue....did some nasty bug come in on a feeder?? I wasn't certain so I cleaned all the sand out and scrubbed the enclosure down. The only bedding I had enough of (here at home) was the coconut bark stuff. I never use it for my beardies but well...it's all I had. I live in the north east and there is no way I could get enough playsand washed and dried for their enclosure. It would take me days of constantly running the oven to get it all dried. This is just not something I can do right now. I did put a bit of neosporin on their feet last night and today, they actually look a bit better. I hope the Neosporin is ok....I was just panicking and worried they were spots of infection. Today, Zero's femoral pores are no longer pink in color and a couple of the red spots on his feet actually look like they have formed something like a scab. Liberty looks fine today except that she is shedding a bit. Do you still think they need to be seen by a vet or should I just continue to keep an eye on them? Thank you so much for your help!!
Tina

Sorry for butting in here, but just a thought on the substrate - maybe until you figure out what it is or all seems well again don't use any substrate at all. If there is any sort of opening even a small piece of cocoa fiber could get in and cause infections. You could use paper towel or the non-adhesive shelf liner for now. Just my 2 cents
lele
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