Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have an adult female bearded dragon (I posted this on the BD forum too) who apparently hurt her "arm" yesterday. It is mildly swollen, but looks and feels otherwise normal. Her regular vet is out of the country for some Continuing Education so I cannot get an appointment until Wednesday and cannot even talk to him on the phone. Is it safe to wait until Wednesday or does this warrant a trip to an unknown vet? She is apparently healthy in every other respect. I decided not to breed her this year because she had an excessive number of clutches last year and I wanted her to recover. She made eggs without mating this year however and is currently digging away with her injured arm. She ate greens yesterday and today and pooped today. She is alert and acting normal. I have confined her to an area where she has nothing to climb on except a pillow (although she is currently in her egg laying bin).

As long as there is no change in her condition, is it safe to wait? My vet's office gave me a number for another reptile vet, but I don't know him at all. If it is safe, I'd feel much more comfortable waiting for my excellent, highly experienced regular vet. What do you think?

Thank you,
Lisa

I am thinking this might be a pathological fracture related to a lack of calcium (from all the eggs she's been laying). Whether or not I am correct doesn't however change my advice. If you've received a referal to another vet from your reptile vet clinic, then they are likely comfortable with this new vet. Take her to this new vet.

The dragon's drive to continuously use this leg (digging) is going to make this worse, and adds a timely variable to the treatment needed.

If you do not like this new vet, at least treatment has begun, and you can continue further with your regular vet.

Good luck with your dragon

Ian

Thanks for your advice. Patch's arm isn't broken, but her calcium is getting low from the incredible amount of eggs she has been laying. It is a buildup of fibrous tissue. He said that there is nothing I can do about making all those eggs(except remove her ovaries - which he is not recommending at this time). I just have to up her calcium and UVB.

He said that if I didn't take such good care of her, she might now lay so many eggs - but I am pretty sure that was a joke!

Thanks again,
Lisa