Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone.

My two bearded dragons have been doing well. They are brothers and sisters and I keep them in seperate cages because the male grew so much quicker than the female in the first 3 months. I think it was a combination of he grew quickly and she grew slowly.

Just in the last week I noticed that the female has what looks like a small patch of greenish/greyish mold on her back. It has me concerned as I keep a very clean envioronment for my dragons, or at least I think i do. She literally just went through a shedding this week as well, which is how and when I noticed. It is about a quarter inch in diameter. Here are two pics I took. I know they don't show it very well but it was the best I can do for right now. Any ideas on what this is? Is this rot? How do i treat it? Do i need to get out my athelete foot spray? Kidding. Seriously, what can I do to help her? Below the two pictures I have another question, about the same lizard who stands on the back of her hands..

This girl has always been a bit goofy. Uncoordinated and very quick to run off or into something at times. One of the things that strikes me as most interesting is that she stands on the back of her hands, often. Here is a pick of her doing it with her front right hand. She will often be standing that way with both her front hands and then try to rush for a cricket or something and flounder at first. Picture her standing regular, but her hands are folded the wrong way, backwards towards her body, so she is actually standing on her wrists. She always does it. Is this anything I should be concerned about?

I honestly think it is just her goofiness and clumsiness. I don't think she is that in touch with her body/agility etc etc.

If I need to fix it I think i can by taking the sand out of her cage and making her walk on regular things that aren't as enabling as the sand to walking on the back of her hands. Any thoughts?

I would take her to a good reptile vet for the mold/rot. They may be able to do a biopsy and determine what it is. I have not experienced it.

As far as the walking on her hands upside down, I have read that this can be caused by a calcium deficiency. I would consider this and increase supplementation.

But, I have a sub adult that I hatched that sometimes walks on the back of his hand/hands also. He does it on the carpet in my living room so I don't think it's a sand issue. I have studied it and almost think its a double jointed issue or muscular but he shows now weakness or tenderness because of it.

The pictures are not clear at all on what the mold/rot spot is...even with the red arrow pointing at it.

There are only a couple skin problems known with bearded dragons, infections from injuries (and giving the position, not likely to be from normal injuries unless the male is housed with her now or is put in with her time to time, in which case it could be a bit). Scale rot is possible but very rare on bearded dragons...unless they are kept in too humid conditions. (humidity should be no higher than 60% for any length of time)

Yellow fungus disease is a serious condition in bearded dragons which can eventually lead to death. It tends to look like yellow spots of mold or yellow/brown to brown spots. Your joke about athlet's foot spray is actually a useful ideal for this fungus, as eing an anti-fungal, it has a better chance of actually defeating the fungus, But before spraying your dragon with it, read on. I will include some links with more info about the disease and how to treat it but i strongly recommend you bring your dragon to a vet first, to make sure it is in fact, yellow fungus and not something completely different. Most likely the vet will need to do a biopsy of the spot and send it to a lab to be cultured, to determine exactly what is going on, if anything.

If you can get a digital camera with a macro lense, so you can get a good close up shot, that will be helpful too.

The bent back hands...that is a concern. Usually this can be caused by a weakness in the tendons of the feet, or a defect..which prevents her from walking normally, the soft sand may even compound the problem though I see you have a ramp leading up to the basking area and that is of course, solid and would give her enough opportunity to walk normally. As you didn't give any indication of her age, only that she didn't grow as fast as her brother, can't really say if there is anything that can be done to correct this habit of hers. As long as her wrists are not being rubbed raw.,..in the long run, I don't' think it will adversely affect her state of wellbeing. Bearded dragons missing feet completely have lived long and productive lives without too much special care.

beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/yellowfungus.html

At the bottom of the article there is a link to another site with more info on the disease.
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PHLdyPayne

Thank you PH and BD. I will look into those avenues.