Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello

I keep a small collection of bearded dragons (trans and leatherbacks). I had left town for a few days and returned home to find a very bloated dead adult female translucent dragon. Suffice it to say that I was STUNNED! Up until now she had been eating and moving normally. I have had this dragon for ~4.5 months and she has always been active although a sporadic eater. Knowing this I kept an eye on her body condition and it never got any worse.

I just performed an necropsy on her and found a large hard mass (about the size of a peach pit) in the left lobe of her liver. The right lobe appeared healthy and was the correct size. However, the left lobe was considerably smaller and consisted almost entirely of this large mass. I do not have pics as I did not have a digital camera on hand and she was already quite pungent.

Has anyone else ever seen a large mass such as this in the liver? The mass appeared to be a large blood clot as it was quite red and had a considerable amount of congealed blood surrounding it.

Thanks,
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Kyle

Common sense is genius dressed in its working clothes. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Can't say I have ever seen a liver tumor/growth in any animal personally. However such things can occur in any animal. As the liver filters toxins and other things out of the blood, having blood around the tumor isn't unusual. Only way to determine if the tumor is a blood clot, cancerous or something else, is to have it examined by a veterinarian.

This sort of growth which didn't show any outward signs other than a small appetite wouldn't have been apparent till to late, unless discovered in an x-ray or blood work. Cancerous growths do happen in Bearded dragons, just not very often. But such unexpected occurrences is why its always good to take even healthy looking animals to have a vet checkup as part of routine care. It certainly wouldn't hurt to have any siblings or other close relatives (ie parents) checked just to make sure its not a genetic issue.
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PHLdyPayne