Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I have 2 dragons, one is just a year old the other is about 5 months. My older dragon scarface, is about 18" long, but she is developing light color skin only in patches. She is dark, but she gets these patches that go almost white and then they return back to her dark color. And on her shoulders (front) she has these bumps that seem to look like swelling, but they are hard, and the fluctuate in size but wont go away. Is is not eating as much anymore but I thought she might be going into brumation because it is colder in the house now and she hangs on a stick at her favorite spot, and so she is at almost room temp I would assume. I have a heat lamp on her now. Anyone seen these kinda bumps before or the color patches??

have they been to a vet?
if not find a nearby vet that handles reptiles and get them there to check things out.

please describe to us the floowing:

1) what kind of lights?
2) how many hours a day?
3) what do you feed them? what veggies? insects? Other stuff?
4) do the dragon poop's seem normal? are they soft and runny? strong smelling etc...?
5) what kind of "bedding" are they on? (paper,sand,bark or??)
6) night time low temps? daytime basking temps?
7) get some photos of the masses on the dragon and post them here or on a site where we can see them.

without at least some of the things listed we are just totaly guessing what it may be..... with the list above we can narrow down some things.

here is a few of the "Might be this depending on x, y and z"

1) lack of vitamin D3 / Calcium in the diet or to much of other things like oxilates blocking the absorbtion of Calcium
2) a parasite such as nematodes that will require a good vert to treat.
3) sub-demal fungi of some kind generaly would be signs of a sick dragon with wrong temps and or to much humidity.
4) skin cancer -- not common afaik but "might be"
5) patches of shed skin ?
6) "sun burn" possibly from contact with a hot object such as a heating element that is defective.

like I said.... all of them are a total guess untill yu post back a bunch more info.

hope thats a good start, hope it's not a realy bad thing you are dealing with.

please tell us more so we can eliminate some of the guesses and get down to helping you out.
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Temp lows are about 68-70 probably, hours of daylight or heat light is 13-15, Im using exoterra lights, basking temp is around 90-95 (thats what my dragon seems to like most), food...hasn't been eating lately, but crickets, carrots and vitamin suppliments, the poop is usually stinky as always, the ball on her shoulder looks like a cramp if you've ever seen one on a persons calf...its about 7 mm high off her shoulder and might be a tumour..god I hope not, but it doesn't seem to affect her movement. There are no vets in town with reptile experience. Im using as always spruce wood shavings as her substrate, she doesn't eat it or taste it. I will try to get pics, and maybe a vet can just do some blood work for me.

Well if I recall you said the areas disapear and show up in different locations? if so there are two things I *think* need to be checked further but first:

dark/black skin on a BD is one of two things that I know of:

1) reaction to light and heat -- turning dark to absorb more heat. thats normal and not part of forming any "Lumps".

2) injury to tissue, just like us if they get hurt they can get a discolored area a "bruise" they can heal the area and will then have dead tissue to "shed" if it's a surface injury.

so what is causing this tissue injury??

some possible causes:

1) not enough Calcium / UVB which gives them "Brittle / soft bones" that can break to easy and heal badly.
2) some object they are getting in contact with that is injuring them. can be a person handling wrong, another pet like a dog or cat, a sharp or pointed object they hit.
( see my last post on Dex and his "wall problems"
3) a burn; is there any way the areas could be from a heat lamp, heat rock or other such item?
4) some kind of infection of the skin.
5) neamatodes a parasite that can be in the skin of a lizard and will form some masses as they grow and multiply.

the bst thing will be to find a vet and get a "Hands On" checkup to rule out some of the things I am listing.
without seeing the problem and the environtment your lizard is in this list is just a guess....

try:
www.vetplace.com
or
http://www.herpvetconnection.com/

also post a new msg here asking for a vet near you.
also ask at any local pet shops that sell reptiles.
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Hi
on herpvetconection.com you can try for a veterian.
i would raise the temp to 105-110.
and use a uvb/uva lightning like a reptisun 5.0
poop stinky is most of time parasites so i advice to do a fecal exame on him.
normaal poop stink not so much .
it could be the bumbs r cuased by to les uvb/uva and is rachittes calsium defency.
could also be some kind of joint infectioon then he need antibiotics.
so this guy need a good reptile vet !!
byeeee

http://run.to/b22

Could be an abcess as well. MBD can cause irregular lumps as well.

I would get rid of those wood shavings as if any are injested, they can cause blockage over time.

Do you keep your two dragons in the same enclosure or are they separated? If housed together, the discoloured skin patches could be from injuries from the other dragon.

A trip to the nearest reptile vet would be the best thing to do.