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please view pictures at this link....

http://www.simonperformance.com/default.asp?SID=xWRS8C48TJNBL3MUHHNLKF&S=E3&Document=breardie&NID=1755488

or at www.simonperformance.com , under "beardie".

what happened was i had her on lizard litter (i know, i wish i would have known) and i think she got dehydrated and/or she got impacted. I have a waterfall in there, but its hard to tell how much they drink out of it. Well, i come home from 2 nights of camping and find that she looks impacted... so i soak her and she poops, and i've soaked her every night from then on....

she now has these spots on her legs where it looks like the scales have come off, and the thin skin underneath is like red and tight and bloated in areas.....

any ideas? i was going to take her to the vet tomorrow, but do you think i can wait until monday? i cant lose this beardie, she means the world to me....

i really appreciate everyones help on this.
bearded dragon pictures

I would get her to vet as soon as you can. If you have a vet to bring her to tomorrow I would. If you can't get her in till Monday you have to keep her cage really clean, as well as those soars on her legs. It definitely does not look good, and looks swollen and bruised and very soar. You don't want that to get infected that's for sure. I would keep her off sand or particle substrates and get her onto paper towels. I would wash those wounds out with an antiseptic like Betadine (povidone-iodine) rinsed and then covered in a topical antibiotic, such as a triple antibiotic ointment or neosporin till you can get that looked at. Did you happen to leave in a bunch of crickets for her when you went on your camping trip? Hungry crickets will eat sleeping dragons if not taken out at night. Bacterial, and fungal infections can also cause the scales to shrivel and fall off. All we can do is guess or assume, so get her looked at, and treated by a professional. Please update us on what the vet says, and does for that. Poor thing must really be in some pain Good Luck with her.
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Webshots photos
www.Mystical-Dragons.com

I reread your post and saw "Don't know how much they drink". If you have her in with other dragons that could definitely be a nip or bite from the other dragon. Is she in with a male? If might be time to split them up if their getting aggressive with each other when you are not there.
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Webshots photos
www.Mystical-Dragons.com

Iris is very domesticated and sometimes i fall asleep with her in my lap on my bed, and i'll wake up with her sleeping on my shoulder.

the other beardie isnt as domesticated and puffs up real big every time i reach in the cage......could the fact that Iris is so tame and the other one was a little wild.

Also, Iris was King of the cage- slightly older, slightly larger, and a dominant personality. Im thinking at when she got impaction, the other beardie took advantage and roughed her up.

i would have to travel a considerable distance to get her to a vet tomorrow. tonight i seperated her from the other dragon and put her in a empty drawer in my beareau. i soak her every night, and im going to get some qtips and swab her skin for the infection.

I think your right about the other dragon doing a job on her. I went back and looked at the post from August 2nd and you said there was a little dry blood by her knee. It looks a lot worse then what you described on the 2nd. I think your doing the right thing by splitting them up permanently. Some dragons are just not as social as others. Sometimes you can house pairs of females together, and sometimes they just don't get along. Good luck with her, and I hope she gets better.
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Webshots photos
www.Mystical-Dragons.com

yeah....they say not to house female hamsters together for the reason of fighting to the death.

you know what im looking at? a lot of lizards, gecko's, and such look to be some type of derivative of the amphibian family......beardies very much resemble frogs...the extra long toe, the structuring of the muscles on the legs and bone structure.... i wonder if there is a rule of thumb with amphibians or frogs? maybe like a like-minded instinct that varies from one species to another? hrm. food for thought.

Those wounds look like either bite wounds from crickets or friction burns. YOu mentioned when you came home from being away, you thought your dragon was impacted? Was he dragging his hind legs about in the cage? If that was so, then that is most likely how the wounds developed. Certainly recommend taking him to a vet.

yes, but the thing is, she had hind-leg paralysis, but it started before i left, i hadnot noticed. her activity went down, but it was a long, hot week, and i figured she was laying on the cooler bottom of the cage...i came back from 2 nights of camping with crickets, and she didnt react to them....she ignored them, so i picked her up...hind leg paralysis. her hind legs had like a tiny bit of blood on them....so now her thighs look and feel better, but her calves(?) are now slightly bloody and the scales are missing and such.

i think it got too humid in there. Coupled with bacteria, and you have a rotten case of scale rot. Beardeds cant have too high humidity, or else this will happen. It could also be a case of hemmorragic septicimia (hopefully not....) either way, it seems as though your enclosure may have substandard living conditions...you may want to re evaluate the humidity and cleanliness (these are only my guesses from my personal experiences...absolutely no put downs or critisizm intended)
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"i wasn't born with enough middle fingers"

1.0 ball python- Azazel
1.0 columbian boa- Brooklyn
1.0 JCP-Milton
1.0 red blood python-Hiss
1.0 peach phase thayeri-Sancho
0.1 creamsicle corn- Pandora
1.1 hognose- Pricilla and Odd
0.1 russian tortoise- Manja
0.1.1 leos- Boji and Kodama
0.1 beardie- Indie
1.0 BTS- Griffon
0.1 Iggy- Sunny
0.0.2 Red american toadlets with 0.0.7 legs total (er, i have one w/3....)
0.0.1 gray tree frog toadlet
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0.0.1 spotted slug
5.3 bettas
0.1 pacific parrolet- Mishka
1.1 cats- Cairo and Oberon
2.4 ratties Rizzo, Bounce, Bree, Blitzkreig, Raisin, and Zelda

I dont know all the facts so I ight be totally off base here but I would soak her in a warm bath for 20 min twice a day followed by a topical treatment of neosporin. I would remove all furnature and substrate from the cage, sterilize it with nolvasan or comprable disinfectant, use shelf liner as a flooring and immediately clean any poop. cleanliness is really important here. she should be housed alone and keep a close eye on her. It does not look life threatning BUT the combination of impaction, being attacked and beat up, the stress and possible infection... should be addressed ASAP. Be aware that added stress along with digestive difficulty should be addressed with a probiotic and a fecal should be done as parasite count will increase with stress.

without all the facts this is just a guess
GOOD LUCK
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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

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Signature edited for TOS violation.

Edited on August 23, 2004 at 00:19:22 by phwyvern.

to see a Vet, she needs antibiotics and probably the knees lanced and drained. They can also do this with a syringe and then applying pressure to bring out the infection...... but only a reptile medical professional should attempt this.

I do not think the litter did it unless it is really dirty. But I do think she has a serious infection and its spreading which is a good indicator it is septic.
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www.reptilerooms.com

One thing that no one has really talked about is the fact that there is a WATERFALL in this beardies enclosure. That is a very big no no. The waterfall will raise the humidity levels in the dragons enclosure. I would bet you have a humidity level higher than 75% and that is a great environment for Fungi to reach toxic levels. Like someone said earlier about the scales falling off and becoming necrotic this is definitely a possibility.

Another possibility is that the animal may have defecated in the waterfall creating a nice little culture of enteric rods (gram negative rods) and if she is immune comprimised than she could easily be infected by any one of the enteric oppurtunists mentioned earlier. The bacteria can also cause necrotic spots on the dragon that would eventually bleed. This is kind of similar to a patient in a hospital that is immune comprimised that gets bedsores.

When you go to the vet make sure he cultures the necrotic spots. He will probably give you an antibiotic but after the culture results come back make sure that it is not a fungal infection because the antibiotics will not work on fungus and not to mention antibiotics are very hard on BDs. If any Antimicrobials are used make sure to use a probiotic b/c it takes a long time for a BD to regain their normal flora and they need some help. I would guess that your animal has a primary infection and the necrotic spots are a secondary infection. Regardless it is VET TIME!!

-Randy
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AlphaDragonZ
www.AlphaDragonZ.com