Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay,, I have found out that a few other people are seeing these too. Lets see who else has them but hasn't come forward. Feel free to privately e-mail me, I promise I will keep your name total confidential if you desire.

I had a bunch of stuff typed out but I'm going to keep this simple & to the point. I don't want to put any possible ideas or causes in anyone head. So please just post your pics & circumstances. (or e-mail them to me).

Just to help calm anyone else who has them, I did have a biopsy done and it came back as plain pigment. No bacteria, no yeasts, no fungus. It does NOT appear to be contagious.

Here are my pics & please, if you are seeing this in your dragons, let us know. I have a feeling this is much bigger than one or two isolated cases. Perhaps some are afraid to come forward,,, I promise if you don't want anyone to know, It will not go any further than my desktop. (your name, but numbers of cases and situations are what we are interested in)

Thank you for your participation.

For description purposes, these are black spots within the scales. There is no scale damage. There is no set pattern nor does it seem to spread from one scale to another. There are a few where more than one scale is affected in the same area, but it doesn't seem to be going from one to another, it forms at the same time.

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Joel R

Coming some day.
www.SpikesAndScales.com

Hehehe---Beardie freckles!! Sorry, not to be-little the problem but normal pigment and all,,,,

Seriously,, do the 'come off' after they shed or anything? Of course now I"m going to go home and thoroughly examine Eddie. L.
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0.0.1 Bearded Dragon (Eddie)
2.0.0 Dogs (Black German Shepherd-Nicholas, Black Lab-Cooper)
1.1.0 Budgies (Kia and Simon)
0.0.1 ?Fiddler Crab (Crusty)
0.0.25 Various Fishies (Freshwater)
2.1.0 Hubby and kids (Boy and a Girl)

Nope,, they have not come off with sheds. Nor do the sheds show anything out of the norm.
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Joel R

Coming some day.
www.SpikesAndScales.com

None of my dragons have those spots and I haven't seen any in my region either (Dallas TX). If you can please let us know what areas this happening in, it would be very helpful. As you've stated, protecting names and such of course.

I'm doing up a questioner to send to all who come forward. I will pass the facts forward when available.
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Joel R

Coming some day.
www.SpikesAndScales.com

I live in Dallas and one of my dragons has the spots Joel is talking about. You can see the pics in my other post.
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Amanda
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
1.0 pictus gecko (Nicodemus)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
0.0.1 tarantula (Calcifer)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

Hi
yep i have seen them before 2,3 dragons of me have it to.
i also been to 2 vets one is best of the netherlands and she could not find any thing to.
no bacteria no fungus.
i think i must forget they acting normal .
they told me its some kind of pigment thing .
btw my website moved
byee
www.dragoncave.nl
www.dragoncave.nl

I've asked my vet and talked to others about them. Everyone seems to agree it is pigment, but no one knows what is causing it.

The strange thing is, these aren't things that the dragon already has, they appear out of nowhere. First I noticed one. Then I noticed another, then a few more. It seems like every time I go to look for some I discover a few that I never saw before. They don't come off with the shed, once they appear they are permanent.

They obviously don't seem to bother my beardie at all, but if they are the result of something else that is going on, it would be really nice to know the cause.

Here are some pictures I just took. They aren't as clear as Joel's but you can see it's the same thing. As I was looking him over I noticed even a few more spots that I hadn't seen. I circled some of the ones that are not as immediately noticable from the photos.

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Amanda
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
1.0 pictus gecko (Nicodemus)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
0.0.1 tarantula (Calcifer)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

I've always wondered about it but it looked just like pigment, never comes off, etc. But its just one spot, on his tail near the base. no others. i am in michigan, and pharoah is about 3 years old. I noticed it last year sometime and has been there ever since.
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~Melissa~
1.2.3 Leopard geckos
1.1 Bearded dragons
1.0 Hog Island Boa
0.1 Western hognose
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Savannah Monitor
1.1 Ferrets
0.1 Chinchilla
1.0 dwarf hamster

1.0 Psycho cat

Melissas Menagerie

Hi
i been to a veterian who is one of best in the netherlands.
on a saterday i been there 2 houres and she saw both of my dragons.
i told her about the spots and she put some qtip on tail and looked for bacteria and fungus.
i must called her back about it .
but she told me nothing showed up no fungus no bacteria.
i told he i count 20 on that dragon and it looked every time there coming more !!!!
then she laughed at me and told me not to count any black spots any more heheheh.
both of the pastel got the spots but acting normal.
i also asked her about the myth of mealies eating trough tummie of dragon.
she dith 5000 autopsy on lizards and never saw that !!
so its a myth .
on the sceleton can cause impation becuase its hard to digest !!.
theory mainly its on colord dragon they alreayd have a special pigment could be a pigment thing
byeeee
http://www.dragoncave.nl/

Possibly a common heat lamp/ uvb bulb or substrate? Possibly a common supplement>?? It would be interesting to find out....
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"raised by a cup of coffee"

1.0 ball python- Azazel
1.0 columbian boa- Brooklyn
1.0 red blood python-Hiss
1.0 peach phase thayeri-Sancho
0.1 creamsicle corn- Pandora
0.1 partial stripe ghost corn- Raven
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
0.0.6 land snails
0.0.2 millipedes of unknown species from TN
0.0.1 spotted slug
5.3 bettas
0.1 pacific parrolet- Mishka
1.1 cats- Cairo and Oberon
2.3 ratties Rizzo, Bounce, Bree, Blitzkreig, and Zelda

I have a questioner e-mail to send off to everyone who responds or e-mails me. We are going to try to see if we can find out what is causing it, or at least something they all share?
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Joel R

Coming some day.
www.SpikesAndScales.com

hi
it could the black spots is from to much
LOVE

bye

Yep...count me in too, Joel. One dragon has a coupla' spots on her head...I thought was probably bathroom...you know how they sling it. I tried to furiously wash it off, but it wouldn't come off no matter what I tried. I also have an older female that has it on her beard, but it looks more to be in a larger, rash-like area rather than individual spots. I immediately thought maybe some type of mold/mildew/fungus on her beard as she is trying to brumate early and keeps her head down closer to substrate a lot more lately. I scrubbed it too...but it wouldn't come off either. Put me on that e-mail list for a questionaire...maybe all together we can come to some conclusion as to what it is. Thanks, Teresa.
Link

Those spots look like india ink splashes..at least when I am done doing washes of black ink on my miniatures, my hands have those black spots all over. The fact they are still there when the dragon's shed, certainly throws away my first theory of having alot of artists keeping dragons as pets.

Another common fact between dragons getting these spots could be their age. If it is more common in older dragons, perhaps it is just a natural sign of aging, like liver spots in humans.

Nope, not ink. Nor does it appear to be age related. Mine were under a year when it started.
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Joel R

Coming some day.
www.SpikesAndScales.com