Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a large older male chuckwalla, Oliver, who I have had for 13 years. He was not a young pup when I got him. He has developed a skin condition that I thought might have been a burn at first on his lower belly. It has grown over years and raised, whitish or yellow in color. He has now developed more of the same around the femoral pores and at the base of his tail. I have tried soaking and peeling, but it comes back after I removem it. It is dry, like a raised collection of nodules, and not painful to him. His mate, Isis, has been in the same cage with him for 13 years and does not have this condition at all. Has anyone ever seen this before? Can it be treated? I assume that he and Isis must be around twenty years old. Thanks for your responses! Maureen

It almost sounds fungal. Having a vet do a culture would probably be the only real way to get a diagnosis. I've heard people talk about having success applying the methyl blue, sold for the treatment of infections in tropical fish, to treat skin infections; but, I'm not sure how safe (or effective) this treatment actually is. You can also google "bearded dragons" and "yellow fungus" and see if that matches what you're seeing. I've seen pictures of a uro with yellow fungus, that didn't look at all like it does on beardeds (kind of dark hard raised bumps), but cultures revealed it to be the same organism.

-Alice

and the vet diagnosed it as a staff infection and gave me some topical to treat it and it went away pretty quick. Good luck Maureen.

Thanks Alice and Tom. I will take him to the vet and see if it's fungus!