Injured foot

My daughter recently (2 weeks ago) got 2 'Beardies' from a friend. They seemed to be fine until last night we fed them and noticed that the calmer one's foot looks as if it was chewed. The other more aggressive one tried to bite me when I attempted to pick it up. I have seperated them, bathed the injured one and out neosporin on th einjured foot.The injured foot is the front left foot and it is holding it back alongside it's body and isn't using it. I have bathed it several times because it seems to be drying out and getting hard. The injury doesn't look that bad, one toenail is missing and just looks like some small cuts or dried blood beteen the toes. But like I said it seems to be drying out and it isn't beng used. I guess the more aggressive on attacked the injured one. My Daughter said she thought she saw the aggressive one 'snap' at the injured one 2 days ago. Please advise as to what I may be able to do, besides baths and neosporn,to help save the foot. Someone mentioned iodine, is that better than neosporin????? Also, the substrate is papertowels. Thanks for any help!!

Hi, welcome to the forum. Sorry that this injury occurred, unfortunately it happens very often. It's true, they can seem to be fine one day, then there is an injured beardie. It's good that you separated them because the dominance will only get worse. How old are these beardies? Make sure the injured beardie can't see the other one at all or he will continue to feel threatened which could cause his health to decline.

The best thing to do is to pick up some Betadine which you could find at a pharmacy and perhaps even your grocery store. Pour enough of that into some warm water so that the color looks like weak tea. Make sure he doesn't drink any of it though and if he usually likes to drink in the bath, start out by using plain water first. Bathe in the Betadine at least twice a day, each time dry the area thoroughly and apply the Neosporin. That's good that he is on paper towels which will prevent him from getting any loose particle substrate on it. If any swelling, redness, discharge or if it feels hot, then he should have it checked by a vet. Also, if he doesn't start using it within the next day or so, he should have an xray to check for a break.

Do you have a UVB and basking light in the other tank for him? And, are you using either a temperature gun or digital thermometer with a long wire & probe on the end to check the temps? Those are the only 2 ways to get an accurate reading and if you are using any type of stick-on thermometer, those can be off by as much as 20 degrees.

Please keep us updated on his condition.

Thanks for the info. I spoke to the person we got 'Roxy' from and she told me to put iodine on it, and suggested I call an exotic animal hospital. I did and they said I could make the iodine the color of weak tea and soak the foot in it. So that is what we did. Will the iodine work as well as Betadine? We also put more Neosporin on it. I'm just concerned because she doesn't seem to be using it and just kinda dragging it around. She can move it when she wants. I was putting the neosporin on it and obviously it was uncomfortable for her, she tried to move away and in doing so she moved that front leg but can't put any pressure on it or support herself with it. Both of the Beardies (Roxy and Kiwi) were hatched on June 17th of this year, so they are going on 6 months old. We have purchased a Bearded Dragon Kit from the store which came with a 'critter cage' (20 long), 3 lamps (1-for heat, 1-for night light, and 1-UVB). We have a large rock and a large piece of wood in the cage. I have temporarily taken the more aggressive one (Kiwi) out and put him in a 10 gallon tank. We are trying to decide if we want to keep him or not, because if we keep him we will need additional lights, etc. The only thermometer we have is the one that came in the kit, it is a stick on thermometer and hydrometer in one. Thanks again for the helpful reply!!