Posting here because I already went to the vet and don't trust his reassurances -
Norbert (female, age two and a half) has a hardish lump in her upper abdomen, just below her rib cage. Having looked up some bearded dragon anatomy pictures, I think it's around where her liver is. I first noticed it several months ago and I think it has grown slightly larger since, though I can't tell for sure. It is no different after a bowel movement. I've had friends feel for it and they can't even find it, so maybe I'm overreacting, but I don't like it. To me, it feels like three lumps sort of clustered together. The lumpiness isn't visible when you just look at her belly. She doesn't act uncomfortable when I poke it. I don't think she has infertile eggs because she hasn't been digging or hyperactive. She has never been with a male. Her eating, pooping, coloration, and activity levels are all normal right now. She's bright and alert and doesn't act like anything is wrong with her, but the lump just feels wrong.
I took her to the vet and he thought it was nothing to worry about, something about fat in the connective tissues in her upper abdomen. I'm not mollified. He is a general exotics vet and specializes in ferrets, though he does see a lot of reptiles and is an ARAV member, and successfully treated her illnesses when she was a baby. I'm just not confident that he wouldn't just miss a more complicated problem. I have tried to find a more reptile-specific vet in the area, but without success. (I'm in Portland, Oregon - let me know if you have any leads!)
Setup/husbandry stuff: She is in a 40 gallon tank with tiles that I wash promptly when she poops on them. Basking spot ~100 degrees and cool end 80-85 during the day. Ceramic heat emitter keeps nighttime temps in the high 60s to low 70s. 24 inch Reptisun 10.0 is about four months old and mounted inside the cage. No water bowl or anything else that might cause humidity. She eats mostly dubias, occasional various crawlies (phoenix worms, silk worms etc.), and mustard greens and other salad stuff. She is terrible about eating her salad, so I sometimes give her watery vegetable baby food so she will have any plants in her body (and also stay hydrated, because she won't drink standing water). She gets a multivitamin with calcium in baby food once a week. She gets occasional baths if she's constipated or steps in a poop, and I dry her thoroughly and put her right back in the tank after.
Health: As a baby, she had health problems (parasites and eating issues), but has been healthy as an adult. Her diet was higher fat when she was younger than it is today - when she she had a poor appetite on antibiotics, I fed her whatever I could get her to eat, which included waxworms. When she had trouble pooping, I gave her olive oil mixed with baby food. (I try to avoid olive oil now and treat occasional bouts of constipation with just warm baths and belly rubs.) The fat I've fed her in the past makes me worried about her liver now.
Questions: What are "follicles" and is there any chance she could be gravid? Would fatty liver disease make her liver area feel hard to the touch? If that was what was going on, would she be acting sick by now? Last two questions again, but replace "fatty liver disease" with cancer? If a liver problem is likely, are there any supplements I could give her to support it that wouldn't cause harm if it is some other problem instead? Any other thoughts?
I know this is a long post; thank you for reading.
Norbert (female, age two and a half) has a hardish lump in her upper abdomen, just below her rib cage. Having looked up some bearded dragon anatomy pictures, I think it's around where her liver is. I first noticed it several months ago and I think it has grown slightly larger since, though I can't tell for sure. It is no different after a bowel movement. I've had friends feel for it and they can't even find it, so maybe I'm overreacting, but I don't like it. To me, it feels like three lumps sort of clustered together. The lumpiness isn't visible when you just look at her belly. She doesn't act uncomfortable when I poke it. I don't think she has infertile eggs because she hasn't been digging or hyperactive. She has never been with a male. Her eating, pooping, coloration, and activity levels are all normal right now. She's bright and alert and doesn't act like anything is wrong with her, but the lump just feels wrong.
I took her to the vet and he thought it was nothing to worry about, something about fat in the connective tissues in her upper abdomen. I'm not mollified. He is a general exotics vet and specializes in ferrets, though he does see a lot of reptiles and is an ARAV member, and successfully treated her illnesses when she was a baby. I'm just not confident that he wouldn't just miss a more complicated problem. I have tried to find a more reptile-specific vet in the area, but without success. (I'm in Portland, Oregon - let me know if you have any leads!)
Setup/husbandry stuff: She is in a 40 gallon tank with tiles that I wash promptly when she poops on them. Basking spot ~100 degrees and cool end 80-85 during the day. Ceramic heat emitter keeps nighttime temps in the high 60s to low 70s. 24 inch Reptisun 10.0 is about four months old and mounted inside the cage. No water bowl or anything else that might cause humidity. She eats mostly dubias, occasional various crawlies (phoenix worms, silk worms etc.), and mustard greens and other salad stuff. She is terrible about eating her salad, so I sometimes give her watery vegetable baby food so she will have any plants in her body (and also stay hydrated, because she won't drink standing water). She gets a multivitamin with calcium in baby food once a week. She gets occasional baths if she's constipated or steps in a poop, and I dry her thoroughly and put her right back in the tank after.
Health: As a baby, she had health problems (parasites and eating issues), but has been healthy as an adult. Her diet was higher fat when she was younger than it is today - when she she had a poor appetite on antibiotics, I fed her whatever I could get her to eat, which included waxworms. When she had trouble pooping, I gave her olive oil mixed with baby food. (I try to avoid olive oil now and treat occasional bouts of constipation with just warm baths and belly rubs.) The fat I've fed her in the past makes me worried about her liver now.
Questions: What are "follicles" and is there any chance she could be gravid? Would fatty liver disease make her liver area feel hard to the touch? If that was what was going on, would she be acting sick by now? Last two questions again, but replace "fatty liver disease" with cancer? If a liver problem is likely, are there any supplements I could give her to support it that wouldn't cause harm if it is some other problem instead? Any other thoughts?
I know this is a long post; thank you for reading.
