black hard spots on young beardie

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xx-iii

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xendetic
hey everyone!

i recently got a baby bearded dragon from a mutual, and it’s safe to say i’m worried about him (hasn’t been sexed, so i go along with he/him).
my little guy has dark hard spots (almost growth like) along his stomach and some on his chin - let it be known when he came to me, he was like this. i’ve never encountered another beardie with this before, so i’m unsure what it is. touching the spots don’t seem to annoy him, but he is mid shed at the moment, and it’s posing as a challenge for him. he’s around 3 months or so.

i will include that he’s kept in a sufficiently sized cage, i have him on a healthy diet (i will admit it’s hell getting him to eat his greens), and i have the correct lighting. i haven’t really noticed them get worse, but i haven’t noticed them getting better.

i plan to take him to the vet when i have money, but it’s insanely expensive here and i’m on a tight budget. if anyone has seen this before, or knows some ways to treat it easily, please comment! i just want to make sure the little dude’s in his best health.

(think it's worth mentioning that he's not upside down in these pics, in case anyone gets the wrong idea. the little guy is upright tilted forward :p)
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KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
I cant help you w/ the spots but I can help you w/ the salads---- First feed him his salad in the morning in a glass bowl that insects cant get out of --- add some BSFL https://symtonbsf.com/ they are a good staple to add and they dont need to be dusted--- as many as you want -- then add some small super worms if you can get them like 1-3 or butter worms works but only a few as they are more of a treat but the movement will get him to the bowl make sure you add to the bowl so he sees you doing this-let him eat from the bowl for like 30-45 minutes or so and then you can add his staple feeder like dubias if your feeding him those or you can disable the crickets by pulling one leg off so they cant jump out of the bowl -- leave the vegies in there and he can get both at the same time -- try that ----here is a website for nutrition --http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html---- those spots on his belly dont look good - has he been in a dirty tank for awhile --- have you tried washing the spots off in a bath?
Karrie
 

CooperDragon

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Staff member
Moderator
Those spots don't look good. For now, I would apply some antifungal cream (lamisil etc). Ultimately it would be best to have the spots tested by a vet to see exactly what you're dealing with but for now I would assume it is fungal and treat it that way. You may need oral antifungal meds too (Voriconizole) but those would need to be prescribed by a vet after testing and ordered from a compounding pharmacy.
 

Claudiusx

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Hi there,

They definitely don't look good.

Did the previous owner have a heat rock in the tank? Or a heat mat? They almost look like burns, but they could be fungal too.
Using Lamisil like Cooper suggested would be a good idea. It will help if it is fungal, and won't hurt if it isn't. WIll also help with that thick shed on the belly.

Can we get a picture of him in a normal position, to see how he generally looks?
How does he act? Normal and active or sickly and lethargic?

-Brandon
 

xx-iii

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Original Poster
Beardie name(s)
xendetic
hey everyone, thank you so much for the replies!

as far as the last owner goes, i'm not too sure. i don't think he had a heat mat, but i believe he may of had a heat rock. i too thought of burns as a possibility, and with how different animals react, you can never be too sure what everything is. i'm going to pick up lamisil and treat it as a fungal for the time being to see if there's any change. if not, i'll find some cash and make a trip to the vet to make sure it's nothing too serious.
in other news, the little guy did his own bathing in his water dish today, and has shimmied off most of shedding after it dried. i'll attach an updated pic. as for his attitude and how he acts, he can be very lazy. though, he does have a habit of scuttling off after he's bored of napping. he seems to really like human contact (he does crawl up my arm whenever i insist it's time to go back in his enclosure), so i wouldn't say he's particularly lethargic. sometimes i also just catch him messing around in his enclosure, or running up and down my bed when he's let out. he doesn't act sickly, just very calm.

also thank you for the tips, karrie! this guy is seriously veggie-phobic. i'm excited to be able to urge him into eating more greens, hopefully one day he'll eat them unprompted. :p

here are a few pictures! the first is how the spots are looking since the bathing took off most of the shed, and the rest are how he relaxes around his enclosure and my bed/me!
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KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
He looks tiny and a little thin --- I would be feeding him the greens w/ the BSFL as many as you want and maybe a couple of small supers if you can get them or even some butter worms but only like 2 as they are a treat but it will get him to the bowl --- then add those staple feeders to the bowl -- and then again I would offer him another feeding in the afternoon --- depending on how much he eats in the morning he may or may not eat in the afternoon --- Blaze was eating 2 times a day but afternoon feeding seems to have cut down - I think the roaches are filling him up because they are now a bigger roach and hes eating like 5-6 --- food cup is left in there till afternoon to see if he eats more BSFL and roaches but hes not been eating them -
Karrie
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
They most likely are burns then. Fungus wouldnt be in such a structured pattern like that. All the dots are about the same size and they seem to follow a pattern by staying generally in line with each other. Fungus would be more "organic" looking.

If you think there was potentially a heat rock involved this almost guarantees that its burns unfortunately.

Either option isnt really a good one, fungus or burns. But I'd be leaning more towards burns at this point.

Is he an eastern bearded dragon or central? His head looks eastern to me. Could just be the pics.

-Brandon
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Looks like an Eastern or a dwarf. The head shape + pattern is similar to these :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoenLtXm82E

BTW, that video is from 2016, they don't have those 4 sale anymore.

I actually think more that it's fungal, a burn would be straight across the surface of the belly. A burn would be a much better scenario but you are doing well to put the Lamisil on it. You might try mixing the Lamisil with a bit of raw honey. Be sure there are no loose insects in the tank hiding anywhere.
 
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