Mold and beardie?

Hey guys, quick question. What kind of effect can mold have on a beardie from being in the vicinity of it? Not touching it, just being near by?

Iloverex":1gvcpimk said:

Hey guys, quick question. What kind of effect can mold have on a beardie from being in the vicinity of it? Not touching it, just being near by?

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How close is he near the mold? Either way, it's unhealthy and could maybe lead to sickness if kept along with it too long. Just like a human with a flu, you wouldn't want to be near him/her until they're gone or they're over it. I know the flu and mold isn't related, but you get the concept . Can I ask where the mold came from, and why it's near him at all?

All mold releases spores into the air, which is why no living creatures that breath air should be breathing the air around mold. Some mold is a lot more harmful than others, for instance, the very common "black mold" people get in their homes from flooding or dampness is very harmful because it is very airborne. So neither you, not your beardie, nor anyone else should be "in the presence of mold".

Just an FYI, bearded dragons and all birds are very, extremely susceptible to upper respiratory infections, we see beardies here every day with severe upper respiratory infections just simply because the humidity in their enclosures is way too high or more often because their substrates are loose things like sand, bark, gravel, etc. that harbor bacteria and fungi, like mold, and they breath it in. Birds have really sensitive respiratory systems and can't even breath in scented candle, cleaner, or perfume fumes without getting extremely sick and sometimes dying within minutes. And as a lifelong parrot breeder and owner, I've never seen another creature, including other reptiles and amphibians, that so easily and often get upper respiratory infections like bearded dragons do. I'm not sure why beardies are so susceptible to upper respiratory infections medically or physiologically, but they are.

So long story short, you should remove your beardie and his enclosure from any area or room that has any mold knowingly growing in it, and not keep them in rooms that often develop mold growth, like laundry rooms, bathrooms, dirt basements, etc. So if you have a mold issue (I'm assuming, why else would you be asking this question) you need to remove your beardie's enclosure from the room, and keep him totally out of that room.

Just a little story to show how awful mold is, I have a split-level house with 3 completely finished floors. In 2014 I had a pipe in my ground, walk-out floor freeze in February when temperatures got to -10 degrees. I have a half-bathroom/laundry room on that floor, and a pipe in the wall directly behind my sink vanity froze at a 90 degree coupling, and the pipes burst apart on a Sunday night. I went up to my bedroom, 2 floors away around 9:00 p.m. and was watching a movie. I went down to the kitchen to get a drink and heard a strange, loud noise around 11:00 p.m. I ran down to the ground floor and I had at least 6" of freezing, standing water throughout the entire floor. None of my beardies or parrots are down there, they are all up a floor or up 2 floors behind an always closed door that opens up to the flooded floor. Well long story short, the water mitigation company my home owner's insurance made me use (we have a renowned water mitigation company here too, but they made me use el cheapo husband and wife company). They came and did basically a demo of the entire floor, then I waited forever to get a contractor out to rebuild my house (that floor is 3 large rooms and 2 huge closets, plus my garage, which also flooded and froze like a skating rink when the water went under the wall to the back of the garage). When the contractor got there finally about a month later, he came and got me to show me that the water mitigation company did not remove any of the soaking drywall or insulation from behind my washer and dryer, they were apparently too lazy to move them. He started pulling out sopping, dripping, soaking wet insulation out of the wall, which was pink at one point, but was now almost all black. Basically the insulation and drywall back there that is not visible unless you move the washer and dryer (it's like a little inlet in the wall that they slide into) had been allowed to freeze then thaw then freeze then thaw for a month. So I had horrible black mold everywhere.

My stepdad is the head of health and safety for Penn State, so he came with his moisture meters, and some kind of electronic thing that detects different types of mold, lead, asbestos, etc. Well even a floor below and behind an always closed door, that damn mold got up not only to my second floor but my third, most likely through the vents and ductwork. So I had to take all 4 of my parrots and my beardie to a hotel and pay $25 per pet per day extra to stay there. It took another 2 weeks to basically redemo that room, remove all the visible mold, and then spray my entire house with something that kills mold. They had to do it all twice before you couldn't detect any mold on the third floor. But I just couldn't risk it with my pets, they could die, hell I could have died.

After I found this out I took all 4 parrots to my avian vet and my beardie to my herp vet because we all had been breathing mold for a month...Yes, my home owner's insurance company sued the water mitigation company, I couldn't though in Pennsylvania, only the homeowners or the person paying out of pocket can (stupid, stupid law)...All 4 of my birds tested positive on cultures for fungal infections, and my herp vet just put my beardie on an antifungal without even testing since he knew the results from my birds...I thought I was going to lose them all. All because of black mold 2-3 floors away from them behind a closed door. That's how easily and quickly it travels.

So no mold around your beardie. Period. Sorry this was a long response, but I'm passionate about this topic, I was a total wreck during that entire thing after my birds tested positive...

So your saying they were exposed to it and they are all fine? Ya I have no mold in my house. The issue was with a few spots on the canvas part of my camper when I took him camping with us. I would have thought he'd be fine, given a camper is obviously well ventilated, but I wanted to get others opinions. He certainly won't be going camping again until the camper is thoroughly cleaned.

My birds were exposed to it and had to be given multiple rounds of meds, I'm lucky I didn't lose them. My beardie at the time didn't seem effected, but he was in a room upstairs inside his enclosure, so luckily I think his enclosure saved him.

Campers are notorious for mold, usually black mold, and if your beardie was out in the open inside the camper he could have breathed in the mold. I told you that story simply to illustrate how far and how quickly mold spores spread through the air. It traveled up 2 floors of my house and through closed doors, and it did it by getting into all of my ductwork and vents. It's just goes everywhere!

Watch him carefully, if he starts coughing, wheezing, sneezing, showing any signs of respiratory problems, or he stops eating or becomes lethargic then you'll need to get him to a reptile vet and explain what he was exposed to. That damn black mold is so mobile and so toxic, he's probably fine but if he had been exposed to that air for a longer period of time it could have made him and everyone else exposed to it very sick. People develop respiratory problems because of black mold all the time, usually from older houses with water leaks inside their drywall or plaster. My stepdad removes that stuff from buildings at Penn State, basically they go through and gut buildings on campus in order of age, because they all have it.

For sure keep your beardie at home and out of that camper, and honestly you and whomever else really shouldn't be breathing the air inside of it either until you get the mold professionally removed, professionally cleaned, and you get the leak that is allowing the water in sealed. Seriously, you really need to do some research on properly removing that stuff, if you don't get it all it just keeps coming back, and you breathing it in is just as bad as your pets breathing it in.