THAT'S AWESOME TRACIE!!!! THANK YOU FOR DOING THAT FOR HIM!!! This is a no-brainer...
Alright, I understand that you are not able or are unwilling to pay for a vet, but I don't think you understand or know much about Yellow Fungus, and I hope we can educate on it, because if he in fact does have Yellow Fungus, TREATING IT TOPICALLY IS NOT AN OPTION! PERIOD! So please, I myself am literally begging you, please pay the $19 to Tracie so that at the very least you can find out whether he does in fact have Yellow Fungus, or if it's another type of fungal infection that can successfully be treated by topical, over-the-counter antifungal meds. *****The other thing this test will do for you is if it is not Yellow Fungus but a different fungal infection (It's definitely is a fungal infection, no doubt about that at all), it will tell you which fungus is causing it, and then you can go online and research the specific type of fungal infection he has, and find out which over-the-counter, topical antifungal med will successfully treat it. Lamisil does not treat all fungal infections, there are between 5-10 over-the-counter topical antifungal medications available, and you have to know what fungi is causing his infection in order to know which med to use. So this should be a no-brainer for you, Tracie really stepped-up for your beardie here, please take advantage of her kindness.
I'm not going to be critical of you here, I'm only concerned for the welfare of your beardie. SO HOPEFULLY YOU'LL READ THIS AND GET A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN IF HE DOES IN FACT HAVE YELLOW FUNGUS, AND HE DOES NOT START BOTH ORAL AND INJECTION ANTIFUNGAL MEDS ASAP.
Yellow Fungus has unfortunately become extremely common in all captive-bred bearded dragons, and the number of infections diagnosed has skyrocketed in the last 5 or so years. It doesn't matter if you bought your beardies at a private pet shop, an big chain pet shop like Petco or PetSmart, from a local breeder, or a big, well-known breeder, Yellow Fungus is infecting bearded dragons from all sources, as well as other reptiles. It's extremely contagious, so if your 2 dragons were housed together and the one with the infection tests positive for Yellow Fungus, you can be guaranteed that your other dragon unfortunately also has Yellow Fungus...and just as an FYI, even if he doesn't have Yellow Fungus he does in fact have a fungal infection of some kind, and most all fungal infections are just as contagious as Yellow Fungus is. I don't know where you bought them from, but if they were in a tank with other dragons, they all most likely have this infection. SO I WOULD ABSOLUTELY CALL THE BREEDER YOU GOT THEM FROM OR CALL/GO BACK TO THE PET SHOP YOU GOT THEM FROM AND LET THEM KNOW, BECAUSE THEY LIKELY HAVE A SERIOUS PROBLEM, AND ALL OF THEIR BEARDED DRAGONS, AS WELL AS THEIR OTHER REPTILES MOST LIKELY ARE ALL SICK. THEY NEED TO KNOW THIS IS POTENTIALLY YELLOW FUNGUS SO THAT THEY CAN GET TESTING DONE ASAP...
Just as another FYI, please do not do Betadine "Baths" where you are putting your entire dragon into water. No matter whether it's Yellow Fungus or another type of fungus, doesn't matter, moisture feeds fungi and most all fungal infections will continue to spread all over him if he gets wet, whether the water has Povidone Iodine in it or not. Instead of putting him in a "
bath" or in standing water, just add the Povidone Iodine to the warm water, and then soak either some sterile gauze or even better get some of those large, long, sterile medical Q-Tips, and soak one of them in the diluted Betadine, then apply the antiseptic TO ONLY THE AREAS THAT HE HAS THE ACTIVELY GROWING FUNGI. I know it seems like soaking his entire body in diluted Betadine would not only clean and treat the already effected areas but also keep his healthy, uninfected external areas from becoming infected, but in reality all you are going to do is spread the external fungi all over his body. So please just use a sterile applicator to apply the diluted Betadine to the effected areas only, and they please be sure to pat those areas dry, making sure that they are very dry before you apply any topical antifungal cream, because if he's still wet the cream can actually lock the moisture in to his scales and again, this will only succeed in spreading the fungal infection, regardless of what type of fungal infection it is.
You absolutely must separate your 2 beardies immediately if you haven't already, you cannot keep 2 males together in the same enclosure anyway, that's a big no-no, as you'll for sure come home to a badly injured or dead dragon, or dragons...2 males never, ever, ever works. In this particular case whatever fungal infection the one has, the other one probably has it too, but if he's not yet showing any external signs then there's still a chance. So separate them immediately, and then if you haven't already completely disinfected the sick guy's enclosure inside and out, as well as everything inside his enclosure, and all of his light fixtures, bulbs, I mean you have to disinfect EVERYTHING in, on, and around that enclosure with either Bleach and very hot water, F10 Disinfectant and hot water (BEST CHOICE), or Hibiclens and very hot water. IF THIS ISN'T YELLOW FUNGUS BUT RATHER ANOTHER TYPE OF FUNGAL INFECTION, YOU MAY BE ABLE TO TREAT IT EXTERNALLY LIKE YOU ARE DOING, BUT NOT IF HE IS CONSTANTLY BEING EXPOSED TO THE SOURCE FUNGI THAT IS NO DOUBT ALL OVER THE ENCLOSURE AND EVERYTHING TOUCHING IT. HE'LL JUST KEEP RE-INFECTING HIMSELF. SO PLEASE DO THAT ASAP IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY.
*****I'm sincerely hoping you'll read this post, because I have seen so many bearded dragons that have Yellow Fungus that my stomach just dropped when I saw the photo you posted of your poor beardie. He definitely has some type of fungal infection, that's for sure, and it's ALREADY SPREADING OUTWARD FROM THE BASE OF HIS TAIL TO BOTH OF HIS BACK LEGS, AND MOST LIKELY ON THE UNDERSIDE OF HIS TAIL, BACK LEGS, AND AROUND HIS VENT AREA, WHICH WILL CONTINUE TO SPREAD UP HIS STOMACH. This is the nature of pretty much ANY fungal infection, but specifically Yellow Fungus. This is why you need to completely stop the Betadine baths, it's only making it worse.
I want to explain to you why you absolutely must pay the $19 to have Tracie test him for Yellow Fungus, and by the way, it's a huge deal that Tracie is willing to do this for you, and the reason Tracie is willing to do this for you is because she too knows the ramifications of Yellow Fungus and what is going to happen to your poor bearded dragon (or both of them most likely) if he does in fact have Yellow Fungus and you only continue to treat it topically with over-the-counter antifungal creams. YELLOW FUNGUS ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY CANNOT BE SUCCESSFULLY TREATED WITH ONLY EXTERNAL, TOPICAL ANTIFUNGAL MEDS. IT JUST CAN'T. PERIOD. AND HAVING SEEN THE HORRORS OF WHAT HAPPENS TO A BEARDED DRAGON WHO HAS YELLOW FUNGUS AND IS NOT PUT ON BOTH THE CORRECT, DAILY ORAL ANTIFUNGAL MEDICATIONS AND EITHER WEEKLY OR MONTHLY INJECTABLE ANTIFUNGAL MEDICATIONS (and a lot of the time they also develop secondary bacterial infections due to the open wounds and require antibiotic treatments as well), I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU UNDERSTAND WHY YOU NEED TO PAY TRACIE THE $19 TO AT THE VERY LEAST FIND OUT IF HE DOES IN FACT HAVE YELLOW FUNGUS OR NOT, AND THE SERIOUSNESS OF NOT GETTING HIM PROPER TREATMENT IF HE DOES IN FACT HAVE YELLOW FUNGUS. YOU NEED TO KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF HE HAS YELLOW FUNGUS AND YOU CONTINUE TO JUST TREAT HIM WITH TOPICAL MEDS. IT'S NOT PRETTY.
If the $19 test comes back negative for Yellow Fungus that's fantastic, you'll know that neither he or your other dragon have Yellow Fungus but rather a different fungal infection, most of which are able to be successfully treated by external, topical antifungal medications alone. That's wonderful if that is the result. HOWEVER, IF THE TEST COMES BACK POSITIVE FOR YELLOW FUNGUS, WHICH MEANS BOTH OF YOUR DRAGONS MOST LIKELY HAVE YELLOW FUNGUS, YOU CANNOT TREAT IT TOPICALLY AND HAVE HIM BE OKAY. IT'S NOT OKAY.
***Yellow Fungus first shows up visibly on a bearded dragons external skin/scales, usually it first appears in one or two small areas, or in one large area. In reality, it's been growing internally in the dragon for a while before it shows up externally and before you become aware of it. So the topical infection will continue to spread, and 99% of the time here's what happens: The owner will usually first try treating the fungal infections using topical antifungal creams and Betadine. They typically do this 2-3 times a day, they totally avoid
bathing the dragon, and a lot of the time they also give their dragon recommended natural supplements that can strengthen their immune systems and keep their appetite up. They continue doing these topical treatments every day, 2-3 times a day for weeks, maybe a month or more, and either the external fungal infection starts to clear up on it's own due to the topical treatments they've been doing, or the dragon goes into shed and sheds the area or areas that have the external infection, and after shedding all signs of the infection are gone!! They come back on here, so happy to report that after a month of topical treatments with Lamisil and Betadine, maybe two months of treatments, all signs of the Yellow Fungus is gone! Their beardie is eating fine and is active and happy! And they keep updating us every day about how well the dragon is doing, how there are no signs of the Yellow Fungus at all, and this goes on usually for 2 weeks to a month...and then BAM! They come back completely devastated because they literally went to bed, everything is fine, and when they woke up their dragon now has another patch of the Yellow Fungus...frustrated they immediately start the same topical treatments again, but this time it's not working, in fact this time the infection is completely out of control. Every day they do 2-3 topical treatments with Lamisil and Betadine, they go to Walmart once a week and buy a different antifungal cream or spray, they try Hibiclens instead of the Betadine, they have even stolen an oral Diflucan pill from their mom who takes it for yeast infections (wrong med, doesn't work). And every single day the infection spreads and spreads and grows and grows, and this time it is taking over entire body parts. They are begging for help, but the only things we can tell them to do is to get the dragon to a vet, because the Yellow Fungus has been growing internally this entire time, since before it showed up externally, and is now coating all of his organs, his muscles, and the entire underside of their endodermis.
When it gets to the point where the dragon has Yellow Fungus on every area of their body, it has been growing continuously internally since before you ever noticed it externally. And at this point even oral meds and injections won't usually help, and the dragon has to be humanely euthanized. I've seen dragons with Yellow Fungus who had never been started on oral antifungal meds, only topical antifungal creams and antiseptics actually have entire feet, legs, their tail, and huge chunks of their flesh literally just fall off. It takes over their heads and face and they lose eyes and ears.
Not to be graphic, but this is why you need to at least spend the $19 to find out if he has Yellow Fungus. That's an awesome price and a wonderful thing that Tracie has offered to you because she knows what is going to happen to your beardie, both of your beardies, if he does in fact have Yellow Fungus and you only treat it topically at home. If it's not Yellow Fungus and some other Fungus great, treat it topically and it will probably treat it successfully. But you need to know. Because if the test comes back positive for Yellow Fungus that is the point where you'll absolutely have to make a hard decision, either start oral and topical prescription treatment with occasional injections with an experienced reptile vet, which even when Yellow Fungus is caught extremely early and proper oral and topical antifungal meds are started immediately, it still usually takes months and months to get rid of it...or you'll need to surrender him to a reputable reptile rescue so they can get him proper treatment, or some people euthanize at that point...the point is that you absolutely need to know if he has it so you can make an informed decision on what to do for him. So please, please, at least pay the $19 and find out what you're dealing with before he goes untreated too long.
Thanks for the response Ellen. I'm PMing Tracie now.
