Bearded Dragon Problems Halp

Hi, so I need some major help and to start things off I have taken her to the vet.... So I got my bearded dragon from a home that was jacking her up, when I got her she had sand from a beach in her cage (salt) which was HORRIBLE it was melded on her mouth and took weeks to full get off, there was one basking spot the size of my hand, She is around 1-2 years old may I add so she isn't small. Her light situation was terrible as well. She had mites that I took care of, cleaned everything very well including her for many weeks. A little time went by and I started to notice she had hard times breathing and kept opening her mouth and breathing weird, she was drooling it seemed like and had crusty stuff around her mouth so i figured she had a respiratory infection and took her to the vet. I had her get many shots to fix the problem... Now after a little bit has gone by her breathing seems better but I'm not too sure it's 100% fixed, and now I'm noticing cyst looking bumps around her mouth and the same crusty saliva looking stuff around her mouth.. she also does not seem to be too alert and is very lazy most of the time with dark colors. But then sometimes she's very active and SUPER bright and happy. I don't know what to do or how to approach this situation, I love her and I want her to have a great rest of her life .. please help me in any way I'll try and get pictures posted... Thanks again please ask away with questions, she does get lots of calcium and I feed her veggies and dubias so bone disease should be out of the picture but based on the previous owners they didn't give her calcium and a good diet (and the light situation)

:/

I have no idea how to post pictures sorry, very very annoying

Follow this link and then post the XIMG image here in this thread. https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/

Hello,

Sorry to hear your girl had such poor care before you took her in.
Can you review her current tank setup such as the type/brand of UVB, tank size, temperatures,
& substrate. What veggies/greens are you giving? The dubias are very good for her. You could
even add calcium/phoenix worms, silkworms or butterworms for some variety.
For the bumps on or around the mouth or lip area, you can get some raw, unpasteurized honey
or manuka honey to help with any infection starting.

Tracie

I would focus on her mouth rather than the breathing. The breathing may be a symptom and the way she is dealing with pain in her mouth. Check for sores and swelling etc around her gums and tongue. There are topical treatments available such as MaxiGuard gel to help cleanse her mouth and fight bacteria to prevent infection. If her mouth is already infected and tissue is dying, then a vet may need to remove the dead tissue and then treat it with meds to help it heal. Once her mouth is in better shape then she will likely feel much better and it will make it easier to get her healthier overall.

It may take quite a while for her to recover from poor care early in her life but keep going with what you've been doing. It has already made a positive difference and will continue to do so.

Thank you guys I'll have an updated post shortly to reply to you all

Tank size: L: 52in x 24in (depth) H: 20 *bought a HUGE pet display from a pet store so it's a pretty good size*

Lights: PowerSun Basking/UV 120W, a long Florescent UV bulb, and another small UV bulb (to cover the whole cage) *is this too much UV?

Temp: 98° F

Food: carrots, Collards, Mustard Greens apples rarely and other assortments when I have them, Dubias, and occasionally crickets *Rare*

Substrate: I have a yoga mat type under paper towels*the yoga mat is for padding and paper towels are so she doesn't eat any substrate that can hurt her and easy cleanup* May I note that she loves squishy things and cuddles and acts like a baby.

*I give her bathes often* she usually only poops when I give her bathes which is also strange

Nice bright orange beard. She looks happy. The outside of her mouth doesn't look bad. Do you see any sores/wounds inside? How far is your PowerSun from the basking area? Is it a 100w or a 160w? They don't have a 120w version as far as I know. The 100w should sit about 8-12'' up while the 160w should be about 10-15''. Is your tube light a T5 or the thicker T8? They have different outputs and effective distances. It's good to provide a gradient of UVB just like you do with heat. More intense UVB in one area (usually the basking site) and a gradient down to little or no UVB in other areas to provide plenty of choices.

She doesn't look too bad, her color is good, she's a bit stunted but that's to be expected...We need more info on what brand/strength of UVb tubes you are using, are they the weaker T8 tubes or the stronger T5 tubes, and what brands? This makes a huge difference as far as how you have to have them mounted (T8 tubes cannot sit on top of a mesh lid, they must be strapped to the underside of the mesh lids to be effective), and it also effects how close they have to be to her basking spot to be effective (T8 must be unobstructed by anything like the mesh lid, and must be within at least 6" of her basking spot, while the stronger T5 tubes can sit on top of the mesh as long as they are within around 11" of her basking spot). This also effects how often you have to replace them, the T8 tubes must be replaced every 6 months, the T5 every year.

The "Powersun" you say is a "UV" light, 120 watts, I'm not sure if we're talking about the same thing, as the Powersun is an All-in-One Mercury Vapor Bulb that emits both UVB/UVA as well as heat and bright white basking light, but they only come in a 100 watt version and a 160 watt version, as Cooper already mentioned, so either you're just talking about some other type of regular Basking Bulb that is 120 watts and only emits light and heat, or it's not a 120 watts...

Her mouth actually looks like a fungal infection of some kind to me, I've seen fungal infections on Dragons several times before (albeit not around their mouths like that) that look exactly like that, almost like "bubbled-up" skin...did the vet you took her to do a Skin-Scraping test or suggest anything to do about this? I'd highly suggest taking her back to the Reptile Vet and requesting he do a simple Skin-Scraping Test/Biopsy of the area to determine #1) What it is being caused by, and #2) What medication will be effective against it. The fact that it went away and then came back is indicative of either a fungal or bacterial infection that needs a specific prescription medication that will treat whatever specific bug is causing it. Also, you want the vet to inspect the entire inside of her mouth as well to make sure that it's not also invading her gums/tongue and it's not starting "Mouth Rot" and killing the tissue inside her mouth. But I'm guessing that it's a nasty fungal infection, probably one that she's had for a really long time that has never been treated, based on how you describe her prior care with the nasty sand.

It's a 100W PowerSun sorry ... And then it's a zoomed 5.0 uvb it says.. it's a smaller one cuz the wiring for a bigger tube is broke so I'm trying to get it fixed, but I should have it on the inside of the cage nor on top of the mesh, that helps one problem I have found... And the vet didn't say much about her mouth just gave her shot for a respiratory, not many vets that are close so the only people who accept bearded dragons kinda didn't know much unfortunately :/ that's why I'm on here Asking

Can you get a few more pics of her mouth from the side in better light ? It looks like some type of scale problem there but not too serious. Sometimes when beardies have had a slight injury somewhere it will often shed differently than the rest of the body. For instance sometimes a female has slight bite marks from mating [ males grasp the back of their neck to subdue them ] and after that they take longer to shed in that small area. You can dab a bit of watered down betadine on it or better yet get some raw, unpasteurized honey. Just be sure there are no loose crickets in the tank at any time.

This is the best I can do photo wise sorry

Will this honey work???