Bearded Dragon Chokes on Water + Possible Cyst?

[StellaBeardy]

I've heard that at a young age bearded dragons might hold water in their mouth instead of swallowing to "savor the taste" or something along those lines, but my beardie is 5 years old now and still does it. Normally I wouldn't be concerned, but recently she seems to start coughing it up since she starts walking around and never actually swallows it. I'm concerned that she might drown herself by doing this and/or won't get fully hydrated. I give her water by putting her in a small tub and letting her drink from that (I rinse her and the tub off before letting her drink from it to make sure it's clean). I'm a minor so I can't take her to the vet myself, but since I have all responsibilities for her I thought I'd reach out here to see if it's something I should talk to my parents about so we could find her a vet. I don't think my parents have done much research on bearded dragons other than their environment and diet.

She also has a weird bump on her side that I'm not too concerned about since it doesn't seem to bother her at all. She's had it ever since we got her, and it used to shed like any other scale, but now only the scales around it shed. It's also lost a lot of color over the years, it used to be bright orange and now it's an off-white (which could be from her stomach changing color).

I think it's also been a few years since I've made this account, so if minors are not allowed to have accounts and I've forgotten, I would be willing to delete it if possible :3

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

As far as being a minor, as long as you have your parent's permission, you can sign up with an account.
How long has she had this bump, is it hard to the touch?
It could be a cyst, that is what it appears to be. I would keep an eye on it to be sure it doesn't get any
larger.
Alot of them do tend to hold fluids in their beards but it should disperse fairly soon. During baths, be very
careful not to let her overdrink because they do aspirate in their baths from drinking too much. You could use plastic dropper instead to hydrate her instead of a bath if you are concerned with her drinking too much
& choking.
How is her appetite right now? Her color looks very good!

Tracie

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from General to Health

 

[StellaBeardy]

Hello,

As far as being a minor, as long as you have your parent's permission, you can sign up with an account.
How long has she had this bump, is it hard to the touch?
It could be a cyst, that is what it appears to be. I would keep an eye on it to be sure it doesn't get any
larger.
Alot of them do tend to hold fluids in their beards but it should disperse fairly soon. During baths, be very
careful not to let her overdrink because they do aspirate in their baths from drinking too much. You could use plastic dropper instead to hydrate her instead of a bath if you are concerned with her drinking too much
& choking.
How is her appetite right now? Her color looks very good!

Tracie

She's had it ever since we got her, and it's pretty hard to the touch. Her appetite seems to be fine, she's still trying to eat everything lol

It's definitely larger than when we first noticed it, but it stopped getting larger when she was around 3 I think. My parents said it wasn't anything to worry about despite her flinching if it's touched (she doesn't flinch nearly as often now, I'm not sure if she's just used to it rubbing against stuff or if it just doesn't hurt anymore)

And she holds the water in her beard for as long as she can without choking no matter how I give her water, I don't think she ever swallows it intentionally