Beardie’s foot injury

[nexus_2025]

Hi everyone,

I’m hoping to get some advice about my bearded dragon, Nexus. I got her almost two months ago, and she had an injury on her toe, along with a missing claw. A vet told me it was fine and that the toe would eventually fall off but that didn’t sound right.

A few weeks later, another claw fell off, and now she has what looks like a lot of stuck shed around her foot. I took her to a reptile specialist, and they said she may have sprained her foot as a baby, that it’s healing, and that the stuck shed should come off with her next shed—but it still hasn’t.

I’ve taken her to multiple places and have gotten similar answers, but it’s getting really expensive, and I just want to make sure she’s okay. In the meantime, I’ve been soaking her foot in warm water as much as she’ll allow and gently brushing it with a soft toothbrush, but nothing seems to be helping.

Maybe it’s fine, but I’m just really worried. I have some photos with dates if that helps. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Also… she’s been eating great, loves to be handled, climbs and runs around really well, she isn’t favouring the other foot or avoiding using her possibly injured foot. There’s been no blood or pus or bad smells, there was a bit of dry blood where the claw had already been ripped out and the day i got her i gently wiped it away with a q-tip and there has been no blood since then.

i’m losing sleep over this, i just want some answers for my girl.


Thank you!

 

[xp29]

To me it looks like she may loose that whole section but I'm not a vet so take it with a grain of salt. I'll flag a couple people that might have better answers @AHBD @Drache613

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, that definitely isn't from a sprain, if it was sprained it might have caused the " ankle " area to swell a bit [ if at all ] and some limping. This was a possible minor bite from being housed with other babies or another type of minor trauma. You can stop the soaking and get some silver sulfadiazene cream or silver honey gel to apply daily or every 2 days. The cream is antibiotic and will also keep the shed moist + probably help it to shed off. Nearly all cases like this just heal on their own, sometimes a little bit will fall off.

It sounds like he's doing well so Nexus doesn't need any more vet visits unless it suddenly swelled visibly and turned red. But looks like he will be fine.

 

[nexus_2025]

Hi there, that definitely isn't from a sprain, if it was sprained it might have caused the " ankle " area to swell a bit [ if at all ] and some limping. This was a possible minor bite from being housed with other babies or another type of minor trauma. You can stop the soaking and get some silver sulfadiazene cream or silver honey gel to apply daily or every 2 days. The cream is antibiotic and will also keep the shed moist + probably help it to shed off. Nearly all cases like this just heal on their own, sometimes a little bit will fall off.

It sounds like he's doing well so Nexus doesn't need any more vet visits unless it suddenly swelled visibly and turned red. But looks like he will be fine.

thank you so so much, i’ll start doing that today

 

[nexus_2025]

To me it looks like she may loose that whole section but I'm not a vet so take it with a grain of salt. I'll flag a couple people that might have better answers @AHBD @Drache613

thank you so much for your help

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Definitely looks more like a bite or other type of injury, as AHBD stated. The raw unpasteurized honey is
very effective & will ward off infection very well. I don't think he needs to see a vet unless infection sets in.
Hopefully it will heal up soon, & the swelling will go down as well. Let us know how things are going & when
it does shed off.

Tracie

 

[nexus_2025]

Hello,

Definitely looks more like a bite or other type of injury, as AHBD stated. The raw unpasteurized honey is
very effective & will ward off infection very well. I don't think he needs to see a vet unless infection sets in.
Hopefully it will heal up soon, & the swelling will go down as well. Let us know how things are going & when
it does shed off.

Tracie

thanks so much for your reply! i definitely get stressed really easily, my only concern is that the stuck shed has been there for possibly over a month, is that something i should be worried about?

i’m keeping a close eye for any signs of infection and there’s been none but i have been using the honey just to be safe

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Those scales on their head & nose area tends to get thick sometimes & takes awhile to shed. You can
try using some aloe vera gel on that area to see if it helps out with the shedding. I wouldn't worry too
much about the shed retention yet, give it time & it should start to release & shed off.
That's great there doesn't seem to be any infection going on either!

Tracie

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, just wondering how Nexus is doing, any change in the foot problem ?

 

[nexus_2025]

Hi there, just wondering how Nexus is doing, any change in the foot problem ?

Sorry for the late reply, she's just had a big shed and her foot is looking perfect apart from the missing claws. I gave her some bricks and kept an eye on it but let her just get the shed off herself and there's no more stuck shed or swelling at all. Thank you so much for your help

 

[AHBD]

Glad to hear that Nexus is doing well, thanks for the update.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

That's great Nexus is doing better now! I'm glad
her shed has all come off now.

Tracie