Black discoloration around nose and mouth.

[MittensKittens]

Hey guys this is kind of pretty important figured I'd put it in this section.

First; This is Rosey, =). My Bearded dragon we got when she was about 3 months, now... I see these black circles around her nose and a little under her chin... Read up and it could be mouth rot? Question is, aside from taking her to a vet, how would I know? She eats fine, hardly ever drinks (but hasn't since we got her) we mist her daily, keep her cage clean, etc. The only thing I can assume to be the problem is the temperature.. At night when we put her to bed, we take her lights off, and place a large blanket over her to block out any additional sunlight from coming in before her recommended 12 hours of sleep is complete. Once it is complete, we take the blanket off, and some days it's 70, some days it's 60 but the humidity is normally higher then it should be... We can't figure out how to reduce that, we've tried taking out water//salad after she goes to bed, it's still the same when she wakes up though.

I figured since this is my first time posting, I'll post pictures of her when she was a baby and what not. ^.^

Baby dragon first day home -

Dragon basking -

Pic 1 of possible infection?

Pic 2 of possible infection?

Better pic of possible infection.

 

[MittensKittens]

Forgot about her set up -- Sorry..

She has 100 wat Intense basking light(Most likely the cause for low temp...) a normal UVB honestly looks like one of those energy saving bulbs that you in normal light sockets..

Pretty big tank... While I cannot tell you exactly, 40x20x24 (maybe?) I think is what it is... She has enough room to run around and whatever, from the time in the morning we get her up, it takes a while for the cage to get warmed up to 85-95... Doesn't seem to go below it unless we have natural sunlight to help... We might try switching to 150 wat, the only issue with that was, once we did it burnt our fixture...

We have a Water Dish (with cold//warm water, not luke warm, more cold), Food Dish (Always full of greens, spring mix green, always fresh and changed daily), a Tree that she LOVES and is high enough for her to hide under, and we're using Calcium Sand now that she's more of an adult.

If anyone has anything better then the sand (that's not that carpet crap) let me know... I'm open to ideas and suggestions.

 

[MittensKittens]

Like now, I put food in her tank for her about 20 minutes ago, and she jumped down from her tree and started munching it. She doesn't seem unhealthy, and from my understanding whenever they brighten in color that mean she's happy, and every time I touch her, even if it is a pet, she lights up for an hour, or so. When she's taken out (daily for an hour, or five if I forget she's on my shoulder.. Lol), she is just happy as heck.

But I've read things on here where the dragon seemed fine, and woke up the next morning dead. I DO NOT want to that to happen... That would probably make me punch a baby kitten in the face. (Because Dragons are cooler then Kittens).

 

[Taterbug]

Silly question - is it possibly dirt or stains from the calci-sand? Or a shed?

How does the inside of her mouth look when she has it open? You don't want it to be very pale or very red. Mouth rot is another term for a mouth infection - it can be serious. Keep an eye out for swelling, redness, discharge and chganges in behavior. But it doesn't quite look like it to me, and I think usually behavior (especially appetite) is effected. Hopefully some folks with more experience with it can chime in.

If you are open to a solid substrate slate tiles or non adhesive shelf liner are good options. The calci-sand is a pretty junk product.

Also, the UVB bulb you have isn't the greatest - if you have the chance it might be worth replacing it with a better one. The linear florescent strip versions of the reptisun 10.0 and Arcadia 12% are great bulbs, and there a few options for luxury vapor bulbs as well. The compact bulbs don't really give good exposure patterns, and some even have been linked to health problems.

 

[MittensKittens]

Silly question - is it possibly dirt or stains from the calci-sand? Or a shed?

How does the inside of her mouth look when she has it open? You don't want it to be very pale or very red. Mouth rot is another term for a mouth infection - it can be serious. Keep an eye out for swelling, redness, discharge and chganges in behavior. But it doesn't quite look like it to me, and I think usually behavior (especially appetite) is effected. Hopefully some folks with more experience with it can chime in.

If you are open to a solid substrate slate tiles or non adhesive shelf liner are good options. The calci-sand is a pretty junk product.

Also, the UVB bulb you have isn't the greatest - if you have the chance it might be worth replacing it with a better one. The linear florescent strip versions of the reptisun 10.0 and Arcadia 12% are great bulbs, and there a few options for luxury vapor bulbs as well. The compact bulbs don't really give good exposure patterns, and some even have been linked to health problems.

I thought of sand too, so I dipped my finger in water and tried to wipe it away, it did not go away when wiping on it... Far as her mouth it looks fine.. I can't ever get a good look inside and I'm afraid of hurting her by opening her mouth myself, but when I did see it (after she was basking) it looked normal if I recall right....

The only reason I don't like the carpet one was, because she used it, we took it out, cleaned it, and it still reeked of Dragon bio.. (I love the buggers, but my gosh they stink... You would too if you ate Crickets though...)

Thank you for the idea of the UVB, this is my first Dragon! I'm learning as I go. Plan on breading her and keeping a baby for when she goes. =)... We have her in direct sunlight at least 1/3 of a day the tank sometimes hits 120 degrees (That happened once and I was very quick to fix it), so when she's in direct sunlight instead of orange she goes red =) it's adorable!!

 

[Taterbug]

The dyes in the calci-sand are surprisingly staining - if it's from that it may not come off until she sheds. My first dragon grew up on walnut shell substrate before we got him, it made him very stained too - his colors were much brighter after he was able to shed the dirt off.

I don't like reptile carpet either- it's gross. It also seems like a huge pain to remove furniture frequently enough to keep it clean. If her wastes are incredibly stinky she may have parasites. It's rather common and comes from eating live prey. I won't lie though, even healthy poop stinks. If you do take her to a vet they can test a sample and take a look at the spots.

With the window, she still had a place to escape the light and heat if she wants, right? Natural sunlight is great for their mood and the brightness, but the UVB won't go thru the glass of her enclosure or the window - just wanted to mention that.

She's adorable by the way

 

[MittensKittens]

The dyes in the calci-sand are surprisingly staining - if it's from that it may not come off until she sheds. My first dragon grew up on walnut shell substrate before we got him, it made him very stained too - his colors were much brighter after he was able to shed the dirt off.

I don't like reptile carpet either- it's gross. It also seems like a huge pain to remove furniture frequently enough to keep it clean. If her wastes are incredibly stinky she may have parasites. It's rather common and comes from eating live prey. I won't lie though, even healthy poop stinks. If you do take her to a vet they can test a sample and take a look at the spots.

With the window, she still had a place to escape the light and heat if she wants, right? Natural sunlight is great for their mood and the brightness, but the UVB won't go thru the glass of her enclosure or the window - just wanted to mention that.

She's adorable by the way

How it's placed is the top half of her cage gets the light, her bottom half gets just her normal light lamp, but her tree is her cover 9/10 of the time...

Maybe not like 'OMG I CAN'T HANDLE THIS' but it's pretty bad... Almost as bad as my cat's stinky poop... I am thinking of taking her in, I just need to make sure I can this month, money has been tight, we're in the process of getting ready to move, so money is tight.. Lol

Thanks! She is pretty adorable. ^.^ she was the most active one in her cage when we got her and she was bobbing her head before we even picked her up, after we did though she didn't want to be let go, so she picked us in her own way it was pretty adorable.

I've been watching her, and she just looks like she's relaxing under her tree... I might need to get a place to completely shade her from light, as the tree covers about 90% of her.

 

[MittensKittens]

Little update -- She seems to be doing a bit better... The discoloration is still present on her nose and mouth, doesn't look like it's grown any... She does periodically shut one eye (alternates eyes), we replaced the lights about... a month, month and a half ago... I think we might have the wrong bulbs though...

 

[Taterbug]

Some of those compact bulbs do bother the eyes. You can try turning it off and see if she stops closing her eyes. You can also take her outside if it's sunny for some natural exposure.

 

[MittensKittens]

So, I just looked inside her mouth because she was basking and she had what looks like an infection, (red and slightly puffy)... Doesn't look like really terrible... but is a little present.

 

[Kriechtier]

So, I just looked inside her mouth because she was basking and she had what looks like an infection, (red and slightly puffy)... Doesn't look like really terrible... but is a little present.

Not sure how severe it is but it may be best to check in with a vet.
Here is an article: http://www.petmd.com/reptile/conditions/mouth/c_rp_infectious_stomatitis

As to the dark spots, mine gets them too every now and then, I noticed when mine is exploring tight spots she seems to get that on similar places (under a log etc.). Usually goes away quickly. I'd be very concerned if those spots grow.

Best of luck.