Black spots-bumps found on underside See Pictures.

[MHolla]

Hello,

To start I want to thank everyone on this board for the great info they have provided. I have been coming here for the past year or so reading up on my Bearded Dragon. I am writing regarding my Bearded Dragon Ron Mexico who I have owned for a little over a year. About three weeks ago I noticed he was not fully closing his mouth. He has done this in the past but it was open much more with his tongue out when he was basking which I read was normal. This time it is different he is doing it at all times. I had read that this may had been due to lack of nutrition. He had previously been on a diet mostly of crickets, meal worms, dragonfly larvae, and mixed greens. In the past I have tried the Rep-Cal Adult Bearded Dragon food along with other dry food but cannot get him to eat it. I went out and bought fresh fruit along with mustard greens and got him eating a lot more of that rather than so many crickets and meal worms. It has been about two weeks since I have changed his diet and the mouth has not changed as you can see in the images below.

He is beginning to shed so to help the process tonight I gave him a bath. It was upon removing him I noticed these black spots. You can see in the images below there appears to be 15 of them that sort of match up on each side above his rectum. I ran my finger over them and they feel like little bumps. You can see his set-up in the images below. I am unsure on the cage size although it is plenty large enough for him. I have a Exo-Terra Sun-Glo 75 watt bulb which is on from approx 9am to 9pm. He is still eating normally and doesn’t seem to be less active. It is just the mouth and now the bumps I found tonight I am worried about.

Any advice, and or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I am a college student and do not exactly have a budget to take him to the vet (the reason I don’t have a dog) but will find a way to do so if necessary.

Thank You,
Matt H.

 

[vickson420]

Ok I cant see the pics but are you referring to his femoral pores?Thats what it sounds like to me which is completely normal.
Can you repost pic?

 

[MHolla]

Sorry about the images, I switched the hosting site so you should be able to see now. Thanks!

 

[amylee159]

Yeah They look like femoral pores to me! Completely normal! I'm not sure about his mouth tho...hopefully someone on here will be able to give you some advice!

 

[vickson420]

Ok the bumps are femoral pores and perfectly normal so no worries there all beardies have them and males have more pronounced pores.
Now for the mouth.There seems to be some major calcium deficiency going on here.Wat type of calcium or vitamins are you using and how often.Also what type of UVB light are you using?How old is it?Please be very specific if you can.Thanks.
Can he actually close his mouth?Is his tongue swollen?

 

[wizbee]

Do you have a uvb light? I only see one fixture in your photo.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

You have a Sun Glo but unfortunately that does not emit UVB. If you want to stay with Exo terra that is fine, you can purchase the Solar Glo which is a mercury vapor bulb. That emits UVB which is extremely important.


Tracie

 

[MHolla]

Hello,
Thanks for all the replies so far. I am a little irate this morning. As I said I have owned my bearded dragon for about a year. When I purchased from Petco the 40 something year old sales woman set me up with what was suppose to be everything I need. She said she had owned beardies in the past so I took her word and never read up on the lighting section on the caresheet. All I have been using is as shown in the picture and stated an Exo-Terra Sun-Glo 75 watt bulb. I have a Petsmart just a few miles away and will be going there this morning. Can something suggest a size bulb I will need? Also from what I read I should probably buy a new hood where there can be a combination of both UVB and Heat. As for calcium and vitamins I have the Fluker’s High Calcium Cricket Diet which I gut-load the crickets with before feeding. I give him 3 or 4 each day along with mixed greens such as kale and mustard greens along with fruit like sliced mango and grapes. If there are any additional vitamins someone can suggest I will pick them up while at Petsmart. Thanks again for all the information!

Matt

 

[starhead86]

For your lighting needs there are a few options, the cheapest is to use a standard house hold bulb for heat. As for the uv you definitely want a tube lite and NOT a coil. Most people here reccommend staying away from rep-glo uv lamps. As for feeding did you say he's eating 3-4 crickets a day? He should be eating at least 40. You should definitely buy some sort of calcium dust with d3 as well. There are a ton of brands, i think rep-cal might be the cheapest. It looks like he has a major calcium defficency. This could be causing the problem with his jaw. I'm not positive but his jaw bone could be bending? If you have the money I would suggest taking him to a vet I think they could give him some sort of shot to boost his calcium levels. Good luck, my prayers will be with you and your little one!

 

[Jasper's Mom]

For a UV bulb, you want to get a Repti-Sun (NOT Repti-Glo) 10.0 tube style bulb. If you can't find a Repti-Sun 10.0, then your next best option is a Repti-Sun 5.0 (tube-style) or the Exo-Terra Solar Glo (compact - not coil). You can use a regular household lightbulb for heat.

For supplements, you will need to get the Rep-Cal calcium with D3: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754048

Start dusting his crickets with the calcium 5x per week, and with the vitamins 1-2x per week. You can give him more than 3-4 crickets daily as well, as mentioned earlier.

And if you can get him to the vet for a shot of calcium, it would help him a lot.

Don't give up! Beardies can and do recover from calcium deficiencies all the time.

 

[MHolla]

Thanks Everyone! Heading to the pet store now, I'll post when I get back.

 

[MHolla]

Well I just got back from Petsmart where I got the Rep-Cal Herbtivite and Calcium with Vit. D along with 4 dozen crickets and the Exo Terra Termite Hill. As for the lighting the selection was horrible! They only had Solar Glo lighting which from what you said I should stay away from. The UVB 10.0 bulbs were $30 and they had no hoods to hold them. Any anyone suggest a reputable website to order the lighting from along with what bulb and hood to go with? Are the combo heat/UVB hood's good or should I stay away from them? Will I still want to use the Sun-Glo 75 watt bulb I am using now or should I switch to a household light? Sorry for all the questions, I just really want to get this ordered and get him healthy as soon as I can. Thanks!

 

[starhead86]

good to hear that you got the calcium dust I think that you can get a hood for the uv lamp at a hardware store for fairly cheap. As far as the bulb goes they are a little on the expensive side $20-$40 is the average I think. Bigappleherp lllreptile and reptile supply co. are all pretty reasonably priced. If it's warm enough outside where you live you could take him out for a little while to get some natural uv rays. good luck!!!!

 

[MHolla]

I found the Zoo Med Combination Reptile Hood CH-30 which holds 3 Incandescent and a 24" Fluorescent. I am going with the ReptiSun 10.0 Linear Fluorescent UVB bulb. I can get the hood and bulb for $80.50 on http://www.reptilesupply.com As I asked in my previous post, for the Incandescent bulb can I continue to use the Sun-Glo 75 watt bulb? Is that ok with the UVB bulb or should I use normal household bulbs? Also this hood has three spots should I fill the other two openings with bulbs? Is there other other type of bulbs I should order and put in? Thanks!

 

[Jasper's Mom]

The Sun-Glo in combination with the UV bulb will be just fine. When it burns out, then you can switch to an ordinary bulb if you want to - it's just a bit cheaper. You don't need to put any bulbs in the other two spots, unless you're having trouble keeping the temperatures high enough. Sounds like you're on the way to getting the UV situation well under control. Between the new UV bulb and the calcium supplements, you should start to see some improvement in your little guy.