Hi, Ive noticed that my bearded dragon, Clyde, has a bump on his foot. It is hard to touch and looks much more swollen that his other heel. There is also a red mark In the middle of it. I will show you a picture of his normal foot and then the one with the bump. Please help me I dont want to lose my beardie.
The area around it looks a bit waxy so it's possibly just swelling to help loosen an oncoming shed. If that's the case, then the swelling should go down after the shed is done. Is he showing any issue walking on that foot? If the swelling increases or appears to spread, or if it doesn't go down after the next shed it might be a good idea to have a vet take an x-ray of the foot or take a sample of the fluid (if it's a fluid buildup) to get a better idea of what's going on. I'm hopeful that it's just shed related though.
He actually just shed his foot as I was hoping it was the same thing too. My nearest reptile vet is an hour away and they are refusing to do a payment plan for me(I don't have any money). I will have to go to my local vet but they don't specialise in reptiles. Will they still be able to help him?
How long has he had the swelling? If it didn't go down with the previous shed, hopefully he
isn't developing gout. I would probably opt for getting an x-ray, to be sure nothing is going on
with him.
What type/brand of UVB light are you using, & which supplements do you use for him?
Update: I went to the vet and she was so uneducated. She didn't even know what bearded dragons eat or what lights to use. Anyway, she thinks that the respiratory infection is mild (also forgot to mention to you guys that I was suspecting he had a respiratory infection so I went in for that too) and that she is going to contact an exotic specialist and phone me later to see what they say. With the foot, she doesn't know exactly what it is. She said she thinks something has gotten into it. She tried squeezing it and used a needle to try and get some stuff out. There was some pus that came out of it. Anyone what it is here? I feel like I paid for a useless consultation. She wants me to keep it wet and try and squeeze it out myslef in the meantime
Did she test the puss for a bacterial infection? She would want to grow a culture and find out what grows then prescribe an appropriate antibiotic if that's the case.
No, she didn’t. She said she didn’t know and that it’s best if she contacts an exotic vet. She was meant to email me but I still haven’t gotten an email from her
Wow, I am so sorry. How is her little foot doing today?
Did she get bitten by a cricket or another insect in her tank? It looks like there was a mark
on her foot caused by something.
Try using some raw, unpasteurized honey or manuka honey on the affected area to help
with infection since some discharge did drain out. She should have taken a sample from
that & had it cultured. To clean it, you can use a diluted betadine solution on it then put the
honey on it making sure that there are no insects roaming around her tank that could be
attracted to the honey.
His foot doesn’t seem to bother him. The only time it really hurts him is when you squeeze it. Poor little guy didn’t like what the vet was doing. He kept trying to move away because she kept applying pressure on it. I will try the honey and Monday I will go to the vet again and get her to culture it. Would that cost a lot of money?
I guess I'm not seeing what others are seeing. If he's walking on it O.K. I'd leave it alone. An inexperienced vet may not know what to look for if she does a culture.
I’m definitely not going to leave it alone. I think it’s an infection and I need a vet to either flush it out or give me antibiotics because he’s starting to lift that foot up and sort of swing it a few times today