Hi all, first time poster here. I've been having a lot of trouble with my bearded dragon, Nugget, not eating for the past couple of weeks.
I took him to a less experienced vet that was close to me in order to get xrays done. The vet pointed out the healing fracture in his upper arm but upon a closer inspection of this picture, I noticed that his jaw looks a little weird.
When I touch that area on my dragon, I can feel what I think is the bone moving around. Can anybody more experienced confirm or deny my suspicions based on this picture?
I should probably clarify the reason for these injuries to begin with; Nugget likes jumping. A lot. He had a pretty big basking branch that I had tilted to an angle because I thought it would help him climb up and down it and get the perfect basking temperature under his heat lamp. I also had a reptile hammock below the highest point of the branch. As you can probably guess, he likes to jump from the branch to the hammock.
When he was smaller, it wasn't a huge issue. But now that he's much larger, his jumping from the branch to his hammock has led to some injuries. I have removed the branch and the hammock and replaced them with a basking rock that he no longer jumps from.
His jaw looks OK to me. It might just be some gum tissue that is moving around. As far as his appetite goes, it could be perhaps a wound in his mouth that is making it uncomfortable to eat. Do you see anything like swelling or a wound in his mouth? It could also just be that he is in a phase of slow metabolism which happens too. If this is the case, his weight will stay pretty stable but he won't want as much food. Their appetites and energy levels can be cyclical.
Here is an x-ray from one of my dragons that shows a healthy jaw that you can compare with.