Our 5 year old male has developed a hard, pea-sized lump on his lower back. Another may be forming next to it. Seems like an odd place for a tumor. Anyone have a similar experience? Many thanks.
Our 5 year old male has developed a hard, pea-sized lump on his lower back. Another may be forming next to it. Seems like an odd place for a tumor. Anyone have a similar experience? Many thanks.
I advise you consult a good REPTILE VET <<< now >>> while what ever it is has not grown large enough to become a very expensive longer term and complicated life threatening procedure to deal with.
The vet needs to take Xrays and try to take a biopsy, we are all guessing without more information.
I see that you posted/inquired on the other thread regarding a bump, too.
I have had experience with this type of issue. This looks like an abscess but kind of a strange
place though. The female we had adopted had a bump on the side but not on the tail base.
Has your dragon had any trauma or injury to the scales/tissue there that you can think of?
Perhaps trouble with shedding & a few scales got infected?
I would recommend taking him to the vet for analysis so that it doesn't get worse. It may need
to be drained or surgically removed, depending on the severity, etc.
The vet aspirated some fluid from the lump & will send out to the lab. No sign of infection from what she could tell. Part of the lump seemed solid, so hopefully the sample is large enough to determine what the mass is. Also went ahead & had blood work done.
That is great they aspirated some fluids from that area, to culture. If it's an abscess, it will
most likely need to be removed.
How is he doing today? Definitely keep us posted on everything.
That is great they aspirated some fluids from that area, to culture. If it's an abscess, it will
most likely need to be removed.
How is he doing today? Definitely keep us posted on everything.
I agree, if an abscess, the normal approach is to cut open the abscess under a general , debride any soft tissues effected by it, and either leave it open to heal (with some packing in it and regular repacking and redressing) to avoid a new cavity full of fluid forming , or they will debride through a small hole and place a wick to help drain it.
Better off being dealt with while still small …. culturing the fluids in the abscess will help the vet target it with the most effective antibiotic.
Sorry for the late reply for those who'd inquired about Spike. So after a series of injected antibiotics didn't reduce the size of the lump, we decided to have the lump surgically removed. It turns out it was a soft tissue sarcoma, a type of skin tumor sometimes found in reptiles. Luckily the vet got clear margins, and it has a low risk of metastasizing. It's a low-grade tumor, and not very aggressive, but we honestly never believed it was actually cancer. SO - for others whose beardies have something that looks similar, definitely get it checked out!