My bearded Dragon's foot is temporarily black and swollen

[MungoAster]

So recently I separated my two beardies that are a breeding pair. They are only 6 or 7 months old but we bought them when they were around 3, in April 2017. Aster (female) was always intimidated by Mungo (male). She eventually steered clear of eating their food, and hid away on their net and her "perch" (a stick). Now Mungo (the same age as her) is massive, and before we separated them, he was always territorial. She stopped growing, half her tail fell off and we knew we had to separate them. He seems content about having the terrarium to himself, but what caused her to leave was her foot. I got home one day to see her foot was swollen and black, much like her tail when it started rotting from Mungo's bites.

That was 3 months ago, today when I get home from school or put her int he bath, her same foot goes black and swells up. It seems to be healing or even healed at this point, I don't know but my question is why is it off and on? Why hasn't it healed in 3 months? Is it broken? (Probably not, since she can walk with it)

Your thoughts.

 

[kyleena29]

Can you post some pictures?

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from General to Health

 

[MungoAster]

https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/57306/full

I'm new to this website and the only photos are on my iPod. So it's really hard and frustrating to get an image uploaded, I think this is viewable.

Edit: Yes it works, so you can see the right foot is fully fold-able and flexible, the left foot has black likes and is much larger. Most of the black lines are gone but I know they are bite marks, since she had them on her tail from Mungo biting her tail. But why has it not gone away? It still functions so it isn't dead or broken, but it's still swollen.

 

[kingofnobbys]

https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/57306/full

I'm new to this website and the only photos are on my iPod. So it's really hard and frustrating to get an image uploaded, I think this is viewable.

Edit: Yes it works, so you can see the right foot is fully fold-able and flexible, the left foot has black likes and is much larger. Most of the black lines are gone but I know they are bite marks, since she had them on her tail from Mungo biting her tail. But why has it not gone away? It still functions so it isn't dead or broken, but it's still swollen.

Cropped version of your photo of Mungo's legs

Her failure to thrive is nearly always the consequence of housing 2 or more hatchlings together, she actually came out of this very lightly.

Swelling up is a concern as is the discolouration .... since it's a bite injury , if it was ONLY MINOR soft tissue injuries / bruising , it should have healed by now .

I think it's likely she sustained a serious leg / foot injury in the bite , a broken bone is a definite likelihood.
Another possibility is a damaged artery in her leg ( thrombolysis in a crushed artery ).

I suggest a vet examine it and take xrays to determine what's causing the inflammation / swelling and it may be the leg/foot are infected as well , so antibiotics are likely needed to get this under control.

Please don't allow the pair to mate until she's at least 2 yrs old.

 

[EllenD]

Agreed, any time 2 beardies are put together (especially a male and a female or 2 males) at a very young age or as adults, doesn't matter, one becomes the dominant beardie who gets the best food, basking spots, etc. and takes control of everything and eventually gets violently aggressive and causes serious injuries and death, and the other is the submissive dragon, who nearly always ends up stunted in growth, sickly, and extremely stressed out. The submissive dragon nearly always has failure to thrive, and usually develops serious diseases like MBD.

If you're going to breed dragons then you need to know to never house 2 dragons together, not as babies and not as adults. They should have their enclosures stacked on top of each other so that they cannot see each other, as it will continually cause stress. The absolute only time they should ever see each other is to mate, and that should happen only in very short, supervised sessions where you're very aware of what is going on. Never leave them alone together again, certainly not ever over night. That's it, never have them together ever again, as it will unnecessarily stress her every time. Her leg obviously has a serious injury and/or infection or thrombosis, as it looks injured and deformed still after 3 months. At this point she needs to see an experienced reptile vet ASAP for an x-ray and blood work to rule out fractures, blood clots, infection, etc. Something is very wrong, please don't let it go any longer.

 

[EllenD]

Also, I really would be very, very careful about breeding that particular female, as she is already extremely stunted, stressed, and most likely has Calcium and vitamin B1 deficiency causing disease, such as MBD, which the x-ray will also confirm. You cannot breed them until they are at least 2 years old anyway, so you've got over a year to help her along, but BREEDING A FEMALE DRAGON WHO ALREADY HAS MBD OR OTHER DEFICIENCY DISEASE AND IS STUNTED IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND AT A HIGH RISK FOR EGG-BINDING!!! Egg binding usually occurs due to the female having a calcium deficiency, and is almost always fatal, and IS ALWAYS EXTREMELY PAINFUL BEFORE DEATH OCCURS. So please, even though you can't breed her for almost another year and a half, you need to take her to a Certified Herp Vet BEFORE you breed her at 2 years old for x-rays and blood work to make sure she's capable of #1 breeding in the first place, and #2 of successfully carrying eggs to term and laying them without egg-binding occuring.

This poor girl has had a very stressful, painful, and harsh life so far, the stress of being dominated alone is very rough on them. So unfortunately, breeding her may not be the best idea. Either way she needs to see an experienced reptile vet (certified reptile vet is better, every breeder should have one anyway) ASAP for that foot, before it too becomes necrotic just like her tail did. If there is infection present (likely bone fractures, so infection is also likely) she can not only lose her foot to necrosis, but she could eventually become septic and die.

 

[MungoAster]

Also, I really would be very, very careful about breeding that particular female, as she is already extremely stunted, stressed, and most likely has Calcium and vitamin B1 deficiency causing disease, such as MBD, which the x-ray will also confirm. You cannot breed them until they are at least 2 years old anyway, so you've got over a year to help her along, but BREEDING A FEMALE DRAGON WHO ALREADY HAS MBD OR OTHER DEFICIENCY DISEASE AND IS STUNTED IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND AT A HIGH RISK FOR EGG-BINDING!!! Egg binding usually occurs due to the female having a calcium deficiency, and is almost always fatal, and IS ALWAYS EXTREMELY PAINFUL BEFORE DEATH OCCURS. So please, even though you can't breed her for almost another year and a half, you need to take her to a Certified Herp Vet BEFORE you breed her at 2 years old for x-rays and blood work to make sure she's capable of #1 breeding in the first place, and #2 of successfully carrying eggs to term and laying them without egg-binding occuring.

This poor girl has had a very stressful, painful, and harsh life so far, the stress of being dominated alone is very rough on them. So unfortunately, breeding her may not be the best idea. Either way she needs to see an experienced reptile vet (certified reptile vet is better, every breeder should have one anyway) ASAP for that foot, before it too becomes necrotic just like her tail did. If there is infection present (likely bone fractures, so infection is also likely) she can not only lose her foot to necrosis, but she could eventually become septic and die.

Thank you everyone for your feedback, my dad and I agree that she is a runt or has some growth issues, we defiantly are aware not to breed then below 2 years old. She never eats vegetables and I have to force feed her them, she eats live food and I add calcium powder to them. How can I get her better? Would a vet visit give me all the problems and solutions, or will I just need to increase a few things, like calcium?

You can take a further look at her life on our facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/aster.algerphorth.7

She has been getting a long with me and we've bonded well together, she bobs her head, waves her arms and stares at Mungo a lot, I can see why.

 

[kingofnobbys]

No you can not fix her problems without vet treatment.

There are NO HOME REMEDIES for her injuries,

if she were a human, the GP would have her admitted to hospital immediately for surgery and IV antibiotic therapy.

It's OK for the pair to flirt from a safe distance, this will do no harm so long as she can not see him all day every day.

As already suggested - best to stack their vivs , this is how I have dealt with male and female beardies and bluetongues.

I have had stacked rearing tubs and vivs for years , works very well, I have my girls in the bottom story - my theory is it's OK for the boy to smell her , and to visit when on the floor (but separated by see through (plastic tub sides , or glass sliding doors on the big viv) and communicate , but I don't the girls smelling the boys as this will stress them.

Very cheap way of housing 2 or more hatchlings/juveniles or subadult beardies in individual rearing tubs : viewtopic.php?f=34&t=233480