Questions about beardie's skin

[proto]

Hey all!

I got my beardie, Terry, from a Petco kind of on a whim at the end of January, but in the interim have done loads of research to make sure I'm giving him (her?) the best care I can. About a week ago I took him into an exotic animals vet because I figured it's been over a month since I got him, he seems pretty settled-in, and I wanted to get him his first check-up. Doc said that I was doing fantastic and that we should maybe do a fecal sample soon to check everything was fine, but that we should be all good.

The thing that's weirding me out, though, is that--starting at least a few weeks ago--Terry had some weird dark yellow/light brown patches on his stomach. I didn't think much of it at fist because he was shedding, and I figured they were maybe spots of shedding skin that were slightly discolored from the heat of the rock hide under his basking spot.

Those haven't gone yet though, and the doc didn't seem phased by them last week, but now they seem to have spread a bit. I'm attaching some pics as reference, and I may just be overanalyzing, but I really want to make sure everything is on the up-and-up. If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears!

First of all, Terry says hello! Haha

Here's his belly, with the yellow spots having spread some. He's got a weird line of smooth scales and then rougher ones, which I'm attributing to some skin still needing to shed, but I don't know.

Here you can see his arms and neck area which have some yellow/light brown tinge to them, which is fairly new.

This is the one that's most worrisome to me; his last couple sheds have had some straggler pieces that the doc said to just soak him really well in order to get off, but after working at one on his side, it's yellowy-brown and the little spikes that have really grown in well elsewhere are stunted and/or not grown in at all under where the shed was stuck. The doc said that unless there was black under those sheds she's not worried, but I want to check with you guys and make sure.

So yeah, that's my issue/hopefully non-issue. It may be nothing or normal, but I've done some looking around and the only thing I've found is about a really bad skin fungus, and it doesn't look like whatever is going on is that bad to me, but I'm really intent on giving the little guy the best care I can, so if there's something that needs to be cleared up I want to catch it early.

Thanks in advance for your help!

-Josh

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....Terry is a nice looking little fellow. It may be just some uneven shed pattern, but just keep an eye on it to see if it starts to look worse. If you ever feel that it may be fungal, you can put some Lamisil antifungal cream on it.

 

[Drache613]

Hello Josh,

The yellowing appears to just be some shedding going on. It doesn't seem to be taking on the look of yellow fungus.
Are you bathing him?
I would give it a bit of time, but keep a close eye on the discoloration to be sure it doesn't start looking fungal.
Terry is such a cute name for him, too!
What UVB lighting are you using?
It sounds like he is adjusting to his new home really well, too! Is he eating a lot also?

Tracie

 

[proto]

**double post

 

[proto]

Alrighty, thanks guys! It's good to know I shouldn't be super concerned at the moment, but I'm not exactly sure what difference to look for between slightly yellowed patches and the fungus.

That said, I do give him baths--that he does not like--a couple of times a week generally, but in the last week or two I haven't been able to bathe him as regularly do to an erratic schedule shift in my world that's just settled back to normal.

Terry tends to go in and out on eating--I mostly feed him small size superworms and some collard greens, and he tends to eat a ton one day, and then a little bit less the next, but it seems to average out.

I had a small UVB light for the first four weeks or so but when I upgraded to a larger tank a few weeks back and revamped his living area, I got him the Reptisun 10.0 bulb. I noticed his colors have become a bit more vibrant since then, which I think is a good sign.

Terry's a pretty active little guy and loves exploring when I have the free time to sit around and make sure he doesn't get lost, so he seems pretty happy. Most of the times I see his stress marks are when he's chilling in his cage during the day; they're not super dark then, so I don't really know what's causing it, but it's usually just when he's chilling out in his basking spot. A few minutes of playing with him generally sees the marks go away.

EDIT: After doing more research on yellow fungus online, and seeing the yellowy skin that has sort of spread on Terry, I am still kinda freaked out though. The original yellow bit lasted across sheds, and the spread of it from a small section of his stomach to the rest of him has been kinda fast in the last two weeks. If you say I shouldn't worry then I'll try to on stress, but I do want to make sure the details are here.

(That said, I have no idea how he would have contracted fungus, if that's actually the case. Or if they usually get that when they're this young. There hasn't been any puffiness or swelling or anything so who knows.)

 

[JForce]

My beardie had a spot that looked like that. Was a bit freaked out but it shed off within a couple weeks

 

[proto]

Alrighty, I'll keep a look on it. Maybe buy some of the cream just in case. I'd hate if something outside of my control were to mess with Terry right out of the gate.

 

[proto]

Not to belabor the issue, but this afternoon I went and got betadine and gave him a bath with the solution, and also got the lamisil cream for him. Before I rubbed in the cream though I noticed these little hard/rough scabby bits for the first time:

And while examining him closely on the spot where he retained some of his shed for wayyy too long before I finally helped him get it off (with a bath and a toothbrush of course!) I noticed this kinda troubling spot.

Again I may be overanalyzing this a lot, but I'm doing my best to make sure Terry is all good.

 

[BlueDragon09]

Hey Josh,

It's turning scabby now?
That spot on the tail does look pretty
nasty. I don't want to be right here but
that may be Yellow Fungus. My boy has sheds
but the shed always appeared light yellow
not that dark. You may continue with bedatine
baths and lamisil/monistat cream. How is Terry doing?

Kami

 

[proto]

Damn... That's what I was worried about. Plus,, I don't have any idea where he may have picked it up. Stuff I've seen online says it can be in contaminated soil but he's never been in any dirt at all. He had the original yellow spot in his original cage and after I got a new cage and stuff from craigslist (and cleaned it all thoroughly) he was fine for a while before it seemed to spread a lot in the last couple weeks.

As for Terry, it seems like he's been a bit more lethargic in the last week than usual but when I've played with him he's been more active. I was attributing it to a big schedule shift due to the fact that I had time off from my day job because I was assistant directing a short film with all night shoots--throwing his schedule off as well. Plus I ran out of superworms mid-shoot and so had him exclusively on collard greens and Baby Bites for a few days. But yesterday I picked up more supers at Petco and Terry ate like 35 or 40 of them pretty ravenously. I hung out with him for a bit after and he seemed pretty normal, still a bit less active but I also attribute that to his feast, and the fact that we wasn't a fan of the cream rubbed all over him.

Everything I've seen online seems to point to this being a long, protracted battle that doesn't have very good chances of a positive outcome. At the same time, I know the dangers of researching illnesses online and generally seeing only the most negative results due to, well, it being the internet and all. I'm gonna go ahead and do the betadine baths and lamisil cream treatment every day, but will this help clear it up/cure it, or will this be something that just becomes Terry's every day life from now on? That would suck, given he's only about three months old and (hopefully) still has plenty of years to go.

 

[BlueDragon09]

Hey Josh,

It's a very long battle! Once it clears up you do have to check over him everyday. It has the tendancy to come back. I, myself, lost to Yellow and Black fungus together. I never heard of Black but my vet said my dragon had it alongside Yellow. Dont worry you do not have Black.
As for why he has it, some dragons just have it in their systems. The only way to know for sure is the vet can do a skin culture.

 

[AHBD]

I think it's a good idea to start the antifungal cream now. It does look suspicious enough to warrant it. And yes, young dragons do get it....sometimes from a parent dragon, sometimes from a tank at a store that has already had Y.F. in their beardies. I know it's a very hard thing to think about. A culture from an experienced, trusted reptile vet can determine if it's Y.F. , as Bluedragon mentioned. You may be best off not bathing at all, since that can spread it.... just offer water via syringe directly on his snout. I'm not sure either way if the betadine baths will help but if you DO continue baths be sure he's dried completely before putting on the A.F. cream....I've read both Betadine or Nolvasan can be used. Either one can be used in a ratio of 1 part to 10 parts water, but be sure Terry doesn't drink it. If he does have Y.F the best oral meds. out there are voriconazole [ itraconazole ] There may be newer ones but these are the most widely prescribed. Some vets that aren't familiar with Y.F may prescribe antibiotics, but those do not work. He would need oral antifungal meds. I truly hope the best for Terry....hang in there !

 

[proto]

Hey all, so a minor update here--after using the cream for a few days he's begun to shed again and it seems as thought the skin under the shed is cleared up. I'll give it another day or two to let him shed more completely (and to let him chill out as he's been moody the past few days) and I'll continue to monitor him, then post pics for another update.

 

[JForce]

Good to hear!