Rescued baby, please help!

[lecko167]

I recently rescued a baby bearded dragon that has had his foot and tail bitten off by the other babies. I took him home and set him up in a 10 gallon I had with a tube UVB and a basking light. I know the temps are hard to maintain in a 10, but for right now this is all I can do. He can't walk well with his nub, so I've started hand feeding him. He has scabs all over him, so I've been soaking him in warm water and spraying shed ease on his skin. I contacted a vet for antibiotics, but they wanted me to sign him over indefinitely and they don't have a good reputation for caring for their animals. I had a Bearded dragon before, and he did fantastic, but I just can't figure this little guy out. He has what I assume to be old shed falling off, but his skin bleeds so easily. I'm starting to think he has a severe skin disease. One side of his face is just so distorted and scabby. He's only about 7 or 8 inches tail included. Baby Beardeds are a dime a dozen around here, but this little man is special to me, and Im trying desperately to save him. His eye lid is soft and has strings of dried skin coming off. I tried to help him get it off but it made him bleed, so I've decided to leave his skin alone for now, and just soak him a lot.

I plan to order some reptiworms for the extra calcium and nutrition, but for now all I have is crickets. I want little nubs to live.

Does anyone have any advice or anything? The skin issue is a little puzzling.

Here is frontal view-

image by Hallie06, on Flickr

And I only have a cell pic of the bad side of his face for right now-

image by Hallie06, on Flickr

I'm still trying to contact a vet for antibiotics, but I won't be able to get in until Monday at the earliest.

Any suggestions?

 

[Tonja]

Looks like a lot of old retained shed to me. I would soak him in a warm bath and gently take a baby soft toothbrush and try to get some of it off him. You can use a bit of pure cocoa butter on his skin and I have even used mineral oil on a w-tip with mine to moisten it to help it come off. Witch hazel is also good. You can also get some betadine at the drug store and make a weak tea like solution with water to soak him in. Just don't let him drink the water. If you think its fungal, then start with Lamisil or monistat creams and put that on there along with betadine baths. You an also message Drache613 as she is very knowledgeable about dragons and health issues.

 

[lecko167]

Thanks for the fast reply.

I have tried the sauna technique I do with my Leos and my snakes, and the skin got mushy and was obviously coming off, I tried to gently help remove the skin but it was so thin and flaky I was worried it was his live viable skin. He started bleeding and that freaked me out too much. His face skin is extremely soft and weak, but it bleeds and looks worse if I touch it at all. I tried a wet wash cloth, and that seem to hurt him too. It's like the old skin is attached to the live skin or something, even if I soak him. He's started to show little to no interest in eating.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....don't pull on any skin, or even rub it. That can cause more damage. There might be yellow fungus starting, so don't soak him too much , it can spread, plus the wounds need to dry out a bit. One of the best things you can put on wounds is unpasteurized honey, like from a health food store. Just dilute it with a tiny bit of warm water and apply with a Q-tip 2-3X daily. Just be sure not to leave any crickets in the tank that would attack him then. Antibiotics may not help at all, his wounds can heal, but if it's yellow fungus it may not. I really hope your little guy doesn't have it. Good for you for taking him in, poor thing.

 

[lecko167]

Thank you, I will just drizzle the water on his nose for him to drink and stop the soaks. I have stopped messing with his skin after the one incident. Since he stopped chasing crickets I have to force feed him, and his skin is so sensitive even that made him bleed a little.

I am so discouraged. The more I read about yellow fungus the more I'm losing hope that I'll be able to help him.

 

[AHBD]

Don't give up, it may not be Y.F., the scarring on his face MAY be from bites as well. If so, those can all heal. Beardies heal very well, he needs to be as stress free as possible, and hand feeding him for a while is fine. Just give him time and rest.

 

[lecko167]

Thank you. I'm going to go ahead and start with the monistat tonight. It definitely sounds like yellow fungus. I hope it isn't, but he has every symptom and few other things could make his skin the way it is.

I hope he pulls through.

 

[AHBD]

By the way, can you post a pic of a body shot from above ? If you don't want to disturb him, just from in his tank ?

 

[lecko167]

I'm at work so I can only post some cell phone pics, but I can post some from my camera tonight.
Here's one for now-

image by Hallie06, on Flickr


I guess the dark area on his pelvis is the beginning of yellow fungus?

 

[AHBD]

His body condition is not bad at all, I was thinking you meant he had scars+ cuts all over. He may be developing Y.F there but it' not developed enough to determine whether or not it is or if it's an uneven shed. To feed him, you can offer squash + chicken baby food via syringe with a bit of water + a TINY pinch of calcium powder. That along with smashed crickets hand fed may keep him fed.

 

[lecko167]

I'll post some better pictures tonight when I get home.

I was able to get him to eat 10 small crickets this morning. He doesn't want to chase the crickets but once I get his mouth open he will happily eat his crickets.

 

[AHBD]

That's GREAT that he's still eating. Having an appetite is always a good sign ! If you try the Monistat and don't get results, try the unpasteurized honey. It's being used for human medicine now with good results and there is an article about it stopping fungal growth on several types of fungus in humans, so it may be worth a shot.

 

[mortitia]

What a beautiful dragon

What is Yellow Fungus and how do they get it?

Marie x

 

[lecko167]

So, good news! I came home and his face looks SO much better. Much less puffy! Looking at his face now, it doesn't look like yellow fungus. hopefully it's not! I still applied some monistat just in case. He has some very pretty colors in there!



nubster by Hallie06, on Flickr


nubby by Hallie06, on Flickr

My little buddy might get better!

 

[AHBD]

Wow, he does look much better ! Hopefuly it's NOT Y.F. and he may be fine after all .