Strange infection, swelling foot.

[lizarddude]

Hi, I have a 2.5 year old BD that has had a rough few years despite our best efforts.

A briefed history:

• Got her at 5 months old in Jan 2023. She laid approx 30 infertile eggs starting at 8 months old (was housed with her brother at pet store thinking she was male.) She ended up doing well and was full of beans by Spring 2024.
• She didn't stop egg production though, and last year, she laid OVER 100 eggs, (It was around 105-110), we stopped counting at 98. She was hyper-active during that time, laying eggs everywhere but the hides we tried providing her. (She really seemed to like to lay eggs wherever 'mommy' was or under her PC desk).
• All that egg production really stressed her body tho, and she developed a pin-worm infection near the end of her laying. Becoming more lethargic and having diarrhea and stinky poo. (Also her right eye got messed up during egg laying, likley caused by a Vit A deficincy or laying stress.)
• We treated her last September for those worms (with Pyrantel) and she bounced back, but something else began showing (even the vet noticed). Small bumps/swelling had developed (these were slowly cropping up during the pinworm infec too, just pinworms were prioritized by vet), her nose, tail, and foot/leg all had thicker seeming scales, or pinhead sized nodules/bumps.
• Her nose shed off over December with 2-3 layers of scale peeling off. The nose has de-swelled.
• Her tail near the very end has a pin-head size nodule, we thought that also may have been stuck shed, but recent vet visit showed it wasn't.
• Her leg has a capsule on the knee very similar to her nose bump that eventually shed, it's not causing issue as she moves it often.
• ITS HER FOOT, the foot began swelling last week, so we booked her an apt at our local reptile vet (Dr.Gilbert), and brought her in on Tuesday.

Her back right foot started to swell up and she stopped eating her greens (Only wants bugs and fruit). She's been black-bearding a lot more, and staying under her light, not wanting to come out. The vet gave her X-rays, and took a blood test. At first he said hr X-rays didn't show much, just swelling, and it could be gout. But I noticd her foot bone looked different. He then re-evaluated and said, yes, her bone looks like its "disintegrating", which isn't good, but that gout(which is worse) doesn't do that. (He is apparently an exprt on crocodile and iguanidae gout and wrote a paper on it.) He said if her uric acid levels are ok, then it could be a bad infection or a tumor. He also checked the bump on her tail, and rubbed the scale the opposite way with his finger too "see if it was stuck shed", and the scale came off! She didn't like that but thankfully it didn't bleed just exposed a red lump (pictured).

After his assesment he prescribed oral liqui Enrofloxacin for 14 days, Taro Mupirocin cream (for her tail), and Meloxicam every 48hrs for the pain. We got the x-rays and blood tests e-mailed to us today. I feel even more lost now tho, because we have no solid answers. Just told to keep giving her the anti-biotics and pain meds he prescribed, and if she doesn't improve that we'll need to give her injections every 3 days, 10x... I'm worried as shes lost 40grams since mid-Dec, and is at 400g even now. IDK if this is a combo of brumation, infection, and maybe a brokn bone, or if she has cancer AND an infection of her foot bone. Either way I don't feel good about her diagnosis and am wondering if someone knows or can point out anything my vet may have overlooked.

I saw someone in the forums with a very similar issue posted today too, maybe theres a common factor or somthing?
Any experienced advice or second opinions from a hrp expert would be greatly appeciated.
Attaching the X-Ray, the test results and 2 pics of our sweet lil-girl.

Thanks,
Lizarddude Chris.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

She looks good there & seems alert.
It is very possible it was the lighting, so hopefully you will start to see some improvement soon. It
sometimes takes awhile for them to show signs of issues or other problems. The T8 bulbs are good
but not near as strong or effective as the improved T5 bulbs.
Bless her. I hope she is feeling better soon.

Tracie

 

[lizarddude]

Update:
Since upgrading to a T5 UVB bulb Pyro has started to regain some of her appetite and become more clingy to her tank and the basking area. It's clear her old T8 10.0 was the culprit, not due to our miss-use or its design, but because we were sold used/faulty lights. The lights were purchased on Amazon from a 3rd party seller (not Zoo-Med), and after getting a friend to test them, they were giving off little to no UV. I had been looking/requesting at local stores for T8 10.0 bulbs for weeks before I resorted to an amazon purchase. So I guess there is 2 morals here, but the main one being. Upgrade to T5 fixtures if you begin to have trouble finding T8 bulbs around. T5s are looking to be the standard anyway since most companies discontinued their T8 fixtures.
The second is look out for shady warehouse salesmen trying to hock their T8 stuff off on you, knowing/or unknowing of used and expired UVB bulbs.

I still booked a re-check witht the vet for next Tuesday, and we shall see if her bones are recovering, and what they say about the abcess(?) on her tail. Thank you all for the help and support so far, I would have never guessed it to be early MBD signs if not given the in-depth assesments.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Oh that is definitely disappointing for sure. Unfortunately, that does happen. The tube bulb was probably
very old since it wasn't giving much if any UVB off. I would say it is most likely calcium issues due to not
having any UVB exposure.
The T5 tubes are definitely much better bulbs, plus, they last longer too! Sorry this happened, but I hope
you are able to get her back on track. Are you using liquid calcium for her to help get her levels up?
How is the abscess looking, any progress so far?

Tracie

 

[lizarddude]

We are using powdered calcium, we are powdering her greens lightly with a pure C powder, and powder her bugs with C + D3, which she got 2 days ago. I will look into liquid calcium supplements and ask my vet if it's appropriate.

Currently the abscess is looking like it's healing since it popped about 4 days ago. Attached is a picture of it as of this post. She is favoring her tail a bit so we (partner and I) just make sure its not rubbing on things, and there is cream on it throughout the day.
Her foot swelling has already started to go down and shes not flinching when I touch it, so that looks good.

Currently she is very tired and low appetite, and has been since yesterday, probably because of the anti-bios and the huge snow storm we just got (I notice BD's are very weather sensitive, especially with precipitation). She is alert and moving around in her tank, changing napping positions every few hours, so I'm not worried.

Thanks, LD-Chris

 

[Claudiusx]

Good news that you are seeing some improvements. The tail is definitely starting to look better.

-Brandon

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

That sounds great, she should be starting to feel better! Her tail is healing up. Keeping cream on it daily
will help to keep infection away. Keep us updated on her.
At least the foot swelling is starting to go down some, so that's helpful for her. I am hoping for a full
recovery for her!

Tracie

 

[lizarddude]

Likely the last update to this thread, unless any further health issues arise from her current infection or blood results.

I brought her to the vet for her 2 week check-up, and he was happy with her progress. Her tail is healing slowly, but the foot swelling has gone down. She gained 40grams since she started eating like a lil monster again (4 days ago). We just need to keep putting that anti-bio cream on her tail so it doesn't get dried out and/or dirty.
Thank you all for the extra advice and insights into the blood tests and potentials.

LD-Chris

 

[Claudiusx]

Well that's good news! Hope you do come back with occasional updates though. It helps people in the future if they have a similar issue to be able to look at a thread and follow along and see if the issue resolved completely.

Wishing you and your little egg factory the best!

-Brandon

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

That is really great news! I'm happy to hear the foot swelling is coming down pretty quickly.
Definitely keep us updated on your girl. We all like to keep up with your girl's progress!

Tracie