Swollen leg / joints

[Mellixa]

Hello,

My bearded dragons name is Falcore. He is 7 months old and has been healthy up until this point. I noticed he wasn't using his right leg as much about 2 days ago, but thought it was just him being a happy lazy bearde. But yesterday I made sure everything was okay and realized he actually was not using it. So I'm freaking out at this point thinking he is paralyzed or something, so I look up a million things online and think maybe he had too big of a meal and got paralyzed? But that's not possible so that couldn't be it.

So then I gave him and his tank mate (a rankins dragon, they get along great) and his leg acasually had swelling in it to where it was bigger than the other leg, especially at the ankle.

So I figured maybe gout? He really doesn't like drinking from his water bowl, but idk... that would mean kidney damage ?
So now I am pretty scared! Especially since today the swelling is still there, plus nowe his knee seems even more swollen and is now actually stiff. Yesterday I was at least able to manipulate the leg without issues and he didn't seem in pain. But now it is clear there might be pain and I can't have that. Vet appt isn't for a few days and I'm skeptical about non-exotic vets anyways so I'm freaking out.

He uses a Powersun, walnut sub that he doesn't eat ever, in a 40 gal, good temps, eats crickets, meals, supers, occasional wax worms, occasional greens, dusted everything, HATES DRINKING FROM BOWL! when I soaked him yesterday he took a big poop in the tub which he never did before like he was very dehydrated and also drank from the tub a good bit. Thank you guys so much, and Falcore says thank you in dragon language!

 

[roddy]

I think there are many others here that can advise you better, but just so you get an early responce...

You say that you dust everything, supliments should not be constantly given, not only can a dragon have too much and inbalance their system, powder will absorb alot of water in their bodies.

Is he pooing regularly? He may be dehydrated if he is pooing during bath time. You may want to try daily baths till you get him to a vet.

As for the swelling I have no idea, have never had a problem with swelling in any of my beardies, if he is dehydrated and has shed recently, it could posibly be due to an incomplete shed resulting in damage to his toes / foot. I hope this is not the case as it can lead to internal rot that in its worst case requires amputation.

I once rescued a beardie that had tail rot when I got it, poor thing ended up loosing half her tail.

As he is sharing his home, have a good look for any damage to the area, just cause they seem happy does not mean they have not had a little scrap. Anything such as a raised scale may be a sign of injury.