2 year old female seems to be growing a goiter?

[Ouroborus15]

I have a 2 year old that's coming out of her first brumation, basking temp is 98 F, I just replaced her UV 17 inch tube last week. Diet is whatever salad mix I can find without spinach or iceberg, once a week she gets 20 medium crickets. All meals get some amount of a multivitamin powder with Calcium and D3 as the first 2 ingredients. Enclosure is a 50 gal former fish tank with Exo Terra sand mats, one hot cave, and a cold cave.

Over the past 3 months the area under her beard on her neck has steadily gotten larger. It doesn't seem to bother her, not even touching it. To the touch it almost feels like loose skin, no lumps, no hard spots, it doesn't move when she swallows. She didn't lose any noticeable weight during brumation but I didn't think to put her on a scale for an exact measurement. Tale, behind her eyes and underarms don't have noticeable fat deposits.

I have a vet appointment with the closest thing my region has to a reptile vet next week, they have multiple good reviews online mentioning Beardies specifically.

 

[Skybug]

Idk what a goiter is, but im guessing some kind of abcess, tumor etc. id like to adress ur feeding first, she should be getting atleast 30 crickets a day :| and dont dust every meal, have a stool sample ready for your visit so they can check for parasites and calcium crystals, if there are crystals in the stool then you definitely need to cut back on dusting, ive seen another beardie on here with the exact same flabby neck as yours does, she could just be fat, can we see a pic of her standing of her belly, a pic of her hips, keep ur vet appointment and have them do all they can for the visit, dont let them do any enemas.

 

[Dexter_Dragon]

Hmmm . . . guess it does look a bit swelled. Had to look at it for a few and then go look at my guy's neck. lol There isn't stored food in there is there? I've heard they'll do this, but I don't know how long it stays. Hope she's ok.

 

[Ouroborus15]

Idk what a goiter is, but im guessing some kind of abcess, tumor etc. id like to adress ur feeding first, she should be getting atleast 30 crickets a day :| and dont dust every meal, have a stool sample ready for your visit so they can check for parasites and calcium crystals, if there are crystals in the stool then you definitely need to cut back on dusting, ive seen another beardie on here with the exact same flabby neck as yours does, she could just be fat, can we see a pic of her standing of her belly, a pic of her hips, keep ur vet appointment and have them do all they can for the visit, dont let them do any enemas.

A goiter is a swollen thyroid gland from not getting enough iodine, humans used to get them all the time until they made iodized table salt. The majority of people I've spoken with here and other reptile forums claim feedings should at most be every other day, I have salads for her every day but I don't think I've ever seen her eat from them 2 days in a row. 30 crickets on top of that seems like a good way to get an obese dragon.

 

[Ouroborus15]

I have a 2 year old that's coming out of her first brumation, basking temp is 98 F, I just replaced her UV 17 inch tube last week. Diet is whatever salad mix I can find without spinach or iceberg, once a week she gets 20 medium crickets. All meals get some amount of a multivitamin powder with Calcium and D3 as the first 2 ingredients. Enclosure is a 50 gal former fish tank with Exo Terra sand mats, one hot cave, and a cold cave.

Over the past 3 months the area under her beard on her neck has steadily gotten larger. It doesn't seem to bother her, not even touching it. To the touch it almost feels like loose skin, no lumps, no hard spots, it doesn't move when she swallows. She didn't lose any noticeable weight during brumation but I didn't think to put her on a scale for an exact measurement. Tale, behind her eyes and underarms don't have noticeable fat deposits. View attachment 26224
I have a vet appointment with the closest thing my region has to a reptile vet next week, they have multiple good reviews online mentioning Beardies specifically.

Update: I did some research and decided I'll try switching her to just salads made mostly of Romain with some broccoli, because it turns out Beardies actually can and do get goiters if fed too much fruit and I might have left out using apple and mango as treats. Romain and Broccoli are apparently the 2 best non-drug goiter treatments according to a different thread on this forum.

 

[Dexter_Dragon]

Update: I did some research and decided I'll try switching her to just salads made mostly of Romain with some broccoli, because it turns out Beardies actually can and do get goiters if fed too much fruit and I might have left out using apple and mango as treats. Romain and Broccoli are apparently the 2 best non-drug goiter treatments according to a different thread on this forum.

Hmmm . . . interesting and good to know. Keep us updated and let us know if it works. Crossing fingers the new diet helps!

Sadly my guy doesn't like fruit so I can't give him any as treats, though I still try. Only fruit he'll eat is kiwi and that's sparingly. Half the time he'll turn his nose up at even the kiwi. [Shakes head dismally]

 

[Skybug]

A goiter is a swollen thyroid gland from not getting enough iodine, humans used to get them all the time until they made iodized table salt. The majority of people I've spoken with here and other reptile forums claim feedings should at most be every other day, I have salads for her every day but I don't think I've ever seen her eat from them 2 days in a row. 30 crickets on top of that seems like a good way to get an obese dragon.

Thanks for the information , my sister has bad thyroids i honestly have never heard of a goiter , health conditions in beardies is something I definitely need to do more research on (ive relied on my beardies good health and living in FL (lots of exotic vets) as a fall back which isnt smart). crickets arnt that fatty actually it differs between Species of course, but they generally have 8-15% fat content, they’re mainly protein 45-60% , I apologize if I offended you for calling your beardie fat I genuinely have seen another beardie on here that had the same looking neck as yours did and his dragon was a lil big , i have read that broccoli can be a calcium binder (idk if its 100% true (its rough finding accurate knowledge in the herp community) and lucky you that your beardie eats fruit, mine ate a blueberry once.....