Swollen front legs

[Laura Ramirez]

Help! New owner, we bought Brutus from Pet smart about 1 month and half ago. We have a 100 watt bulb. Reptisun 10 t5 tube on top no mesh. He was eating crickets really good and roaches for a bit. Gave him mustard greens and then endive lettuce for a while. Then I started giving him escarole last week. And everything seemed to change. He stopped eating crickets and did t really want anything for a week. Then he started eating some mustard greens again very little . We gave him a pinch of cantaloupe and he loved it. This pass week we noticed one front leg swollen. We thought he hurt it. But now I bought some wax worms and he ate about 10 in one feeding . We were happy he ate something. But now he woke up and his other front leg is swollen. Don’t know what else to do. I tried the black cherry but he wound drink it. Only water. Help!

 

[Laura Ramirez]

 

[Laura Ramirez]

I am not a vet --- I dont know if there is a vet moderator on this board as I just joined ---- there is one on board https://www.beardeddragon.org/-- please post pic of him and you should get a response from some others w/ experience --- I am guessing gout but I hope not so please go there or if you know of a vet moderator on this board contact them
kaylyn

Thanks!

 

[Laura Ramirez]

Thanks!

I really appreciate it. All new to this stuff and I tried to figure out how to post and get help. The reptile vet didn’t help and I really think at least this vet doesn’t know much about bearded dragons only reptiles in general. So these forums are so so helpful.

 

[mamaof2dragons]

from what I can see it looks like gout. my departed spike had it due to inadequate care from his previous owner, it was caused by to much calcium and not enough healthy greens. we treated with betadine soaks to his toes and a proper healthy diet and had to stop dusting with calcium for a while. that worked but he still had health issues from it.
a good reptile vet is definitely needed.

 

[Laura Ramirez]

from what I can see it looks like gout. my departed spike had it due to inadequate care from his previous owner, it was caused by to much calcium and not enough healthy greens. we treated with betadine soaks to his toes and a proper healthy diet and had to stop dusting with calcium for a while. that worked but he still had health issues from it.
a good reptile vet is definitely needed.

We were trying everything while waiting for a response from the vet and others on the forums. I gave him black cherry juice for a couple of days. I thought it worked and the swelling went down. The escarole lettuce is high in calcium and he was eating it like crazy. So I thought that is what it was gout. But the next day the swelling went back up and then in both hands. The vet said nothing was wrong. So then me and my daughter started thinking about the shedding and seeing just a few posts about it. So we bathed the dragon for 20 mins 2 times a day and sure enough one leg shedded and immediately the swelling went down. You could tell he could walk a little better. Now it took more bathes and a few more days for the other arm to shed. But right now he seems way better. And today is the first time in 3 weeks he ate roaches and turnips. So hopefully on the road to recovery. The vet we seen was suppose to be a rep vet. But poor thing she didn’t know much. The forums is what saved him. Thanks for the info.

 

[Laura Ramirez]

I would reach out to the vet moderator on www.beardeddragon.org--- she is very good and can tell you what is going on w/ your little guy-- her name is TracieDrache613--- AHBD can also help you as well -- is he showing signs of pain?
kaylyn

He wasn’t showing signs of pain. We could touch the leg and everything but he just wouldn’t walk on it. The vet gave us pain meds. Luckily we didn’t give it to him because it was just do to shedding. Thanks again