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Bearded Dragon has swelling in joint

C

cavu

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My female Bearded Dragon has some swelling in the joint of one of her front legs.  Is this commona dn what can I do?
 
Mike,

Is she favoring the leg? What are you feeding her? Are you giving her any vitamin supplements or using special lighting?  How long has it been like this?

Corey Greene
 
Yes, she favors the leg.  I have only had her about a month.  The pair is an adult male & female that was brought to a pet store by an individual who did not want them anymore.  I have been feeding crickets (with powder suppliment), meal worms mixed vegies, greens, and ocassional pinkies.  both animals eat like hogs.  Lighting consists of under tank (30 gal) heat pad, full time red basking lite and natural lite (no direct sun, but in window). Temp stays at about 90 degrees on hot end o tank (under basking lite).
 
~If she had the edema in that joint when you got her, perhaps it is from and old injury.  Is there any sign of an open area or break in the skin?  The possibility of an infection after a bite or wound is possible.  If not, it is very possible that it could have been injured in a tussle with the other dragon or even, a fall.  

~Does she have movement in her toes and foot?  Has the swelling worsened or improved at all since you noticed it? The injury may not necessarily, be a break.  Even lizards get sprains.

~Either way, soaking it in a warm bath would do no harm.  for an open area, I would follow with a little antibiotic ointment, but keep her on paper towels rather than substrate.

Let us know what happens,
Good Luck
 
Natural light through a window will not provide uv. Uv is filtered by glass, so you really need to get a good UV light like a reptisun 5.0 or an Actuve UV heat. To be on the safe side, get her to a vet. She could have an injury, calcium definciency, etc, but without a vet visit there is no way to tell for sure.
 
I aquired this adult pair from a pet shop where I sell a few reptiles and enclosures.  It seems that the pair was sold to the shop because the owner did not want them any longer.  The female had the swelling in the joint when I bought her, but i seemed to have diminished somewhat from the first time I saw her.  The swelling does increase and decrease from time to time.  When the swelling is at it's worst, she does have a little trouble with locomotion.  Both animals are absolutly as sweet as they can be and both have great appitites.  They are housed in a 30 gallon enclosure with a heat pad 1/3 up from one end, a basking lite and a UV lite.  I feed them vegies, crickets dusted with a suppliment, meal worms and an occasional pinky.
 
oh man that's a bummer.   I had a Beardi who had a swollen foot.   It really upset me.   It turned out it was a piece of log like a splinter!!     I hope it's ok  (your dragon)     <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':('>
 
Okay - my two cents, not that I'm a vet or anything even close, but I've seen a lot of dragons.  <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'>    
A pic would help, but you say it's in the joint - is it just in the joint? If this is the case, it could be a buildup of crystalized urates, (there's a name for it - and I can't remember, sorry...) Sounds pretty weird, I know - but this condition seems to be indicative of underlying kidney problems. As far as I know, there really isn't that much you can do about the joint swelling, other than making sure the she's very well hydrated. If the dragon is healthy overall, eventually the swelling will go down but it takes time, a couple months.
She should be able to regain use of her arm, in time.
Good Luck,
Liz
 
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