sore on bearded dragon

Question
QUESTION: we have a 2yr old male dragon he has a sore thats hard about 5 to 10 mm with what looks like a blood spot in the middle about 3to 4 mm its yellowish in color on the bottom slighty to the side of the upper part of his tail, it showed up today there was nothing there yesterday and as we cuddle him daily i would have noticed. he gets worms and crickets, fruit and vegies daily he will not eat his greens much he holds out for the bugs otherwise a very happy little man, any ideas would help before i take him to his vet. thanks heather

ANSWER: Hi Heather,

The yellow colouration is actually the most concerning aspect of your description. I am linking two sites that discuss "yellow fungus" disease in bearded dragons. It is a fungal infection of beardeds that often first appears as yellow areas on the skin. The yellow colour alone is not diagnostic and your vet would likely perform a skin scraping of the area to rule this out. However, it is something you should be aware of and something to make sure your vet is also aware of if he/she is not familiar with the condition.

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/yellowfungus.html

http://www.wildlifehealth.org.au/AWHN_Admin/ManageWebsite%5CFactSheets%5CUploade(CANV)%2018%20Aug%202009%20(1.0).pdf

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QUESTION: thea the yellow lump looks nothing like the web page u sent me its raised and hard round with a blood spot at the center heather

Answer
Hi Heather,

I would agree, most of the photos I could find depict it primarily as a flakiness of the the outer skin layer. Hopefully that is typical of how the fungus manifests but I thought you should have the info so that it could absolutely be ruled out as a possibility. A vet that was unaware of the possibililty of this type of infection in beardeds could very well prescribe antibiotics that would allow the fungus to advance unchecked, with potentially fatal results.

Reptile pus forms as a semi-solid, rather then as a liquid as it does in mammals and birds, so abscesses form as hard lumps resembling cysts or even tumours. Of course, like any animal, beardeds can also develop cysts and tumours! Your vet should be able to help you determine the source of that lump. Good luck with your appointment.