Hello.
I'm usually over in rabbits but thought I'd pay you lot a visit to see if you can help me. My beardie stumpy is about 4 years old,iv had him just over 2 years. He's always had a little flat lump,about the size of a 5p coin in his tummy that has never bothered him but over the last couple of months,it's been getting bigger and bigger. It's not growing into a round lump,it's like a big disc under his skin. It's really hard to take a photo of. He's not ill in any way at all,he eats fine,he has any green leafy veg and about 6 crickets a day (iv only been able to get him to eat crickets over the last year or so,he was scared of them and wouldn't touch them) he runs and jumps around,so it's not causing him any trouble. He has never been to the toilet regularly,he never used to go when I first got him,but now he goes every couple of weeks or so. The temperature is fine in his viv. He won't eat food with calcium powder on,so I mix some with water and he drinks it out of a syringe once a week. So I took him to the vets yesterday and they said they had never seen anything like it before. All the vets that worked there had a look and none of them knew what it was either. They stuck a needle in parts of it to see if they could get anything out of it which they couldn't,so they said it wasn't an abscess. It was horrible to watch. They have put him on baytril for 2 weeks and he's going back for a check up when he's finished that. They said they only way to find out for sure is to do surgery but I'm a bit reluctant to put him through it as he isn't acting ill. Have any of you got any idea what it might be and is it worth putting him through an operation when it's not affecting him at the moment?

No idea what it could be but I can understand how it would worry you, though. Still, as long as it doesn't worry him, then I'd say keep him well away from those probing vets!

I know this sounds silly, but with my beardie you can feel her insides and they do feel hard and flat. Little weird but maybe it is just that? Have you got a local reptile shop? Sometimes its worth going and asking the guys/gals in there for advice, they will have had alot more experience than some vets!

re: calcium powder, will he not eat crickets dusted? xx

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Thanks for the replies. Well,im not having a good time with him at all. This is what the lump looked like when i wrote this thread. It just looks dirty and doesnt look like what it felt like.(He's called Stumpy because of his stump where his toes should be on his foot!!)



Over the couple of weeks that he was on the baytrill,it turned into this. He was in pain with it and had just been laying there looking quite ill. He hadnt eaten for two weeks or been for a poo for about four weeks when i took him to the vets last thursday.



The vet said as he was in pain,my options were to put him to sleep there and then or let them operate to try and see what it is. He did a poo on the table while we there. I couldnt put him to sleep knowing that I hadnt tried to find out what it was,especially as i kept thinking that it could be something that might just be able to be removed. They operated on him,he came through the operation fine. They said that it was either a very bad infection or lots of little tumors surrounded by bad infection,either way,the lump is stuck to his intestine so they couldnt cut much of it away. As horrible as it might sound,i just didnt have the spare £200 to send the sample away to find out for definite what it was,but also they said that if it was a type of cancer,they can do chemotherapy,i do not want to put him though anything like that,it seems cruel. I was absolutely torn at what to do. I went to see him and he popped his head up at me as if to say dont give up yet,he'd made it through the op,so i asked if we could just treat it as an infection. The next strongest anti-biotics he could have were injection only,which again,i was not happy to do as it seems unfair on him but they only have to be given every third day,so they did one on thursday,i did one last night and iv go to do another wednesday and then we are back to the vets on thursday. They gave me some dog recovery food to give him as he has never been a good eater. He certainly wont eat crickets dusted with calcium!! I dont think he likes the calcium powder or crickets really! But he absolutely loves the recovery food,but no doubt that isnt good for him. I got him to eat two tiny pinkies the other night and a few wax worms but he wont eat any veg at all. He is now looking bloated where he's eaten so much but hasnt done a poo so im a bit reluctant to try and feed him anything else tonight as im worried he might pop!! He has moments where he gets up and runs around but he seems to just be laying there. Hes not eating by himself,he will only eat if i feed him. I just dont know what to do for the best. Am i being cruel keeping him going like this or shall i persevere with the anti-biotics and get more on thursday to see if they work?? He doesnt appear to be in pain but by leaving him like this,what am i doing to his quality of life? It would break my heart to let him go but id rather do whats best for him than me. This is what it looked like after the op.



Any idea's would be much appreciated. Iv never kept a beardie before getting Stumpy,so i dont know what to do. Xx

Poor little man! That certainly looks very sore. Nobody can tell you what to do, it is ultimately your decision. If he is refusing to eat it is very difficult to get the correct nutrients etc into him. Dog food is def not an ideal diet for him. I would also be careful with pinkies, they take quite alot of digesting and his tummy obviously isnt working properly.

How is he acting in himself now? x

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I think they gave me the dog food just to get some calories into him while he was recovering,i dont think he was supposed to like it!! The pinkies were super super tiny,like the size of the tip of your little finger,(my friend works in the pet shop,so she routed through the bag of them to find the tiny ones) i just tried them as a treat to see if he would eat them by himself,which he did. He was a bit more lively last night running round my room,tonight he's just laying there,he has moved about a little bit today. I just dont know whether to keep going in hope that it might all clear up. When he runs around my room,you wouldn't think there was anything wrong with him,which makes me think to keep going and when he lays there like he is now,i feel so cruel. Hes never eaten or pooed properly in the whole time iv had him,so i dont know whether this is the tip of the iceberg now that is telling me that he's never been right. Its such a tough decision. Xx

So sorry to read about all this traumatic business for you and your beardy both... Just wondering if you might try baby food -especially prune juice and puree to keep his bowels working more regularly; I thought mine didn't like veg much until I left some mixed lettuce (you know, those expensive bags of ready to eat) nearby and she wolfed through most of it. It turned out her big favourite is lamb's foot. I was glad to find something she wouldn't just leave! Maybe worth a try?
As for pooing, mine usually poos after a few minutes in the bath, just warm water in a large basin, daily in the Summer, weekly in the Winter; so really I decide when she should poo and put her in a bath with that intention. If she 'fails to deliver' I just gently massage her tummy until she releases all... I don't know how soon you can bathe yours after his operation, though, the stitches may not allow it.
Good luck to you and sending you lots of positive thoughts, you're going through a really tough phase, I do feel for you, having to make all those hard decisions.

I had Stumpy put to sleep last Monday. He just got too poorly. He'd had the operation,was then on anti-biotics by injection for 3 and a half weeks,they made no improvement what so ever,in fact the lump just got worse and he got iller. We had an appointment on Monday and i just knew that that was it. He had lost all the fat in his tail and on the top of his head,his chin had started to cave in where he had lost weight. He had just been laying there and didn't have the energy to get up and move over the last couple of days. It wasn't fair to put him through anymore and the vet said we had tried everything we could have and even she wasn't prepared to suggest anything else as she said he was slowly giving up and looked tired from fighting it. So they kept him in and put him to sleep and she has done a post mortem on him for her own research as no one in the vets had seen anything like it before,to see if he had any under lying issues that she would be able to spot on any beardies in the future. Il be speaking to her on Monday to see if she found anything. So its been a sad week,he has a nice spot in the garden. My room now feels empty and dark,its surprising how his viv just blended into my room!
R.I.P Stumpy. Hope you had a nice life with me,sleep tight. xxxxx

i`m so sorry zowie , i hope you find some answers , it`s always devestating when you loose a reptile as like any other pet they have their own personalities and little quirks. xxx

Thankyou. He'd never eaten or pooed properly in the whole time id had him so id like to know if he had something wrong with something in his tummy that started it all off. He certainly had his own personality and little ways about him. he was a lovely little thing. I was talking to a woman in the vets while we were waiting and she said that didn't know how people could get attached ' to something like that'!!!! How rude!! He wasn't cuddly but he was always there at the glass to say hello when i got in from work and i grew ever so attached to him. i think the vet was fed up of seeing me cry by the end of it!!! He'l be missed very much. xxx