Bearded Dragon Yellow Fungus

by Reader Question Followed By Suggestion From Our Vet

Reader Question: I need to know if my bearded dragon has yellow fungus or not?

My bearded dragon had skin problems ever since he was a baby. I got him from a pet store and since he was the only lizard left, I select him despite the problem that he had a big chunk of dead skin on the side of his face.

I took him home and took good care of him giving him extra baths so that skin would shed off. It eventually did but left a scar on him.

He did not shed much when he was a baby. Now almost two years old he just recently started getting yellowish greyish patches on his back and yellow spots on his stomach.

It took him a while to shed the spots on his back, but he did after a few months of baths and scrubbing. Now it keeps coming back and gets even harder for him to shed.

He started getting a bump on the bottom part of his mouth during the last shed and it turned into a red scab and he recently rubbed it and it fell off leaving a big open sore. I put Neosporin on it at his bedtime and now it is healing up.

I took him to the vet and she said he had a skin infection and she gave me betadine to put in his bath water and Baytril to give to him with a syringe and said he had a little infection in his mouth.

So I did that and he was getting better with the shedding part so I decided not to call her about it. Then I kept noticing it again and again. He just will not stop. I am scared for him and wondering if it could be yellow fungus? My vet said it didn't look like yellow fungus, but the pics I see of the dragons do look a lot similar to him.

Suggestion From Our Vet Regarding Lizard Yellow Skin Fungus

Hello,

The best way to determine if your bearded dragon has yellow fungus is for your veterinarian to send a specialized blood test (PCR) to the lab or to perform a skin biopsy that is evaluated by a veterinary dermatologist.

It sounds as if you should schedule a recheck with your veterinarian or get a second opinion from a vet who specializes in reptile medicine.

If your bearded dragon has yellow fungus, I’m afraid that there doesn’t appear to be much that can be done to help him. But if that is not the case, I suspect that treating whatever is going on and addressing any underlying environmental conditions (e.g., inappropriate temperatures and/or humidity levels in his terrarium) that might be playing a role would get him on the road to recovery.

Best of luck,

Jennifer Coates, DVM

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