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Coping With Yellow Fungus Discovery

Valerie Vitticeps

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
16
Location
Texas, Yee haw
How do I put this in words? Don't read this if you are limited on time.

I am totally in love with this girl. Her name is Fiona & Life was great until yesterday. Ive made an appointment with a reptile vet for Monday.

I saw the yellow areas on her belly a few months after rescuing her from a pretty bad situation. I started off by giving Fiona the best life possible. We even made two different enclosures. Lots of room and rocks to climb. Warm side, cool side. Looooooong UVB light. Collards, mustard & turnip greens with horn worms, wax worms & crickets. She seemed happy & energetic. Her vet check in November was great. No problems. He told me that if she starts eating less & going to a dark corner, then she's brumating. Well, that started in late December. She seemed to go in & out of it up until now. I left her alone but bathed her when she seemed more alert. I put out a few greens occasionally. If she ate a few bites, she would poop it out a few days later. No worries. During the day, I would put her in the big enclosure with a blanket on top & 3 out of 4 sides if it was cold in the house. The floor has ceramic tile & a climbing branch as well as the tree log "hide" which came with her from the last place. I rinse them off occasionally & wipe down everything with vinegar weekly. Her poop is removed as soon as I see it. She has fluffy blanket too with silk plants hanging over. One mistake I made was that I was always "redecorating" her place. Even her nighttime place would get new things. I would move rocks to give her more UVA depending on the weather . The ceramic heat bulb for night & the long florescent UVB bulb in both units have been the only constants. So, for that I am blaming myself. Did I cause stress? It says that this disease can be brought on by stress. I hope I didn't cause this.

Now, I don't remember when I saw the yellow areas the first time. It was a gradual thing. Kind of looked like an area that needed to shed but didn't when she went through it in November. THERE WAS NOT ONE PERSON ANYWHERE WARNING ANYBODY TO BEWARE OF YELLOW AREAS! Not even the vet. I've read many forums on here and on the other sites & nothing showed up warning anybody about yellow fungus. See, the deal is this....By the time you see yellow, your baby is screwed. Seems harsh but all the literature, that was VERY hard to find, seems to imply that the damage has already been done internally by the time you see yellow! So yea, I'm a little upset as you can tell. I need somebody to actually talk to. Somebody to tell me it's going to be ok. My husband has shown his true colors and seems to be indifferent on the fact that she may be the in pain & May only have 10-12 months of quality life left. I just need a hug & support because I didn't know it was going to be this heartbreaking. I've even kicked him out of our bedroom & Im going to sleep with Fiona! (Well not actually but close by)

Addendum - temper tantrum is over but I just can't find anybody on you tube that had anything positive to say about this disease. They've all passed on it seems. Isn't there any way that this could be treated and it go away? I will not let her suffer only so that I can be happy. If she is miserable, then I'll say goodby. That hurts so bad. If there is a good prognosis from the vet & he prescribed oral meds, how do I get her to take them? I can't see her taking too kindly to me prying her mouth open. I'm 53 & usually a lot tougher than this. Picked up some bought Chlorhexidine 4% because they didn't have the 2%, Lamisil, mineral oil, coconut oil & probiotics ordered .

Forgot to mention that she seems to be out of brumation but still no real appetite or energy. She hasn't hasn't run across the room in months. Even when we had a warm sunny day last weekend, she seemed to enjoy basking in it on my lap but the old Fiona would have taken off running through the fields. :(
 

mamaof2dragons

Juvenile Dragon
Messages
207
I am so sorry your having such difficulties with your fiona, you might try some bee pollen to help with appetite and energy you just sprinkle a little on her greens or dissolve it in some water and syringe feed it to her. I dont have any experience with yellow fungus but what I have read up on it it's not good.
I have recently experienced the loss of my rescued dragon, spike who passed suddenly in the hours between 11/1 &11/2 we had taken him to the vet and even she did see him as critical but he had a respiratory infection and didn't respond to the antibiotics this time. his previous owner didn't take proper care of him and so we had our health battles like gout and RI but I was devoted to giving him the best life and spoiled him. he would get so excited when I came home from work and wanted to snuggle with me. keep researching the treatments for yellow fungus and look into holistic care as well. if nothing else you can make her as comfortable as possible.

my prayers are with you. keep us updated on how she is doing.

and I'm sending you a big hug for your comfort as well.
blessings
susie
 

mamaof2dragons

Juvenile Dragon
Messages
207
check out this web site they have some very good articles on reptiles written by vets.
www.vin.com
they have a whole section on retiles and bearded dragons in particular.

let's know how your doing.
 

Momissa

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
1
How is Fiona doing?
Our dragon Master Shifu also has been dealing with Yellow Fungus. I think it’s time for me to bring him back to the vet and possibly say goodbye.
He has done so well up until recently and now has a sore on his shoulder.
 

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