help - impacted beardie

[dailyskin]

my 5 month old beardie is impacted - no poop for 2 days, looks fat, and I just felt her belly; there are a few hard lumps, like little dried peas, down one side of her belly : (

I just gave her a warm bath, and have been massaging her belly gently. I am cooking her some stewed apple right now...

I can get her to the vet (brendan carmel) tomorrow evening if needed. What else can I do??

 

[Crocboy]

Dont panic. They dont have to 'poop' everyday. Just make sure that it has a decent hot spot to lie on and give it time. It will depend on its intake. A healthy young beardy will have a fat belly.
Just remember if you just ate a roast for tea, had a full belly then someone picked you up rubbed your stomach then threw you into a warm bath, how would you feel?

Just keep an eye on it, she'll be right.

 

[notechistiger]

What substrate are you using?

 

[Lollypop]

Check out www.reptilerooms.com, go caresheets, bearded dragons, impaction. Might give you some tips & ease your mind.

 

[Ishah]

Good luck with it! If it is impaction, you definately have your work cut out for you...But hopefully its not, for your sake and the dragons sake. Warm "baths" is a good start, make sure its getting enough heat, vet is a good option though... I'd be trying foods that have some sort of laxative effect or something... Never know, might help. I didnt have much luck with one that I feel had impaction when I first started out... But then again, I've heard not many people do... Be careful with the massaging, it may actually rupture other organs and cause more harm than good...

 

[Kirby]

apple sauce from the supermarket works like a charm..

no more large hard to digest insects untill you know she is passing her feeds well. im pretty sure you dont have particle substrate.( and if you do take it out...) so its most likely insects. were they too large? were they mealworms?

a decent hot spot, and cool side (40C - 20C) and lots of liquids and apple sauce.

a warm bath helps, but if they run around like crazy... its usually followed by a moment of stillness, and a huge load of ... poop.

 

[dailyskin]

hmm I have her on astroturf, she eats lots of veggies and small woodies BUT a couple of days ago I ran out and had to get baby crickets from pet shop... They had little hard pea-like pellets in with the crickets, and I am worried she accidentally atrocity a couple of them with a cricket... They are like little stones... Any chance she might pass them? Or is vet a must?

 

[Ishah]

You mean vermiculite? That comes in all the Pisces brand crickets and woodie tubs? That stuff is SO annoying! I hate it...

 

[dailyskin]

yes!!! That's the stuff... If she ate a few pieces of that, is there any chance she can pass them by herself? Or will I need the vet? Will the vet be able to help?

I've left her heat on overnight...

 

[Ishah]

Ummm I cant remember how big mine was at 5months old, but I never liked the idea of that stuff for that exact reason... I think maybe that might have been the cause of one of mine's death... but it was a lot younger than that... I definately think its a possible cause of impaction, thats for sure... Hence I tip all the vermiculite out of the containers as soon as I get them home these days, stuff the crickets! lol they can live with out...

Maybe ask Batman the lizard/dragon master... Or wait for him to reply...

 

[dailyskin]

We are booked in to the vet tonight... No sign of progress, no poop. Does anyone know what the vet can actually DO??

 

[kupper]

i think a bit of apple sauce and some warm baths and massage its stomach

 

[dailyskin]

Woohoo!!!

Ok after olive oil (a few drops) and LOTS of apple puree, we just had results!!!

The biggest poop I have EVER seen!!! Like her whole bowel in one go! And she has DEFLATED, she is half the width she was last night!

Here are photos for the intersted and non-squeamish lol!

BUT - I can still feel the lumps in her belly... So maybe I should still take her to the vet?

 

[beefa270]

That is a massive ppop ! Yay ! But at least your girl is healthy now

 

[coz666]

We are booked in to the vet tonight... No sign of progress, no poop. Does anyone know what the vet can actually DO??

The vet will be able to access the dragon make sure it isnt dehydrated. give it a saline injection and hopefully tell you what is best for constipation.

kirbys answer is the best. good ole apple sauce. oil is good. not sre how it leaves the body though (other than the obvious)

 

[dailyskin]

Yep Well, as with all mistakes I make in life, I hope other people can learn - maybe another person with an impacted beardie baby in the future:

- Be SUPER careful with vermiculite. Make sure no crickets are 'hanging on' to pieces when you pick them out!

- If impacted, a warm bath, high temps, keep heat on overnight so as not to interrupt digestion.

- Lots of stewed apple / apple sauce... A couple of drops of olive oil (the vet recommended 3 drops for Atticus, and she is 5 months old / 23cm long)

And I am taking her to the vet tomorrow morning at 9am

 

[kupper]

awesome stuff , i have been battling with seperating the vermiculite form teh wood roaches from pisces the small ones (as herpshop is out and i am waiting for my colony to come back up to scratch )

bets way is put a hole in the top of the box and let them amke there own way out

or seperate the crickets as soonas you get them and have them in a holding tub

 

[dailyskin]

We are trying to breed roaches now so hopefully won't have that problem... We bought about 300 adult speckled roaches, hopefully they breed!

 

[ravan]

We are trying to breed roaches now so hopefully won't have that problem... We bought about 300 adult speckled roaches, hopefully they breed!

lol they should...
we bought 100 adults, and when we got them home they had already started breeding in the egg carton that was in the bag.