Beardie disaster

[putchi]

This morning I fed my dragons some cockroaches, (feeder roaches from the Herpshop), as I usually do feeding each cockroach individually with a pair of tweezers. My oldest beardie usually doesn't eat many but this morning it eagerly ate four. As well the cockroaches this morning were all large.

Everything was fine and I moved on to fed my water dragons. When I glanced back I saw that the beardie had regurgitated a blood splattered cockroach. The cockroach was still alive. In the next ten or fifteen minutes the other cockroaches were also regurgitated.

The beardie looks ok still but I wonder how it will go in the next few days. If it doesn't look too good I will have to think of some way to euthanase it.

Perhaps I should have known better than to feed large insects to this animal as, unlike the Water dragons, it seems to swallow them whole rather than mashing them up.

 

[JAS101]

This morning I fed my dragons some cockroaches, (feeder roaches from the Herpshop), as I usually do feeding each cockroach individually with a pair of tweezers. My oldest beardie usually doesn't eat many but this morning it eagerly ate four. As well the cockroaches this morning were all large.

Everything was fine and I moved on to fed my water dragons. When I glanced back I saw that the beardie had regurgitated a blood splattered cockroach. The cockroach was still alive. In the next ten or fifteen minutes the other cockroaches were also regurgitated.

The beardie looks ok still but I wonder how it will go in the next few days. If it doesn't look too good I will have to think of some way to euthanase it.

Perhaps I should have known better than to feed large insects to this animal as, unlike the Water dragons, it seems to swallow them whole rather than mashing them up.

This must be a windup , as i dont think anyone could be that silly to not know the answer - take the beardie to the VET . dont " doesn't look too good I will have to think of some way to euthanase it " take it to the VET .

 

[putchi]

Zoojas,

I don't live in Frankston. My local vet tells me that he, and ihis wife who is also a vet, knows nothing about reptiles. I am unable to take this animal 350 kms to Melbourne.

 

[camt44]

Are they full sized beardies? My male has no problem with full sized woodies, and they aren't too big for him, he chews them down in no time at all.
Cam

 

[putchi]

Zoojas,

Further to my previous post. My reason for putting up my original message was as warning to others to not do as I had done. I would also like to direct you to the sticky in the Herp Help thread of this forum that advises people that if they don't have anything constructive to add then they should remain silent.

 

[putchi]

The beardie in question is nine years old., and as of half an hour ago is doing fine.

 

[ravan]

Zoojas,

Further to my previous post. My reason for putting up my original message was as warning to others to not do as I had done. I would also like to direct you to the sticky in the Herp Help thread of this forum that advises people that if they don't have anything constructive to add then they should remain silent.

how is 'take it to the vet' not constructive?
seriously, planning to kill something that could quite possibly be fine in the long run, without any other PROFESSIONAL advice, is plain stupid imo.

and you havent given a very clear description. how old is the beardie? what size is it? how has it been acting lately? etc .

my beardie does that sometimes after eating (throws it back up) but she's fine. maybe it just got overexcited and ate too fast.

 

[Sel]

Umm what the hell?

You have a 9 year old beardie and you hand feed it 4 woodies?
Why do you hand feed him?

My 2.5 year old beardie will eat anywhere between 20-30 large woodies in one go..

and are you serious? If he gets sick you will just euth him ? Poor thing...

 

[Tsubakai]

Even my tiny stunted boy will scoff down more than a dozen woodies in one go so yours must be really slowing down with age. Two of mine did something similar about a year or two ago after gorging with no further consequences. Just keep an eye on it and I'm sure it will be fine.

 

[camt44]

Kind of what I was thInking as well. Mine would eat about 30 or 40 adult woodies in one sitting, more if he could. 4 woodies seems like no where near enough.

 

[nicman72]

The beardie in question is nine years old., and as of half an hour ago is doing fine.

putchi, assuming you're not winding us up, doesn't this last post of yours indicate that your original assumption that the beardy needed to be 'euthed' was a rather extreme response to something that might happen quite regularly in the wild?
I have seen ALL of my adults cop a live woodie run straight down their throats, which they then have to regurgitate, usually still alive. Never once did I consider 'euthing' them!
Also, unless you want to continue getting flamed here, I would suggest that you factor in vets, regardless of how far away they live. Part and parcel of keeping animals I'm afraid. Personally, I wouldn't even blink at a 350km drive if it meant the difference between life and death of one of my animals, and I'm sure I wouldn't be alone here on that sentiment.
I honestly hope that your beardy makes a full recovery and lives on to a ripe old age without any more problems.
Nic

 

[JAS101]

Zoojas,

I don't live in Frankston. My local vet tells me that he, and ihis wife who is also a vet, knows nothing about reptiles. I am unable to take this animal 350 kms to Melbourne.

maybe u should rethink about owning any reptiles , if u cant get them to a vet ?

 

[bowdnboy]

My male died last yr with a very similar issue.

It wont be the food items (well, I wouldn’t have thought so anyway). Mine quite viciously thrashed around and spewed some roaches up with a hell of a lot of blood. too much blood for a beardy to part with and survive. Splattered all over the enclosure. Followed by uncontrolled arching of the back and rolling on the ground. and more oozing of blood. Quite distressing to watch, as he was obviously in great pain. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, but probably only about 20min, to see if there were any signs of improvement, I made the decision to euthanase humanely.

He was around the 10yr mark. I think he had some kind of aneurisms or hemorrhage.

I’ve heard of others who have had similar. Not sure if this is just one of those ways beardies can go or not, By the sound of what you described - I'm not sure if yours is as bad as what I experienced, but if you can get to a vet, do it.

I hope it all works out 4 ya

 

[Walker]

Dude that happend to a mate of mines it had had a few more than that but its fine to this day im no expert but i think itl be alrite!!

 

[putchi]

I have no further comment other than to say that I am glad that there are people who are willing and able to make a 700 km round trip each time an animal falls ill, and that I am pleased that other people have animals who will eat more than mine.

 

[Noongato]

Animals arnt like a ipod, if they break you cant just throw them aside and buy a new one.. And all vets have bits of paper telling them what to do, they may not specialize in reptiles, but they have the knowledge on hand.

 

[nicman72]

Are you on pretty good terms with your local vet? Maybe they might be willing to do some extra research/training to become more familiar with reptilian issues... Just a thought.
I would've hated to be in your position at the time, with no apparent options on hand.
You'll find that a lot of responses here can be emotionally driven, so the mention of 'euthing' as an early response to an ailment will always ignite passionate retorts!
Anyway, glad to hear things are better for him.
Nic

 

[kirstys]

350 km to your vet, which way are u going warrandyte vet is only 55 km each way. If u care about your animal go to the vet

 

[JAS101]

Zoojas,

Further to my previous post. My reason for putting up my original message was as warning to others to not do as I had done. I would also like to direct you to the sticky in the Herp Help thread of this forum that advises people that if they don't have anything constructive to add then they should remain silent.

u know it may help if pepole knew what part of the state your in ... that way they might advise u of where the nearest reptile vet was . rather then trying to get personal/smart with " i dont live in frankston " how about u fill in your location .

 

[putchi]

I said that I would not comment further. However I will write this final post to perhaps clear up a few things.

Yesterday I when I fed my animals the event that has already been detailed occurred. I have kept reptiles on and off for just over forty years and this is the first time something like this has happened. This animal is old; I have had it since it hatched. I fed it by hand because I enjoy doing that, it also does not chase and catch its own food. I have been criticized for doing that.

I was concerned that the animal may have been in pain so I thought I may have to euthanise it. I live on a farm and unfortunately have had to euthanise animals before; it is not something I enjoy. The last animal I had to euthanise was a lamb that had most of its face bitten off by a fox. I make no apology for making sure that animal stopped suffering. In the last few years both of my parents have died of cancer. I think if someone had offered to euthanise either of them in the final two weeks of their life I would have taken up their offer. I have been criticized for thinking that I may have to deal with this animals pain.

I thought that I would put my experience on this forum in case others made the same mistake. I was under the misapprehension that I was contributing constructively to what I thought was a forum to discuss herpetology.

I was upset by this incident so when someone suggested that I was in fact winding them up I became more upset. I cannot understand how anybody could imagine that I would write such a post just to "wind people up". I find the insinuation extremely insulting.

The suggestion that I merely take the animal to a vet made me feel that my situation and my despair had been misunderstood. Unfortunately not everyone has easy access to a vet who knows reptiles. From my reading of journals it appears that these people reside in capital cities. My vet operates two days a week. He specializes in cattle and sheep, he has also tended the occassional camel. Since he is not even interested in dogs or cats I don't see much hope of him "boning up" on reptiles for me.

I have been criticized for having reptiles when there is not a specialist vet nearby. The hobby of keeping reptiles is growing rapidly and I know a number of people in this region who have got their first reptile. Should I be telling these people that they are doing the wrong thing? Should reptile keeping be confined to those who live in major population areas where it appears all the specialist vets live? Over the years I have sold a number of animals to people in country Australia. Was that wrong? Were the people from country places who sold me reptiles doing wrong? ( For those who are interested my nearest large town is Mt Gambier in South Australia.)

I think I have written too much. I wanted to get a few things "off my chest" which I have done. I have only recently joined this forum. I have enjoyed reading the posts but I will think more carefully in future before I contribute.