Hi all...
I recently was on craigslist and came upon a bearded dragon who was 2 years old and only 12 inches long... I asked the seller for more info, and discovered he was being "temporarily" housed in a ten gallon tank with no lighting or heat. I had the space and time so I decided to take him in and help the lil guy out. His underside was coated in his own poop when I picked him up, and the tank was recently emptied (likely to hide how dirty it probably was). When we got home I examined him a little closer. His jaw is a bit softer than my other bearded dragons' jaws but not as bad as some I've seen in the reptile world, and his arms and legs are sooo skinny. All of him is so skinny... He's 150 grams in total. I put him in a 40 gallon with a few hides/things to climb, a 36 inch uvb, and a basking bulb.
Literally 30 minutes after getting under the heat, he started to poop, right there on the basking spot. He looked like he was struggling to poop, was shaking and pushing, and then he did the strangest thing, lifted up both his back legs behind him as he pooped. This lasted for at LEAST 30 seconds. The product was the HUGEST pile I've ever seen from something so small, and it was soft and came with a pool of water.
Then, he pooped in his sleep last night... I did not see this take place.
THEN today I saw him trying to poop again. He didn't do the leg thing this time, but I was at a different/better angle, and I could now see that while he was straining, his insides were popping out of him... A decent blob of pink. Didn't look anything like a prolapse though... I am definitely no lizard anatomy expert, but it looked like intestines. This time, a laaarge pool of water and a bit of urate was the product, but no poop. A few minutes after he finished "pooping", his insides popped back in
WHAT ON EARTH is going on?? Straining, lifting up hind legs, insides coming out, large pools of water... Really wanna help this bug out, make his life as good as it can possibly be. Of course I'd rather avoid the vet, but I'm looking for genuine insight as to what is going on and why, and advice, and will take him to the vet if there's nothing I can do myself.
Thanks so much...
I recently was on craigslist and came upon a bearded dragon who was 2 years old and only 12 inches long... I asked the seller for more info, and discovered he was being "temporarily" housed in a ten gallon tank with no lighting or heat. I had the space and time so I decided to take him in and help the lil guy out. His underside was coated in his own poop when I picked him up, and the tank was recently emptied (likely to hide how dirty it probably was). When we got home I examined him a little closer. His jaw is a bit softer than my other bearded dragons' jaws but not as bad as some I've seen in the reptile world, and his arms and legs are sooo skinny. All of him is so skinny... He's 150 grams in total. I put him in a 40 gallon with a few hides/things to climb, a 36 inch uvb, and a basking bulb.
Literally 30 minutes after getting under the heat, he started to poop, right there on the basking spot. He looked like he was struggling to poop, was shaking and pushing, and then he did the strangest thing, lifted up both his back legs behind him as he pooped. This lasted for at LEAST 30 seconds. The product was the HUGEST pile I've ever seen from something so small, and it was soft and came with a pool of water.
Then, he pooped in his sleep last night... I did not see this take place.
THEN today I saw him trying to poop again. He didn't do the leg thing this time, but I was at a different/better angle, and I could now see that while he was straining, his insides were popping out of him... A decent blob of pink. Didn't look anything like a prolapse though... I am definitely no lizard anatomy expert, but it looked like intestines. This time, a laaarge pool of water and a bit of urate was the product, but no poop. A few minutes after he finished "pooping", his insides popped back in
WHAT ON EARTH is going on?? Straining, lifting up hind legs, insides coming out, large pools of water... Really wanna help this bug out, make his life as good as it can possibly be. Of course I'd rather avoid the vet, but I'm looking for genuine insight as to what is going on and why, and advice, and will take him to the vet if there's nothing I can do myself.
Thanks so much...