impaction?

hi guys im new to this site, ive had my bearded dragon gizmo now for over 3yrs and she is fine, realy big and healthy.

ive just started looking after 5x 3 week old baby bragons, i love them to bits and a few of them have give me scares, one looked so weak when i got him that i thought he wasnt gonna make it through the night but with some water n some love he pulled through, the other one had a closed up hand and was walking around on a fist but i dont think they where getting enough UV so i made sure they where under heat and UV and then gave them all 2 hours a night under just UV and his hand is 100% better now i dont know if it would of healed on its own or if its because of what i did.

anyway the reason im posting this is ive got a baby that i think has belly impaction im so worried about him and i think its all my fault, ive heard this can happen to babies but i thought seens as there nearly 4 weeks old now id put them in a nice tank with a heat stone n basking area but it also had this sand stuff made out of ground up wall nut shells, it is very fine so i thought they would be ok with it.

i think that when they go to catch a cricket they get a mouth full of this sand stuff and have to swallow it cause there little mouths are sticky

anyway im realy worried about the little guy, he is still breathing steady and ive been putting him in warm water for 30 mins every 30 mins cause ive heard that warm water can help them pass and that he might try to drink some while he is in there, im worried out of my head and aint stopped looking in on him and he doesnt seem to be drinking any of it, he keeps raising his head right up and opening his mouth and them lays back down again, ive heard this is fatal and im so mad at myself for letting this happen to a little life, hes such a good dragon to, very alert and curiouse and a very good eater and now in what seemed like an instant he is half the man he was!!! he looks all skinny and his eyes look like they have no fight in them.

i know that there is a better chance of him dying than living but was just wondering if anyone out there knows of anything i can to to increase his chances, if he dies im gonna feel so bad for letting this happen.

anyway thanks for reading and hope to hear from someone soon

chris

well im guessing no one replied to me becasue you all knew the odds of him living and they where slim little rickson has just past on at 03:36am, i waited up with him but there was nothing i could do, i feel like such an *****

i have moved the rest of the babies back into a smaller tank with toilet roll in there for there floor. does anyone know the best stuff to use for beardies?

Sorry to hear about your loss. I am worried about 1 of my babies at the moment too, its just not the same as the others.

Hope the others are all doing well.

Elly

Sorry to hear he didn't make it. To answer your question, there are a few different substrates you can use. Paper towel, repticarpet and rough tile are all good. A lot of people perfer tile, myself included.

I was wondering, are you keeping all of them in one enclosure? Young dragons have very big appitites and have been known to chew on other dragons when housed together.

I'm so sorry for the loss of your little one. Beardies that young are really tricky and can turn for the worse really quickly. I'm happy to hear you have moved the others to a viv that dosnt have the walnut stuff in it. His impaction might of been to bad to recover from.