Very small BMs, throwing up

Hi everyone,

My bearded dragon Marley has been having very small poops lately (about the size of a bid dropping). They have been odorless and she has been acting completely normal, up until yesterday . Yesterday she was out on the couch and she just threw up - like a watery mucousy kind of liquid. I cleaned it up and gave her a soak in some warm water , massaging her stomach to try to encourage a BM. I took her out after a bit (she's not fond of baths) and was holding her when she threw up again, this time it was the same mucousy stuff with a chunk of dead superworm and some shriveled greens. She was also doing this weird cough thing. We don't have any ER vets that deal with reptiles, so I had to wait until this morning to call her vet. I saved a BM in case they wanted to do a fecal test, I cleaned everything else in her tank with a vinegar water mixture, and I wrapped her in fuzzy heat pad (like the kind for humans) and snuggled with her on the couch for a bit while attempting to give her some pedialyte out of a dropper. She wasn't too into that, I'm not sure if she actually consumed any. She did fine overnight and she has been acting normal other than the coughing/vomiting. She hasn't vomited since yesterday afternoon, and she only threw up those two times. I spoke with the vet today and she suggested trying to give her some olive oil orally and she said I could try a mineral oil enema. She said some warm soaks and massage and keep her warm, and she said not to feed her for two days. I think she is thinking it is some kind of blockage? Does her advice sound correct? I'm just uneasy about it because I was like, all prepped to take Marley in to be seen and do a fecal test and all of that, so I'm worried that this isn't doing enough. She has a basking area as well as a reptisun 10.0 (new, just changed a few days ago) , her substrate is shelf liner, she eats greens and superworms and she had a scrambled egg on Saturday morning.

Hi. Did you think she might be gravid? I know when my female was ready to lay eggs she had very small urtrate droppings. What are your basking spot temps? How do you take the temps? Is the uvb a tube, coil or compact?

Thanks for your reply! I just did a quick google search of it and that might make sense!!! But she is 8 years old, so could it still happen?

I will put my temps up once I get home from work. UVB is a tube light.

Thanks!!!!!!!!

Mine was six years old when she laid her first eggs. I thought the same that she wouldn't lay because she would've already. Then one day bam!!! Eggs!!! Shocked !!!! Then I was like thats whyall those little white urtrates through out the day. Made sense after that

Awesome, thanks for the suggestions! Do you know how I should go about caring for her? I've poked around on google a bit but if you have any tips after experiencing it yourself that would be awesome

I agree she may be carrying eggs....that wouldn't cause her to vomit though. [ I've had many gravid beardies ] The only time a gravid beardie might vomit would be if they were egg bound [ unable to pass the eggs or eggs broke inside ] but she would be acting very ill if that was the case. Since she's not that ill, it may be that she was out of the tank too long and didn't have enough time in the heat to digest her food. I don't think she's constipated/impacted if she's eating what she usually eats, so no need for any type of enema or other measures to cause her to poo more. Only if you knew that she has eaten something that might be causing a blockage.

We went from small urates and throwing up to being gravid quick. Does she look gravid?
My first thoughts are along the same lines you were already thinking, some sort of GI issue.
How many superworms did she eat prior to vomiting? How often do you give them? How many watery greens do you give her? When was her last normal stool? Is it possible she is dehydrated?

Sent that before I was done typing...
But anyway..if she's eating and throwing up it could be a blockage. It could also be the source of the small urates without passing a BM. The vomiting could be the reason for both. Not processing food properly might not produce a stool. Being dehydrated from not processing greens could also cause constipation and small urates.
I'm thinking its a possible blockage, constipation, a GI bug, too many hard to digest superworms....
Or she's gravid

Well now, more importantly, while I was giving her some olive oil , she bit the tip off the glass eyedropper. Im so furious at myself and I am absolutely freaking out. Most of the shards i believe fell onto the counter and i got some out of her mouth so im not sure what of it she actually ingested. There was no bleeding and she is acting normal. What can I do??? Please help! ER vet doesnt see reptiles.

Oh no....
Is there any way you can see if the pieces fit back together? It will give you a better idea on if your missing shards. I'm trying to come up with an idea on something to feed her to possibly encapsulate any slivers. Im drawing a blank on this one...
A vet probably wouldn't be able to determine if your dragon injested slivers of glass...
The only idea I can think of is to keep her hydrated and maybe some more oil in the morning. If your able to get things moving through her rapidly there is less time for it to be in her GI tract. All you can really do is be hopeful and monitor her condition.
I know your upset and worried, I dont want to make you feel worse. But never use glass again. In the wild I am sure they mistakenly injest thorns, sharp sticks and rocks...so keep your chin up and just keep an eye on her.
I'm so sorry your going through this...be kind to yourself.

Yeah, all of the slivers are very small and in my panic they scatteted around the countertop/floor (im sure i will find them the hard way later). I read about using pumpkin/oil so i did a few small syringes of that and I am giving her a warm soak. She passed a small poop that looked like mostly urate.

I have had her for 8 years and I have always always used plastic. The vet suggested offering her fluids from an eye dropper, and stupidly not thinking too far into it, thats what I was trying. Why on earth do people sell or recommend these for beardies??? Or any pet for that matter. The fact that it could break from her bite never crossed into my mind. I just hope she is able to pass it quickly and easily and I hate that she is suffering from my stupid mistake.

She may be perfectly fine, she might not have even injested any. Pumpkin oil is safe so thats fine. Just keep her hydrated, might want to hold off on oil till tomorrow night.
Dragons have strong jaws, they can even bite through plastic droppers. Like I said though, don't be to tough on yourself...I expect everything is going to be fine. Just gotta keep an eye on her for awhile. Obviously if there is anything unusual going on a vet visit isn't a bad idea. Other members might know of a reptile vet in your area if you need to take her somewhere.

Forgot about this...
One of my Rankins injested a sharp piece of wood that was in my cricket bin. I didn't see it until I dumped crickets in their enclosure. As soon as I saw it, it was snapped up and eaten. I was sure it was going to cause serious problems. I gave her extra water and some mineral oil for a couple days....I never even found the piece of wood she ate. But she must have passed it because it never turned into an issue to worry about.

Thanks for your help/advice. She is doing well this morning. I will continue the pumpkin/oil and the warm soaks. When I spoke with my vet yesterday she said to call her Thursday afternoon to report any progress on passing any sort of blockage. Do you think I should call her today and talk to her about the glass thing? From what I've read I'm not sure if there would really be anything she could do and I have gotten some good helpful advice from people on here.

Thanks again for everything!

Good to hear that she's doing well. And no, the vet can't do anything if your dragon DID swalow a piece of glass....the only way it would come out is naturally when she poos, or through surgery. Just waiting and giving her oil [ veg oil, not mineral ] and some baby food squash or canned pumpkin will help it pass through. There have been other threads here about glass ingested from biting the eyedropper and none of them ever had a problem.

By the way, how many superworms a day was she eating before this trouble started ? And did she roam outside of the tank at any time to have been able to eat something off the floor ? Her acting normally doesn't jive with having a true blockage. A little constipation maybe, [which should easily be corrected with the oil/pumpkin and extra hydration] or her having eggs. And be sure that she spends most of her time in the warm tank so she can properly digest everything.