I wasn't paying attention, fed my dragon something too big

I was feeding my little (maybe 7in) dragon who had just started eating bigger crickets, and I wondered if he could eat superworms yet. He seemed fine, so I started talking to my mom. I turned around and he had wolfed it down, but was having trouble swallowing the tail. I watched in worry, unsure of what to do. I then took action and tried to pick him up in hopes of getting it out of his mouth, but he ran away and swallowed it. I picked him up and he looked rather plump, with a hardness in his stomach. He seemed energetic but I can't help but wonder if it was because he was in pain.

I feel really careless, but I don't know what to do!! Help?!

Watch him carefully, a beardie his age shouldn't have superworms at all or mealworms. At 6 months or older he can have superworms once or twice a week, only 3-4 max as these are treat feeders and not staple feeders. For mealworms once he's that age he can have 5-10 every other day.

I'm sure he could probably digest it, but if you see him struggling to go to the bathroom take him to a reptile vet.
http://www.anapsid.org/vets/#vetlist
Here is a list of a few reptile specialist vets.

Can you please answer a few questions for me, this will tell me if he has anything wrong with his setup.
Is her UVB a exo terra, zoomed/reptisun, all living things, or zilla brand?
Is it a compact/coil bulb, a MVB, or a tube light?
How old is the UVB bulb?
If tube light is it a T5 or a t8?
If tube light is it a 5.0 or a 10.0, or a 12% or 14%?
Is it mounted underneath the screen or on top.
How many watts is it?
How many inches is it from the basking spot?

What is her basking spot?
What is her warm side?
What is her cool side?
How are you monitoring these temps, temp gun/digital temp gauge/plastic gauge?

Do you use bulbs at night?
If so are they colored or produce only heat?
What type of basking light does he have?

What sized tank does she have?
How old is she?
How big is she head to tail?
How much does she weigh?
What are you feeding her for insects? (just mealworms or other bugs as well?)
How many feedings are you trying to give him?
How much do you put in his tank per feeding?
What are you feeding him for salad?
What supplements are you dusting with?
How many times a week are you dusting?
What substrate/flooring/bedding does he have?

First off, superworms make DECENT(not anywhere near the best but still an option) staple for ADULT(not for rapidly growing beardies as they'll get fat if they have them as a staple since they need so much more protein as babies and juveniles) who should be having 80% veggies and 20%protein. Monitor him. Beardies have the possibility to suffer from temporary or lifelong paralysis if they're fed insects larger than what they should be eating. This happens when they consume insects larger than what they're supposed which puts pressure on the spine. So, you should probably not let him put weight on his belly. Instead, leave him on a towel or something like that and cut out an area where his belly can hang while he's on the towel or whatever other surface you have him on.

The uvb is a reptisun, a mini compact, only about 2 months old, not a tube, but the box does say it's a 10.0, on top of the screen, 13 watts, 4 inches from the highest bask.

His basking spot is a large piece of mopani wood, but he also has a nice little hide not too far away, as well as a reptile hammock on the cool side of his tank. His warm side tends to change between 80-100, but usually stays at 90. His cool side stays around 70, which is the same as the rest of the house
I use a plastic gauge on the warm side and a metal thermometer on the cool side.

No, I don't. He has a reptisun spot basking bulb, 75 watts. (Both lights are in a double fixture over the warm side of the tank.)

The tank is currently a 20 gal but we're going to move up to a 40 gal once he's bigger. He's about 3 months now, and about 7 inches long. As of now, I don't have a scale for something his size, but I plan on getting one very soon. I don't feed him any mealworms, but crickets mainly. I plan on getting him Phoenix worms soon. I feed him twice a day, as I can't be home mid day. We just recently switched him off really small crickets, which he'd eat about 7 of each feeding, to a larger cricket, about double the size of the old ones, which he eats three of each feeding. For salad, I feed him kale, sweet peppers, carrots, and the occasional razzberry. I dust with tetra reptocal which has d3 in it (which I looked for specifically). I dust about 4 times a week. His substrate is reptile carpet, which I wipe down with a damp washcloth weekly.

Kale is fine but you should probably give a salad with 2-3 veggies in it while also including a good staple veggie like collard, turnip, mustard, or dandelion greens. At that distance, the 13w should probably be fine. You should probably invest into a temp gun as they're most accurate while stick on thermometers(which can be like 10 degrees off of actual temp) and probes(if used incorrectly) will offer incorrect temp readings. The temp, especially important for growing beardies, should be anywhere from low to mid 90s to 105. Adults really only need 90+ to 105, though most sites will recommend 95 degrees just to be safe. You should also give him a good multivitamin with beta carotene in place of synthetic vitamin A such as Herptivite by rep cal.

I've been having issues finding those sorts of greens in town for some reason. Maybe I should look around at some other stores. And I'll look into getting those things as soon as I can. Maybe next time we go to the store. Thank you for the feedback!

Diet needs to be changed a bit, not too much but just a tad.
Instead of only three (which that is underfeeding) crickets a feeding it should be more like 15, or 10-20 crickets. Or just how many he'll eat in 10-15 minutes.
Kale is okay to give, however its best if you have another type of green along side it. Turnip greens, mustard greens, endive, and collard greens are the most commonly used staples.
Make sure to only offer fruits once or twice a week.

When my juvenile was 4 months and 10 inches long she was eating three times a day, 10-20 bugs a day. Usually crickets and dubia roaches. One feeding would be crickets, generally the morning, third feeding would be a mix and the last feeding would just be dubias.
If you can't feed three times a day thats fine, just make sure that he or she is eating more crickets per feed.


You'll need to bump the temps up a bit more, however with the useless gauge you have it may already be that. Try and get a temp gun or a digital temperature gauge with a probe. I prefer temp guns, a lot easier to get a more accurate reading.
basking spot should be 100-110, 105 is a good spot for most.
Warm side (area around direct basking spot) 90-95.
Cool side 70-85.
Night time temps shouldn't drop below 65. If they do a Ceramic heat emitter should be used, I'd say the rest of the enclosure shouldn't go above 85, and with the CHE it would probably create a hot spot of 90 which is fine.

The UVB light needs to be changed to something else, a 22" or 36" Reptisun T5 HO 10.0 should work. You can get this off amazon for a cheap price along with a reflective fixture for it.
This will ensure he doesn't develop MBD, with the compact bulb you currently have it is too weak and he is not getting barely any uvb currently.

Make sure you dust his insects with calcium without D3 5x a week, and then multivitamins 2x a week. None of them should have D3 in it as it can cause an overdose, they also dont benefit from oral D3 very much.
I personally like the repti-cal supplements.

I don't think he could fit 15 of the crickets I have in his belly if he tried! He actually seems a wee bit chubby, with a little 2nd chin if he holds his head the right way. I'm definitely going to look for new greens. Although they aren't super common in town for some reason. I'll look into those other things too, but I don't know that I'll have enough for all those things at once.

Near his age my juvenile was basically eating 60+ bugs, most of the time it was 80 to be exact every single day. And this was large crickets and small dubias together.
Trust me he could eat much more and should be eating much more than only 6 crickets a day

Hello,

Definitely keep an eye on him. I would increase fluids some, if you can, to help with hydration
& hopefully he can pass that through.
He might show an increase of appetite with a better UVB, as suggested, also.
I agree, try to increase the cooler end to around 78-82 range to help maintain the overall
ambient temperatures of the tank to around 80 or so.
Let us know how he is doing.


Tracie

As for the zoomed compact, I think a higher wattage is all you need but can't provide a definitive answer as I only know of the exo terra compacts being adequate and almost entirely safe to use. I guess, since you probably will have to replace the compact uvb anyway, might as well go with a repti sun or Arcadia tube instead of say an exo terra compact. Also, it is actually possible to overfeed babies, it's just far less likely than an adult. Also, with d3 is just fine. people blow the whole "overdosing" thing way out of proportion. I've been using with d3 for the past 5 years with no ill effects. As you mentioned yourself, the animals don't benefit from it much which basically means that it doesn't have a significant effect on them.

First nights over. I put him on a towel to ease him, which he laid on all night. I gently picked him up and looked him over. His stomach was still hard, but his back feet gripped my hand the same as usual, so he hasn't gotten paralyzed.

Should I feed him this morning as usual, or should I just give him time to pass the thing?

It can take 2 to 4 days for what goes in via the mouth to come out the other end as poo. You wont be out of the woods while his tummy has obvious hard lumps in it and he still has the superworm (which hopefully he chewed very well to break up the exoskeleton) in his GIT.

Careful that you don't add to any likely impaction / blockage by giving solids until you are sure the superworm has been expelled or digested. I think a visit to a vet to have xrays taken to see where the worm's outer shell is and the extend of any blockage / impact and then take it from there.

Keep the temperatures up for at least the next few days , nothing under 28 degC (even over night to help boost his metabolic rate and rate of digestion , ) ,dragons need heat to digest their food and this will help supercharge his digestive rate digest the very hard exoskeleton and also try to give 0.1ml - 0.2ml of olive oil ORALLY by syringe or eyedropper ( not all in squirt - other wise he may aspirate some which will be VERY BAD) ,do this each day to lubricate the GIT and help him move it.

Juicy soft bodied live insects will help with hydration.

Chances are he'll either digest it or expel most of it, but there is a real risk he can't cope with it.

DragonRabbit":2rsmpp19 said:

First nights over. I put him on a towel to ease him, which he laid on all night. I gently picked him up and looked him over. His stomach was still hard, but his back feet gripped my hand the same as usual, so he hasn't gotten paralyzed.

Should I feed him this morning as usual, or should I just give him time to pass the thing?

Click to expand...

Yes, but I'd be careful to only give soft bodied , very juicy live insects or purees for now .

So crickets , locusts and roaches , unless pulverized , and mealworms and even small superworms are out for now.
see this comparison of insects : viewtopic.php?f=76&t=234999&p=1807834#p1807834
If you can get hold of some Repashi GRUBPIE and make a sloppy mix , this will be nutritious and help get fluid into him.
Silkworms (small about 1-1.5 inch or medium about 2 inch) will be OK as very soft bodied and juicy.
Small hornworms , Wax worms and butter worms in an emergency - only because they are soft bodied and juicy.

Oh thank gosh. I'm home and there's a new poop or two in his tank. I fed him a few crushed crickets by hand, and he seemed to be jumping around happily again. His stomach is still a little hard but nowhere near as bad as yesterday. Thank you everyone!