My beardie ate paper towels

He ate a lot of paper towels and he’s only a baby

Hello,

Well, that isn't the greatest scenario! Just how much of a paper towel did he ingest & how
small is your beardie? Normally they will pass things through pretty easily though, but it
does depend on the size of your dragon also.
You could go ahead & treat for impaction. Try mixing sugar free applesauce, canned unspiced
pumpkin with a drop or two of olive or coconut oil together. Give that a couple of times per
day with some extra oral fluids to help move things through.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

I'm assuming that he ate the paper towels inside his tank, that were substrate? That's new, I've not heard of this before. Yeah, this is going to depend on just how small he is, but I agree, I'd go ahead and treat for impaction just to be safe, as if he's very small he may not be able to digest and/or pass them.

How's he doing now?

Uhh he’s 9-12 months and he seems to be doing fine. Also, what would happen if I put sand with him? My sister keeps telling me to put sand instead of paper towels but I’m scared if he’ll eat the sand and yeah...

I'd not listen to your sisters advice at all unless you want to end up with a possibly impacted bearded dragon which could lead to death or a prolapse.
Which I'm not sure exactly how expensive a prolapse fix is for a beardie but from what I've seen and heard online for a tegu (3-4 foot lizard) is that it can be up to 1,000 dollars to fix it if not more.
I assume it is around there, maybe more maybe less depending on how serious it is.

Also sand is barely even natural for this specific species in the first place.. as where they come from it's more of a dirt, clay and rock mixture with little to no sand and tons of shrub like areas.
Something a bit like this,

If you did put sand with him unlike paper towels which usually dissolve and fall apart when wet the sand will clump together, which means if given enough time he'll eventually get impacted as the sand builds up in his system over the days, months and years.

Beardies tend to lick their environment frequently so even if fed outside or in a dish off the substrate they still get quite a bit in their system which can cause problems if given enough time.

double post

AnnaTheWeirdooo":2wyhg23u said:

Uhh he’s 9-12 months and he seems to be doing fine. Also, what would happen if I put sand with him? My sister keeps telling me to put sand instead of paper towels but I’m scared if he’ll eat the sand and yeah...

Click to expand...

DON'T !

Sand kills more dragons than just about anything else....
If you want a different substrate - loose layed secondhand wall tiles are fine.

Did you actually see paper toweling shreds go into the mouth ?

I've never heard of a dragon eating paper towels either , that's a new one to me and I've had lizards on paper towels for near 10 years.

DO NOT USE ANY LOOSE SUBSTRATES IN YOUR DRAGON'S TANK!!!

It's totally unnatural for them, as you saw in the photo, the Australian Deserts that they come from are not the same deserts full of sand that we think of over in the US, they live on a hard, rocky terrain with vegetation, so he has no concept of living on a loose substrate, and he will eat it. He already ate paper towels, what do you think he'll do with a loose substrate?

Here's the other issue, beside the fact that they lick everything, and a bowel impaction in a young baby is usually fatal: All loose substrates, whether sand, crushed walnut shells, wood chips, bark, seeds, coco fiber, etc., doesn't matter, they all harbor and breed all types of bacteria, fungi, and parasites from the moment you put them in the tank.

Dragons are very prone to developing skin/scale infections, eye infections, and a lot of Upper Respiratory Infections, and if you put a loose substrate in his tank, you are putting him at an unnecessary risk for serious infections all the time. Breathing the dust from sand or the like often causes constant/chronic Upper Respiratory Infections. So why do this, what is the point of taking such an unnecessary risk?

Then there are the Calcium/Reptile sands that turn into hard, cement rocks as soon as they get wet, and these kill more baby and juvenile Dragons than anything else, along with the horrid and lethal Crushed Walnut Shell Substrates.

Bottom line is that if you have a Bearded Dragon you need to have only Solid Substrates. Your best choices are the stick-on, textured, slate tiles you can buy at Lowes and Home Depot (easy to clean up on the spot, and keep their toenails trimmed), non-adhesive shelf liner, Reptile Carpeting, etc.

Did you actually see paper toweling shreds go into the mouth ?

I've never heard of a dragon eating paper towels either , that's a new one to me and I've had lizards on paper towels for near 10 years.

Click to expand...

I honestly have to say I've seen my own juvenile eat paper towels before. However this was when she was younger and in a 20 gallon and decided to try to eat anything and everything at around 5-6 months old.

Its not too much of a surprise for me that a beardie may "taste test" some things in its viv.
However it's possible Neptune's just a bit special as she has tried to eat temperature gauges before...
Which doesn't look like anything edible at all, my adult male tried to eat a green bag when I was setting up my tegus enclosure but thats understandable as he may have thought the green coloring was fresh leafy greens somehow.
He also got bit on the head when he was 6-7 months old so it's possible he's a bit special as well.

Im hoping that my adult female Venus doesn't try to eat anything inedible. Currently she's the only "Normal" one as far as the beardies go.
The ball python and Leopard gecko luckily are normal for now... but my BTS and tegu are up there with Saturn and Neptune. My tegu literally ate some of her substrate when she was younger, it has organic potting soil mixed in which has perlite and she would seek those out specifically and eat them when she was younger.
And then my BTS will eat everything that moves, fingers, dirt, moss you name it. Luckily she only does this when she's in feeding mode.

It's actually not unusual at all for any and all Bearded Dragons to chew on thing or eat things that are not edible, it happens all the time with tank decor, such as plastic plants, pieces of wood, foam backgrounds, etc. And just as all animals that walk around the house, it shouldn't be a big surprise if your Dragon decides to chew on an electrical cord, a piece of furniture, etc. They're not the most intelligent animals in the world, lol, not that their intelligence level has much to do with them eating things they shouldn't...I mean, people eat stuff they shouldn't too...

And this is yet just another reason that they shouldn't be living on ANY loose substrates, especially a Dragon that has already eaten paper towels they were living on. Putting them on sand or anything similar is just asking for them to chow-down on it. Textured tiles are your best bet, they look great, they hold heat, they keep their toenails trimmed, and they are by far the easiest solid substrate to clean up.

Well Venus decided that for some reason her substrate of paper towels looked tasty and decided to take a large mouth full and eat it.
Just when I was hoping she was more intelligent than the other two, but oh did she prove me wrong.

Hello,

How is your dragon doing, no problems thus far?
Maybe he didn't ingest too many paper towel fibers but do keep an eye on him. As suggested,
it is a good idea to keep him on a solid substrate because it is cleaner & safer for him. Usually
paper towels are fine, but maybe when he gets older he wouldn't have that habit.

Tracie

He seems to be doing fine but, he is shedding? Does this mean something or am I just freaking out lol

My dragon missed a cricket and started to chew on the carpet