7 mo old beardie impacted from dubias - HELP

Quick background: My 11 y/o beardie passed two weeks ago (had since under a 1 y/o) and I adopted a 7 m/o beardie at a show on Saturday. He is stunning - bright orange with purple-blue tiger stripes on his back. He's also hypo and one of his parents was a leatherback, but it seemes to be a recessive gene for him (not showing). His name is Sydney (previous beardie was Gaia)

Anyway, I bought 120 dubias at the reptile expo and they are bigger than advertised. I wanted 3/4" inch dubias, these are much bigger (a few have had their final malt and are now breeding).

When I first brought Sydney home, he ate over a dozen of these roaches, probably 1"-1.25" roaches. He has not eaten since, when he should be eating twice/day at this age, and has not defecated either (he has eliminated 4 urinates in the meantime, though). Yesterday he regurgitated/vomited 6 half eaten roaches. The rest of his roaches are in his stomach - you can feel them. I have been giving him 2 soaks/day to try to help pass it.

I took him to the ER vet yesterday and was given 7 days worth of a laxative for him and instructions to soak him 3x/day to see if it will pass. The vet ran xrays to confirm that there is a sizable blockage in his stomach.

More information:

Substrate: ceramic tile
Temps (ranges): Basking: 97-104 F
Warm side: 84-87 F
Cool side: 80-82 F

Beardie: Hatch date of Jan 2018, currently 130 grams


Does anyone have experience clearing an impaction? You can feel the half-chewed dubia shells in his stomach.

Thank you

That's too bad. Hopefully he can pass the impaction and bounce back soon. Which laxatives did the vet offer? From what I've seen, the best bet for clearing impaction is offering plenty of water by dripping on his nose to lick up. You can also add a few drops of olive oil and offer some baby food prunes, applesauce, and pumpkin which should help hydrate him and offer some fiber. Keep an eye out for him straining to poop as that may cause a prolapse. If you see that, offer him a cool sugar water bath to reduce swelling and visit the vet if he isn't able to retrieve the prolapse. http://www.anapsid.org/prolapse.html

Lactulose - .12 mL 2x/day (7 day supply)

I think that I can trust this vet. It's a half hour drive - there is another place that specializes in exotics (Feathers, Scales, & Tails is it's name) about 90 min away. Worst case scenario, I could take him there to see if they know of any tricks if this continues?

Prolapse - interesting. Do you happen to know how cold of a bath it should be (temperature?)? How much sugar is enough? Thanks - just something for me to look out for

I haven't seen that used so I'm not sure if it is effective or not. If you trust the vet, that's good. I'm glad they didn't do an enema as those can be harmful. I do suggest only oral administration vs rectal administration of meds and liquid. It may also be worthwhile to bring him outside to bask in natural sunlight if the weather is good. That will ensure he is warm and getting enough UVB to digest properly on his own. The enclosure temps are good though. Which UVB light are you using? I would keep his hydration up as mentioned but the next step may be surgery which is advanced and quite risky.

SydneyGaia":30upcvir said:

Prolapse - interesting. Do you happen to know how cold of a bath it should be (temperature?)? How much sugar is enough? Thanks - just something for me to look out for

Click to expand...

I've (fortunately) never had to administer one. The way I interpret it is water that is cool to the touch mixed with as much sugar as you can dissolve/whisk in.

The lax is being administered orally. She slightly mentioned a possible enema if this does not do the trick, but also said that she would be very hesitant about doing that to a beardie.

I forget the name of the MVB (I don't think it was reptisun - maybe SunGlo???). I usually go with Mega-Ray, but since you have to order that it can take time. This one is brand new and I will be changing to mega-ray within a few months. I bought it from an independent pet shop that seems pretty solid for herps, the owner used to breed beardies and they carry dubias.

The only thing about this vet is she is ER only... so shes only there 2 days/wk and it costs ER prices to see her ($100 just for the office visit)

That's a good sign that she doesn't want to give an enema to a dragon. I'm glad to hear that. Those visit prices are expensive but probably worth it for someone with good experience and sense.

Is it a Solar Glo? Those are so so based on tests I've read, but I haven't tested them myself yet. Which wattage is it? The 125w should be about 11-14'' away from what I've seen.

Try the hydration and some small bits of olive oil. Maybe very small amounts of the baby food types I mentioned earlier. Give that a few days and see if it helps. You want to try to make it easier to pass the blockage without adding to it too much so it's a bit of a balancing act I think.

the 1-1.25 dubias those are adult dubias way to big for 7 Month old with my dragon when she was eating i gave her 1/2 to 3/4 max dubias he did just fine.thats what the whole thing about the space between their eyes but at 6 months old on you can give it bigger but using common sense.

Beardeddtagonlover":28ibl7ig said:

the 1-1.25 dubias those are adult dubias way to big for 7 Month old with my dragon when she was eating i gave her 1/2 to 3/4 max dubias he did just fine.thats what the whole thing about the space between their eyes but at 6 months old on you can give it bigger but using common sense.

Click to expand...

Understood. That is why I bought 3/4" dubias, but they were not as advertised

CooperDragon":260cwe72 said:

That's a good sign that she doesn't want to give an enema to a dragon. I'm glad to hear that. Those visit prices are expensive but probably worth it for someone with good experience and sense.

Is it a Solar Glo? Those are so so based on tests I've read, but I haven't tested them myself yet. Which wattage is it? The 125w should be about 11-14'' away from what I've seen.

Try the hydration and some small bits of olive oil. Maybe very small amounts of the baby food types I mentioned earlier. Give that a few days and see if it helps. You want to try to make it easier to pass the blockage without adding to it too much so it's a bit of a balancing act I think.

Click to expand...

I believe that I got 120 watt. I have it 10-12 inches away from his basking hammock, varying those 2 inches to get the right temps

CooperDragon":1iizfjc2 said:

That's too bad. Hopefully he can pass the impaction and bounce back soon. Which laxatives did the vet offer? From what I've seen, the best bet for clearing impaction is offering plenty of water by dripping on his nose to lick up. You can also add a few drops of olive oil and offer some baby food prunes, applesauce, and pumpkin which should help hydrate him and offer some fiber. Keep an eye out for him straining to poop as that may cause a prolapse. If you see that, offer him a cool sugar water bath to reduce swelling and visit the vet if he isn't able to retrieve the prolapse. http://www.anapsid.org/prolapse.html

Click to expand...

Should I give him a little bit of pumpkin via a syringe?

yeah just a few drops on his nose for now and see if he licks it up. You can offer the water and olive oil the same way.

give the beardie a bath everyday till he poops it out and like copper dragon said give water via syringe probably 1ml a day till he poops.the bath water 100-102f using a theremometer i had good results.

Beardeddtagonlover":3ixn1uug said:

give the beardie a bath everyday till he poops it out and like copper dragon said give water via syringe probably 1ml a day till he poops.the bath water 100-102f using a theremometer i had good results.

Click to expand...

I'm giving him 3 soaks per day right now. I'll increase the temp though, thank you!