Vet Said my Beardie may have impaction?

Hi. We got Norman about two months ago, and he hasn't eaten a ton since we got him, but every few days and had a normal bm after eating. Now he hasn't eaten in a few weeks much more than a pellet or two. I called a vet today and he is concerned that there might be impaction and it might be too late to do anything.

I pushed water today during Norman's bath, but no poo yet!

I currently have parakeet seed substrate (per the person we got him from), which I plan on changing out tomorrow for just newspaper, but is there anything else I can do in the mean time? I am very new to reptiles and I clearly have a lot to learn, but I will just die if we lose him. We were given him by a former student of mine that enlisted in the Marines.

Thank you for the advice!

It's good that you are switching to a solid substrate. Did you offer large bugs? Those can cause impaction if the dragon is young. How old is Norman? Did the vet take an x-ray to see any blockage?

If he is an adult and acting sleepy he may just be slowing his metabolism for brumation which a lot of them are starting to do now. If he's young, this is less likely.

Your best bet with impaction is to offer water in small batches several times during the day by dripping it on his nose and trying to get him to lick it up. You can also offer a few small drops of olive oil as well as baby food prunes, applesauce, or pumpkin to provide some fiber and help move things along. Just offer little bits so not to wind up adding to the blockage. Hopefully he will be able to pass everything soon and bounce back.

Norman is about three, according to the person we got him from. The vet did not xray, or even see him, as I live in an area where no vets see reptiles. We spoke on the phone. If he doesn't improve soon I will travel the few hundred miles to have him seen if I need to.

I will try out the pumpkin and olive oil. And I will keep bathing him daily with the hopes that he will improve. I had never heard of brumation before, so I guess it is possible that he is doing/or getting ready for this. I give him meal worms mostly, so he shouldn't have any large crickets stuck.

Thank you for the advice! Hopefully I can post that he is doing better in a few days/week.

OK so he is an adult. Impaction is much more rare with them. I doubt that's the issue unless he was ingesting a lot of loose substrate for some reason. It's much more likely to be brumation. Check his weight every few days and offer some drops of water on his nose so he can lick it up if he wants to. Otherwise I'd let him be. Keep the lights on the same schedule etc and just wait for him to wake up.

Can you post some photos of him and his enclosure? You can upload photos here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and post them to your thread using the XIMG button when you reply. I'd like to take a look at him to determine his general health and take a look at how his enclosure is set up to make sure everything is OK there.

We had some success this morning during bath time! He took some more water by dropper and then had an enormous BM. It looked a bit different than other bms I have seen from Norman, but he seems much better. His belly felt full and heavy this morning, perhaps a bit lumpy before the poo.

I also cleaned out the tank and laid down a piece of colorful flannel. I made a cave out of a smallish cardboard box, and moved his lamps around, so his basking lamp is on one side and his uv lamp is where the food is. He seems much happier, and now if he goes into brumation, he will hopefully not get sick since he passed the poo. We gave him only two fresh pellets this morning too, and I thought we would try some meal worms this afternoon if he's feeling up to it. We tried to give him some yesterday and he refused. So I feel like we are going in the right direction!

That's good to hear. I'm sure he feels quite relieved! The setup looks good. You might want to move the UVB light over the log where the basking light is. He looks pretty healthy overall though. Maybe he was just a bit backed up or dehydrated but impaction isn't the case now.

Here is a good nutrition list for veggies he may eat.
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

You could get a roll of non adhesive shelf liner to line the tank. Easy to clean, cheap and bugs won’t go under it.
Also you can try some Repashy Grub pie, it’s a dry insect powder that can be mixed with hot water that sets up like jello. Mine likes it mixed with some unsweetened applesauce. You can also add a few drops of olive oil when he’s impacted. They love being out of the tank to run around. Mine never liked the pellets, but loves the meal worms. He really loves the Hornworms, every time he eats one, he needs his run around time so he can poop. I give him greens every day. Since yours is 3 years old, he should mainly be eating greens and veggies. Try grating some butternut squash to feed him.