Beardie swallowed too much water and he's bubbling!

Hello,

I've been a long time follower of this site having had my boy for nearly 15 years although never had to post before but tonight, I really need your help please!
He has very irregular breathing and is going between periods of 2-3 mins of not breathing followed by 30 seconds of fast, deep (slightly watery) breathing, he has bubbles coming out of his nose every 10-15 mins and I can hear the water catching when he breathes but he just will not be sick and I don't know what else to try.
The back story is:
I gave my boy (spyro) a bath approximately 3.5hours ago and he stuck his head under the water and drank like his life depended on it (this is very usual for him despite once-twice weekly baths as he doesn't always drink during them!) tonight I had to lift his head out as he'd been under for 3 minutes and has a tendency to over-drink and then throw up immediately afterwards when he tries to eat. Tonight he just will not expel the water though. I've tried to get him to eat his favourite waxworms but he won't touch them. I've been holding him on varying degrees of decline and little bits of water periodically drip out and his nose bubbles every 10-15 mins or so but he immediately cranes his head up and puts himself in an incline position and fights me but whilst there he doesn't breathe for a few minutes until I put him back in decline and he fast breathes a few breathes before we start the 15 minute cycle again. I've tried prying his mouth open by gently pinching under his chin but have only managed to get a tiny bubble of water out each time. I only moved to this area 2 years ago and he's been to the vets here once but they weren't very good at all and the nearest one I know is 2 hours away and closed as its 7pm on a Saturday!

He has been absolutely himself of late, no changes in anything else and I'm not worried about underlying conditions but any suggestions on how to help him get this water up would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks.

Hello,

So your dragon is 15 years of age?
That is impressive indeed. He is most likely very stubborn & wants to do things his way.
What you can do is just hold him in a decline position for as long as he will tolerate that
position. Then you can lift him out of it & maybe let him down on the floor for awhile.
Is his beard black, or normal color?
You could wait to get him in a decline position when it is bedtime, if he isn't cooperating
very well.

Tracie

Drache613":35v7o7nj said:

Hello,

So your dragon is 15 years of age?
That is impressive indeed. He is most likely very stubborn & wants to do things his way.
What you can do is just hold him in a decline position for as long as he will tolerate that
position. Then you can lift him out of it & maybe let him down on the floor for awhile.
Is his beard black, or normal color?
You could wait to get him in a decline position when it is bedtime, if he isn't cooperating
very well.

Tracie

Click to expand...

He's done well .

In addition to the above , helping his lungs drain .
You should keep him warm overnight too to help dry out his lungs by breathing warmed dry air and when he's asleep place him on a folded cloth so his bum is higher than his nose.

Thank you Tracie and Kingofnobbys for your advice! He has done well to get to his ripe (and sometimes grumpy) old age and as you say Tracie, he is very stubborn. He has a ceramic heat lamp so I left it a little warmer than usual overnight but he wouldn't stay in a decline position. He's very active this morning and running around like usual. I've only heard his chest rattle once today and otherwise he seems much better with his breathing but I'll be keeping a very close eye on him to avoid respiratory complications. He's staying at the warmest point of his viv so hopefully that'll help get rid of any excess water. He still hasn't eaten any food today but that's not totally unheard of for him these last few years so I'll keep trying.
Thank you all for maintaining this forum too, it's put my mind at ease on more than one occasion in the past and it's lovely that you're all there as a lifeline in times of need. Keep up the good work!

Came to check on Spyro and found him Basking with his mouth open so tried him on some wax worms (his favourite!) looks like he's feeling back to his usual self thanks again for all the help!

Hello,

That is great to hear he is back to his normal self now!
I guess you will have to start controlling how much water he takes in at one time now, since he
has such a bad habit of nearly drowning himself.

Tracie

I definitely agree Tracie! I think I'll have to start lifting his head out sooner and bathing him more often so he's still drinking plenty. Many thanks