HELP! My beardie ate another lizard!

My bearded dragon was outside today(I take him out occasionally to give him space) and he darted off quickly and when i caught up the him he had a small brown lizard in his mouth. It appeard to be a small skink(4-5 inches) i tried to pull it out but failed and just ended up with lots of bites on my hand. My beardie is 18 in long, 295g, and 15 months old. The lizard seemed to have at least a robust skull/spine because it made crunching sounds when he was trying to chew it. I administered activated charcoal in case it was toxic but I dont want to induce vomiting due to aspiration risk and risk of broken bones perforating his esophagus and stomach. I cant afford a vet visit either. Please help!

He will be fine. Idk of any lizards that are toxic to consume, so the AC wasnt really necessary.

He will digest and pass the lizard just fine most likely assuming your dragon was already healthy to begin with. Just keep an eye out over the new couple months for signs of parasites.

-Brandon

Claudiusx":2i8a60gv said:

He will be fine. Idk of any lizards that are toxic to consume, so the AC wasnt really necessary.

He will digest and pass the lizard just fine most likely assuming your dragon was already healthy to begin with. Just keep an eye out over the new couple months for signs of parasites.

-Brandon

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Thank you. I was just worried about impaction or perfs from fractured bones. He does seem fine, no stress marks or black beard.

Update: its not looking great. He wont open his eyes and his beard turned dark. I dont know if its because he has shed on his head or if he is not feeling well. He's also been puffing his beard and opening his mouth very wide simultaneously as well as popping his eyes.

oh dear that is definitely not a good sign.

How much activated charcoal did you give him? What is his weight in grams?

Can you post a picture up of him right now so we can see his general appearance?

Black beard and not opening eyes is a very bad sign. Does he seem to be having trouble breathing?

At this point I'm wondering 2 things.
1. did you perhaps give him too much AC and it's making him feel yucky?
2. is the lizard he ingested actually making it difficult for him to breath?

-Brandon

Claudiusx":1vtfc34l said:

oh dear that is definitely not a good sign.

How much activated charcoal did you give him? What is his weight in grams?

Can you post a picture up of him right now so we can see his general appearance?

Black beard and not opening eyes is a very bad sign. Does he seem to be having trouble breathing?

At this point I'm wondering 2 things.
1. did you perhaps give him too much AC and it's making him feel yucky?
2. is the lizard he ingested actually making it difficult for him to breath?

-Brandon

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Hes asleep now but i only gave 5mcg of AC suspended in 1ml of water fed via sterile syringe. The black beard is gone and he hasn't puffed in awhile however I just picked him up and he is moving and responding but he didnt open his eyes. He is sleeping under his CHE tonight in the basking area. Could this cause issues?

Ok, hopefully he will make it through the night then. What is the temperature at where he is sleeping right now?

When they are feeling sickly, keeping them a bit warmer at night helps them anyways, so it's probably best he sleeps under his CHE as long as it's only around 75-80ish

-Brandon

Claudiusx":ruaub7dm said:

Ok, hopefully he will make it through the night then. What is the temperature at where he is sleeping right now?

When they are feeling sickly, keeping them a bit warmer at night helps them anyways, so it's probably best he sleeps under his CHE as long as it's only around 75-80ish

-Brandon

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Its 80 on the dot

Okay he opens his eyes in response to noise bit closes them again shortly after. He's sitting high with no stress patterns or black beard and no puffiness.

Ok that is good! Let us know how he is doing in the morning. Best to just let him sleep and rest now.

-Brandon

Hello,

Poor thing! That dose of activated charcoal should be fine. It may have been a mixture of the charcoal
administered along with the ingestion of the unfortunate lizard. I hope he is feeling better soon. It is a good
sign that his black beard is gone though.
Definitely keep us posted on him.

Tracie

Drache613":1rbp9ozz said:

Hello,

Poor thing! That dose of activated charcoal should be fine. It may have been a mixture of the charcoal
administered along with the ingestion of the unfortunate lizard. I hope he is feeling better soon. It is a good
sign that his black beard is gone though.
Definitely keep us posted on him.

Tracie

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Ill let you know as soon as he wakes up. I was really horrified when I saw it. I think the beard puffing and eye bulging/closing may be related to his face/head shedding rather than eating the lizard.

Okay he is awake eyes are staying open no black beard or stress marks, running around, and he looks pretty happy.

That's great news! He should be just fine then

-Brandon

Hello,

That is excellent news to hear~! It sounds like he is going to be just fine.
So his head & face are shedding? They will definitely bulge their eyes & push their beard out often to get that
skin all stretched out before shedding.
I'm glad he is doing better now.

Tracie