Impaction?

Hi, as you may have noticed i am new here and this is my first post
And as a new beardie forum poster it's not exactly good to post in the ER as your first article/question.
So, i am here to ask about something that is worrying me about my Beardie.

Gary, has not been to the toilet for more than a week now. I know that its not common at all, and that is why i am asking whether i should take him to the vet or is there a method i could help him via at home? I have only just got him a new viv, and he's happy because of all the room. The substrate is calci-sand which in the whole year seemed to work out great for him. But since he got in the new viv last week, he has not gone to toilet once. So that's my concern? Is there anything i can do? Maybe my heat lamp is not warm enough for the size of viv he is in? Thanks for helping.

Im not to sure about the sand, i use white calcium sand, Ethel would poop in his home, either, read some of the posts, one says that it is common, beardies are very clean, I know bathe ethel and it works, he now will only go when in bath, I was told he is potty trained.

Linda & Ethel

If you could answer a few questions, we might be able to get to the bottom of this. How old is your dragon? What type of UVB light do you have? What are his basking temps and what type of thermometer do you use to measure them?
If he is impacted, it is probably due to the Calci-Sand. Can your dragon still use his back legs? Does he have a "bump" on his spine towards his tail? Is he still active?
You can give him warm baths and massage the right side of him (from his armpit down to his vent) in a gentle, circular motion. This may help break up what is inside of him or, if he's not impacted, will encourage him to poop. When you do this, feel for hard lumps. If you find one, be careful not to massage to roughly on it or it may cause internal damage.
Please try to answer the questions asap. Waiting too long to treat impaction can be life threatening. One of my girls was horribly impacted (due to being kept on calci-sand with no UV with a previous "owner") and is now paralyzed in her back legs.

sand is the worst thing you could use. take it out immediatly and replace with paper towels or newspaper, also alot of people use tiles. Sand causes impaction if even a little is eaten. Give him a few drops of olive oil and give him a bath 3 times a day until he poops.

Hi there,
We cant stress enough just how dangerous calci-sand can be.
It encorages dragons to lick it and when it is ingested it clumps together in their guts causing impaction.
I do hope this is not the case with your dragon as calci-sand can be lethal.
If she holds out on pooping for much longer I would be inclined to get her xrayed to see if there is a build up of sand inside her.

Please remove it right away and replace it with paper towels for now.

As its been suggested lots of nice warm baths and a dose of olive oil should help.
Also if you have it on hand unsweetend applesauce and canned pumpkins are great natural laxative.

Let us know how she is going.

Wow, this really is a very friendly forum!

Sorry for now answering fast enough, but i went to work soon as i posted and only just have come back. While i was at work, mum phoned up saying that he has let a big load out in there that was the size of half of his body and that it stunk my whole room out. Of course i was very pleased, so when i came back home i found Gary lying happily on his basking rocks and relaxing. I sure hope this does not happen again, but im wondering maybe this was due to a cange in diet? Soon as i got the new viv i thought i would let him try his first wax worms and that is already being 1 year and 6 weeks old

Anyway, thanks a lot for the help everyone - hopefully i won't have to post in this section again concerning my dragon although i would try my best to help others

Thanks again, i will post some pictures of my dragon soon in a designated area - if there is one?

Vadim.