Swallowed small water crystal

NOT GOOD.

For starters , throw the Dew Drops in the bin. These things have to be eaten by the insects to get access to the water bonded within them, and guess where the polyacrylamide copolymer winds up, inside the lizards' gut when it eats the insects. Not good.
Best way to keep your bugs hydrated is provide fresh chunks of carrot and fresh greens. These will also help gutload the bugs.

If you are lucky the stuff will be dissolved and digested by your dragon , or it will pass through since only a little bit was swallowed. BUT keep an eye on the dragon JIC.

From the manufacturer (of the copolymer)'s material safety data sheet :

Ingestion: If swallowed, seek medical attention. May cause gastrointestinal blockage. Do not give laxatives. Do not induce vomiting unless directed to do so by medical personnel.

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here for more details : http://www.ampolymer.com/SDS/PolyacrylamideSDS.html

I think this is likely going to need a vet to deal with it if the dragon become impacted or develops blockage in the gut, as the usual ways of clearing impactions are likely to make this worse , as this material (the polyacrylamide copolymer) will absorb more moisture and increase in volume / swell many fold the original volume when ingested..
See

key to abreviations and symbols

source : General Properties of Hydrogels
O. Okay
http://www.springer.com/978-3-540-75644-6

These should pass through , only if he ate a larger amount would he be in trouble. Just feed him as usual and it will pass through and he'll be fine....but I agree, throw those out.

I think the vet is going to have a hard job seeing the gel which will likely swell in the gut with Xrays as they are essentially looking for water .... but might pick up a large swollen gel mass and misinterpret it as gas.

Hope you are wrong and he didn't eat them .... in which case it's just a false alarm.
or
If he did it was only a small amount and the pH in the stomach is enough to break it down or for him to pass it through his GIS , essentially pushed through with his food.

Good luck.... I too hope you dodged bullet.

Yeah, if he just ate one -two small pieces they will pass through , you won't need a vet.

I am not sure how a vet would deal with an impaction caused by ingesting enough "Dew Drops" to be an issue.

I think this is a cross your fingers and wait and see thing

.... if there is going to be a problem you'll know inside a day or two (the residence time food in beardie's GIT is about 48 hrs).
And of cause if his belly swells up .... that's an obvious red flag.

Reptilelady":17y8ijr1 said:

Also noticed it sticks to things so I'm guessing these are not the best for sanitary reasons
<<< Yep, is really sticky .... just like the water crystals I use to keep my berry and fruit plants in pots alive in summer when it's hot and dry (November thro to January) .



I'll keep an eye on his behavior if he starts acting abnormal then i guess a vet is in order.

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Sounds like a plan to me .

I know you'll be having a sleepless night tonight worrying about this .

Nobbys I was going to comment that they remind me of the stuff you put in plant and flower pots to keep them hydrated through winter! I bet if you look up the ingredients they are exactly the same thing...What would ever possess a company to say "Hey, what a great idea, let's market this stuff to keep live feeder insects for pet reptiles hydrated! They'll probably digest them...?"...