Impacted!

Status
Not open for further replies.

laydonsmom

New member
I believe that my bearie is impacted. Her stomach feels full and the normal bulge she has near her vent is now off to one side. She also threw up this morning. I have been reading about baths, massages and baby food / olive oil. I have given her 2 baths today for about 10 minutes at a time and some gentle massaging. When I put her back in her enclosure after the last bath (just a few minutes ago), she threw up a little bit more, but just fluid. Her beard and the last inch or so of her tail are black, so she's obviously in distress. I'm afraid to try and feed her anything and the vet is not an option right now. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Background Info:
Female a little over 3 years old
Has always lived in calcium sand (from pet store)
First time having an impaction issue
Normally eats crickets, super worms, hornworms and romaine
I am supplementing with calcium with D3 monthly, a multivitamin monthly and calcium without D3 several times a week
Enclosure temperature is in the mid-eighties with a warmer basking spot - also using a linear 10.0 uv bulb

Please help!
 

Gail

BD.org Addict
Don't feed her any solid food right, offer only apple baby food and about 1/2 cc of olive oil. Keep giving baths and massaging her tummy. If she doesn't pass anything by tomorrow, I'm afraid the vet is the only other option.
Also take out the sand, that is most likely what has caused her impaction.
 
My little girl gets baths lasting about 30 min - 1 hour when she can't poop. We also give her baby food squash and olive oil. In my situation with her, she seems to get impacted because of the mealworms and superworms. I've stopped feeding her those and she's been regular ever since.
 

lauraj1055

Gray-bearded Member
I agree with Gail.. DITCH THE CALCI SAND.. this might be the first time she is impacted, however it is most likely caused from months of licking the calci sand that now has hardened in her stomach..

Mineral oil is also very good, and better than Olive oil right now for your situation. I would get some ASAP and give her 2 cc's of it.
 

laydonsmom

New member
Original Poster
Will try the baby food and olive oil. The last thing she ate was superworms and that's also what she threw up this morning. Like I said, she's been in sand her whole life and I've never had a problem. Wouldn't she be living in a sandy area if she were in the wild?
 

lauraj1055

Gray-bearded Member
They do not live on sand in the wild.. they live on clay.. if you search on here for sand impactions, you will find a ton. I've been on here long enough, have read so many threads about how beardies live in the wild.. and seen the pictures of what they actually live one.. giving this a *bump* that someone on here has the link to show you... because god, I've read it so many times, but so long ago... I'm sure Gail probably has it in her favorites. :)
 

MissT

BD.org Addict
laydonsmom":1y0mu2uk said:
Like I said, she's been in sand her whole life and I've never had a problem. Wouldn't she be living in a sandy area if she were in the wild?

The sand impaction will build up over time. Calcium sand is the worst as, when mixed with water it gets very hard, pretty much like cement in their tummy. If you google search 'Calcium sand impaction' and click on 'images' you will see pictures of x-rays and of reptiles with impactions which will kill them.

I honestly dont know if there is a home remedy for such a difficult impaction but definitely bathing twice per day if you can, with a tummy massage in there. Also, giver her some mineral oil and unsweetened apple sauce as these also help with clearing impactions.
 

WyattKB

Hatchling Member
Calcium sand is the problem! It's just plain horrible for beardies.... Get him out of there! :banghead:
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
The reason calcium sand is far worse than regular sand is that it does become like sludge in the digestive tract. Add that to the fact that some lizards seem to like the taste, and there is a disaster waiting to happen. I personally saw a tragedy in a pet store about 13 years ago....the manager, who bought beardies from me, had his leopard geckos on blue sand. He asked me if I could figure out why the leos were dying. They were all thin....I picked up one after another, turned them over,and through their little transparent bellies you could clearly see the intestinal tract was all blue. Every one was loaded with the stuff, and they all died. Hopefully your girl will be helped by the remedies mentioned....they usually work.
 

Chair76

Hatchling Member
I heard that only for beardies that are constipated to take baths but if yours is truley impacted, bathing will do little to nothing at all. As other members have said the mineral or olive oil helps mixed with pumpkin and apple sauce. Baths are just to help along with thw passing of poop, but dealing with impaction the digestive oragns that led out toward the vent are practicley block so it helps but very little in impacted dragons. I know this for a fatc cause my friend had a baby lawson dragon and the bathing for him didnt help at all. It was the olive oil etc. and a trip to the vet that did it. This happens alot so you should be fine cause its not hard to treat. But im glad you noticed and did something. Another question to other members " Should i be fine if i get some none toxic clay and use that as a viv floor"?(btw i heat up the clay so it gets hard like a rock, like the ones in the stores.)
 

coastergirl946

Hatchling Member
My boyfriend and I lost a 3 1/2 year old beardie to calcium sand impaction. Curt was in a great deal of pain and stress every time he pooped.. blackbearding, straining, and going limp afterward with his eyes closed because pooping hurt him so much. :( It messed up his intestines to the point where he could no longer poop without babyfood prunes and warm baths with belly rubs.. there was still sand in his feces three months after we removed the sand from his vivarium.. (not to mention his viv STUNK when we were using sand as a substrate.. when the sand was dumped out we found dead rotten crickets, and sandy poop that was baked onto the bottom of the viv)
then one day he prolapsed.. then on the way to the vet he choked to death on the food he vomited up that he could no longer digest.
It still hurts to look at the top of the dresser and not see him there on his basking stick or scratching at the glass.

Not to sound rude, but I would like to know why a vet is not an option. If you were in extreme pain and couldn't eat without throwing up, wouldn't you want treatment?
 

Fuzzyviper

Hatchling Member
Chair76":1syqxqir said:
I heard that only for beardies that are constipated to take baths but if yours is truley impacted, bathing will do little to nothing at all. As other members have said the mineral or olive oil helps mixed with pumpkin and apple sauce. Baths are just to help along with thw passing of poop, but dealing with impaction the digestive oragns that led out toward the vent are practicley block so it helps but very little in impacted dragons. I know this for a fatc cause my friend had a baby lawson dragon and the bathing for him didnt help at all. It was the olive oil etc. and a trip to the vet that did it. This happens alot so you should be fine cause its not hard to treat. But im glad you noticed and did something. Another question to other members " Should i be fine if i get some none toxic clay and use that as a viv floor"?(btw i heat up the clay so it gets hard like a rock, like the ones in the stores.)

Are you talking about the digging clay substrate or the little clay balls? I'd be worried about them eating the digging clay (my little guy licks EVERYTHING constantly) and if you're talking about the clay pellets, they're actually used to hold moisture in planted terrariums/vivariums. I use the clay pellets in my frog tank and if they get wet, they really hold onto it. They're also a bit dusty and I would worry about adult dragons eating them. If you're talking about some kind of flat surface substrate, tile is really the way to go. I pick up poop as I see it then scrub down the tile and rinse it off. A sandy colored ceramic tile (make sure it has a bit of a texture to it) or a natural slate look really nice. I went with the slate since it naturally has different colors (pinks, oranges, browns, etc) and will wear down their nails.
 

greathouseFarm

Juvie Member
I totally agree about sand with everyone... but just to try and point out another possible cause here. She said the last thing she ate was supers and she threw them up. I don't have my dragons on sand and I have seen full grown dragons throw up supers just because I got side tracked and fed them too late. They need at least 6 hours to digest those suckers so they should always be lunch not dinner. Also temps may need to be double checked again... I would make the baths as hot as your wrist can handle and leave her in there until she poops. Keeping it hot of course. I say hot because it can be up to 100 water without hurting them at all and that is what it might take to get the poop out! Along with the olive oil and apple sauce.
 

greathouseFarm

Juvie Member
The clay would absorb water and increase the humidity in the tank... also bad. You would probably hate trying to disinfect it to. So porous the pathogens would stick to it and you'd have to bake it or steam it to kill them. But if you were using it in small amounts just for little pots it would be fine. I guess I was picturing a big slab of floor.

I used to use tiles and then I got to sample these... http://rep-tiles.com/ I love them! They are the perfect substrate. I hated lugging around the tiles to clean them and always breaking them etc... Plus these are cut to fit exactly to the shape of the floor. I think they are supposed to be available really soon. I will definitely carry them.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Members online

Latest resources

Latest posts

Latest profile posts

I miss you so much, Amaris 💔
What is a quick way to warm up a cold beardie? His heating element went out overnight and now he's very cold.
Pearl Girl wrote on moorelori1966's profile.
i feel so sad reading your about me 😢
Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank

Forum statistics

Threads
155,898
Messages
1,255,672
Members
75,965
Latest member
williamyoung
Top Bottom