Beardie just swallowed a small marble

[cmm2104]

"Tanktu" is a little over a year old and was out playing and swallowed a marble. Not a big marble but a smaller one. Still about the size of you pinky nail of course rounded. Not sure what to do. Please any help would be great! not sure if a vet can do anything about it, but also dont have those kind of funds right now since im sure it would be expensive, i also dont even knkow if we have a reptile vet around here. Im very worried and my son will not stop crying since he was the one who was the "watcher" at the time. I feel horrible, i felt around and can not feel anything round so right now he is just in his cage laying on his rock as usual. Is there a way to get him to throw it up since it would probably get impacted or impossible for him to pass? i want to do whatever i can now so it doesnt get into his system.

 

[TheMelonNote]

Thats a sirious issue and needs to be consulted with a vet.
It may be possible for him to digest it.
How big is he? (In)
This is an interesting story about a lizard who swallowed a lizard toy:
http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2009/12/mushu_eats_large_toy.php
If he does pass the marble then do not ever give him anything he could swallow again, he may mistake it for food.
I hope he gets better!
-Hannah

 

[cmm2104]

he is about 16 inches long head to tail. I dont feel anything in his belly, not for sure he swallowed it but 7 yr old son crying hesterically says he saw him swallow it and couldnt get it out if his mouth. After reading what other beardies have swallowed i feel a little more assured he will make it through. This is a round, no jagged edges marble. It is now an hour after he swallowed it and is acting normal. he has gotten very picky over the past couple months andd will mostly only eat a variety of lettuce, sometimes canned worms but nothing live anymore. Should i still feed him as usual? or give him something different?

 

[kariann]

I would recommend contacting an animal emergency clinic (preferably one at a veterinary college) for advice on whether or not to try getting Tanktu to vomit the marble. Generally, there is a small window of time when this is possible so you should call NOW. Once the marble is in the intestines then it is too late.

My thinking is that it is safer to try vomiting the marble since it evidently made it down the eosphagus easily so it should be easy to get back up without any harm since it is smooth. It is anybody's guess if it will be too big to leave the stomach or intestines without causing obstruction.

The fee for examination and emetic (i.e. medication that will cause vomiting) administration should be small compared to medical or surgical management of obstruction. Alternatively, you can try feeding only slurries (liquid diet) and trying a little mineral oil mixed in, etc. to grease things up. That wouldn't be my first thought since there is a lot at risk if it doesn't work.

Best of luck and keep us posted!

 

[cmm2104]

I spoke to a vet hospital and she gave 2 options: 1: ride it out, feed him as normal and be sure he is pooping and acting normal. 2: take him in tomorow for xrays to see if he did swallow it and if he did see where it is and maybe be able to go in with a "scope" and retrieve the marble. She said not to have him throw it up because even tho it went down easy it could not come up so easy and get stuck in his esophagus, not a good gamble. So im not sure what route to take. :-? Im sure they do a payment plan type thing so im not so worried about the money, just dont want to put him through all the stress if he indeed did not actually swallow it. I have been feeling and feeling all around trying to feel for it and i cant find anything. I would asume id be able to feel something? Any more advice would be great at this point, i am so lost and so worried. Even tougher watching your 7 yr old crying while staring at "Tanktu".

 

[CrowsCaw]

how wide is the marble compared to him? if he did infact swallow the marble then it may not be able to make it out of his vent without causing damage :/ compared to his normal poo, how much bigger was the marble?

edit: I would definately try to lube him up if you decide to ride it out. It would make it easier for him to pass it and if he didnt swallow the marble then it shouldnt do him any harm.

 

[TheMelonNote]

Well, personally from experience, it sounds like he didn't swallow a marble.
He still may have though, so do what you need to do. If I was you I would get an X-ray done just in case, but it may be un-needed, so whatever you think is good.
If you choose to keep him, lube him up, keep watch of you're dragon, put him in his cage, turn the lights on, and feed him normally so it will smoothen up his digestion a little, and hope for the best.

 

[cmm2104]

the marble is about the same in diameter to some of the poops hes had..its just the consistency is different obviously. Thats what worries me. Can he really pass something that hard? So far all is good but hes sleeping now and all i want to do is check on him, feel around some more, but feel bad waking him up. But ill probably be up another couple hours worrying so i should just get it over with. He has no problem going back to sleep when i hold him. Thanks everyone for your help. If theres something specific i should put in his diet let me know please, again hes mostly a veggie guy, but i can get him to eat canned worms.

 

[CrowsCaw]

well.. It really depends on if you decided to wait it out. Because if you are going to take him for the x-ray then you probably dont want to lube him up because it could go too far to get out.

If you are going to wait it out then you can take some oil and put a drop or two on his nose for him to lick off. Or you can put some on his food for him to eat. I've heard some use olive oil and others vegetable oil. I used vegetable oil when my little guy ate too many mealworms.

I honestly have not heard of anything human, dragon, or other ever digesting glass.... it is a glass marble? but that doesnt mean that it can't happen.

the diameter of the marble is promising, if he has taken some poops around that diameter without too much stress then that means that it should be able to make it through his large intestine and out through his vent. His small intestine is a slightly smaller diameter but it should be able to stretch to let the marble pass. Though it may make him slightly uncomfortable. You could also stroke his belly from his right armpit to his vent gently. That could help easy anything through his system. Make sure you do it gently. You also need to make sure that he is able to poo. If he stops pooing then that could indicate that it got stuck and it could back him up.

please note that nothing i said is definate and are just suggestions and are assuming that he did swallow it.

when you try to feel the marble, make sure that you are feeling around his stomach. it is on his left i hope that this was a little help

 

[cmm2104]

We have decided to ride it out. Not sure if the marble is glass, but assuming it is cuz not sure what else they would make it out of, but i did read other forums of beardies biting off the tip of glass siringes and making it through. But I can not feel a marble anywhere in his body. Ive been feeling around for 24 hours now. Im thinking what might have happened is when my son ran to me to tell me Tanktu swallowed a marble he spit it out. I would assume i would be able to feel something if he did indeed swallow it :?: . Everything has been normal, he did his morning poop, which looked normal, then ate a big bowl of green leaf lettuce, he would not touch anything, lettuce or worms with the oil on it. Hes a very VERY picky eater. I tried only olive oil, ill do vegetable next. Thanks for everyones help

 

[CrowsCaw]

thats true... he could have spit it out

try putting a drop or two of the oil on his nose.. that usually works with my little beardie

 

[megabear]

I've had beardies with serious intestinal impactions twice. Once was when I didn't know any better (eight years ago) and I was feeding an adult female with the freeze-dried crickets (soaked in water) but they were still way too constipating and they impacted her big time before I even realized it. Her stomach felt like she had swallowed a pencil...just one long solid tube. She was lethargic --almost to the point of paralysis. Now I know there are many who might dispute what I did, but it worked perfectly and I still have that beardie alive and kickin' today (she's over ten now). I gave her a full eye dropper full of caster oil and I massaged her stomach for quite some time. I did this for three days in a row and she finally gave up the crickets. The caster oil even in those quantities had no negative effect whatsoever.

Fast forward to just recently. I changed the substrate in my outdoor cage for my male and female and I didn't notice that the brown rocks I bought had a few pink ones buried within them. When I found a small pink rock in my males poop I dug thought the substrate and discovered a bunch more. These guys will eat anything red/pink. He got impacted shortly there after (must have already eaten a bunch of them). He had a very very hard rock-lump in his gut. I figured aggressive was his only chance so I dosed him for a week with a dropper of caster oil, massages, warm bathes....etc. finally, finally...he pooped. I couldn't believe he could ingest the amount of caster oil I gave him, but he looks 100% fine and it saved him. I know it's not conventional but I'll say for sure I've had caster oil save two beardies for me.

One note of danger. Be VERY careful when dosing your beardie with an eye dropper. Preferably don't use glass, if they get loose of your hold and snap down on the dropper they will snap the glass off...and you'll have an even bigger problem.

 

[cmm2104]

Ive read alot about it being easy to feel an impaction, or if they swallow something. Im not an expert on where to look, not even close, so i feel all over, head to tail :lol: But i can not feel anything, had a couple scares with the joints of his legs tho, but quickly relized where i was feeling and the other side was the same :laughing6: . I'll know right away if somethings wrong if he doesnt eat his greens in the morning or do his morning poop, like he has done since day one. In an entire year, not one problem, and now one of the worst things "could" :?: be happening. August of last year we purchased a bearded dragon, tank1, from petsmart by us and he was tiny, about the size of your finger head to tail, not knowing he was to young to take home we did everything we read up on for 2 weeks, had the most extravagant setup ever, and right away fell in love! After a few days of purchase he stopped eating, changed color, and eventually died about 2 weeks after we bought him. So of course my son was a wreck and we went into another petsmart the day after in a different town for cat food, no intentions on buying a new beardie, and saw they had much bigger ones, at least twice the size of tank1. And so there we were, purchasing another beardie, Tanktu. So now he is a year old, perfectly healthy, very active, a little to active at times, and the most loving thing in the world :love5: ! He actually goes after anything shiny. He bites, almost defensivly at our remotes that are silver, goes after the sunlight coming in through blinds on the floor, but never did i think he would actually "eat" something. Usually its just the tounge comes out for a taste and thats it. Hes never eaten anything he shouldnt have before. And hes had plenty of opportunities with the way my sone leaves his toys around such as the marble! But tomorow im guessing will be the day something will be noticeable if he did swallow it. And good thing because i will be home all day, so i can keep a very close eye on him. I also tried giving him a bath, he wanted nothing to do with it today. Hes the king, he tells me what is right and wrong :whip:. SO ill keep everyone updated, and again, thank you all so much for the help and advice, it truly means alot!

 

[CrowsCaw]

take a look at this website... it gives a list of things to look for if ur worried about impactation

http://www.reptilerooms.com/index.php?categoryid=17&p142_id=124&p142_dis=3&p142_template=Simple

 

[cmm2104]

Thank you so much. That website is very helpful. And im sure it will be in the future to! I have come to the conclusion that he definitly did not swallow the marble. I can not see any signs of an impaction. Theres no bumps on his back or stomach and i also can not feel anything. So theres no way he swallowed it. :-D All this worry for nothing, as usual. Why do beardies worry us so much?? Im just so happy that hes doing good. He pooped first thing in the morning as usual, normal poop, then ate a big bowl of lettuce. So we are coming up onto 48 hours after the incident and not one sign of impaction. Again, thank you, thank you all so much for the help! I definitly needed it! :lol: