Beardie Prolapse!

[Lainey]

Hi,
This morning when I went to feed my beardies I noticed a bulge coming out of my beardie.
It wasn't too big to start but then she tried to poo and it made it much worse!
Shes still really alert and ate today too.
She laid eggs this week for the first time so I'm assuming that's the cause.
She has never had this issue before.
Her UVA, UBV, diet and calcium supplementing are all fine, so I'm sure her housing and diet isn't the problem.
I brought her to the vets right away (they seemed pretty inexperienced with reptiles, as is all vets in my area)
I left her with the vets and very shortly after they called me, they put the prolapse back in but they never stitched it.
I had to ask them about aftercare advice seeing as they didnt tell me anything, and all they said was hope it doesn't happen again.
We aren't long back from the vets so I'm keeping a close eye on her hoping the minute she tries to poo again it pops back out.
I'm going to give her even more warm baths than usual to help her poo more easily to avoid a prolapse reoccurring.
I'd really appreciate any advice to avoid it reoccurring!
Thanks!

 

[AHBD]

Hi there ! Sorry about your dragon's dilemna ! Too bad a suture or 2 wasn't used.....but here are a few suggestions. And please DO list her diet ! For now, don't feed her for about 5 - 7 days. She will be fine with just water [ mix a bit of calcium powder / or buy liquid calcium] If you don't feed her she'll be better off, nothing going in means she won't strain to poo ! Try oral hydration, this will also keep her from trying to poo more if she is prone to doing so in the bath. After a week, introduce soft insects....hornworms, silk, soft crix + dubia [ just shed ] will be best , along with soft leafy greens. Avoid stems or chunks of any vegs, or fruiits. Hopefully it won't reoccur !

 

[Lainey]

Thanks! Im keeping a close eye on her hoping I dont see any bulge!
I dont feed her the exact same food every single day as I dont want her getting bored of the same foods all the time!
Shes fed a combination from shredded carrot, cucumber, bell pepper, buleberries, green beans, grapes, basil, lettuce (not iceberg), locusts or crickets plus her calcium supplements. I've looked into it and all those foods are ok for beardies to eat according to what I've read!
She hasnt ate since we got home.
Shes housed with my other female beardie so keeping her from food will be hard seeing as I have to feed the other one in there too!
I'll make sure the food is chopped extra small incase she tries to eat, which Im sure she will!
Do you mean oral hydration and no baths? or oral hydration plus baths?
Thanks again.

 

[AHBD]

Hi Lainey....the diet sounds great, leafy greens should be the main veggies though. And it's not that anything you are feeding would have been the cause, but now that she has prolapsed, you want to avoid anything , at least for the time being, that may cause her to have to strain. This could be very large prey items, large chunks of veggies, and loose substrate in the tank. [ Do you use loose substrate ] Also, not enough hydration can add to the problem. Since it happened soon after her egg laying, that's probably part of it. So I just mentioned the softer foods for now so she has less trouble pushing the poo out. About the baths....if she is one of those dragons who is stimulated to poo when she gets put in the water [ just the act of putting them in water can prompt them to try to have a b.m, even if they are empty ! ] , then to avoid this you may want to just offer water via syringe for a week or so, just to avoid having her try to poo. This may never occur again, but sometimes it WILL happen soon after the first time again, especially since no stitches were used. The problem in her situation is that since she just layed eggs, she will be quite hungry, and she does need nutrition, but at the same time a prolapsed reptile is best not to be fed simply to keep her from a b.m.

 

[AHBD]

One thing that you may want to do is just puree all of her normal foods together [ and add more greens like turnip, mustard, collard, arugala and dandelion ] and see if she will eat that, with calcium powder added. You can also ask your vet for some " Critical Care " , it's a high calorie + nutrient supplement. It will be easier for her to pass this type of food with ease. Feeding her the softest foods for now is the only thing you can do to really help.

 

[Lainey]

I live in ireland so I find it hard to gets lots of leafy greens suitable for beardies for regular feeding, we dont have the likes of collard greens, mustard greens, escarole, and so on over here! I'll definitely look harder for more leafy greens variety for her now, maybe some watercress and rocket.
I use sand in the tank (not calcium sand)
I bath her regularly and I spray her a couple of times a day, I have a water bowl in the tank but she ignores that, I also spray her food to make sure she's always hydrated and has water sources!
She doesn't poo every time she's in the bath but to be extra safe I wont bathe her for a while.
I tried to give her water through a dropper just there but she wouldn't open her mouth, I'll try tempting her with insects to get her to open her mouth then get the water in, I'll feel so bad taking the insect away but it has to be done!
I'll go to the pet shop tomorrow and look for more supplements to add to her water to keep her going,
puréeing is a great idea, she loves her food so I'm sure she'd still eat it!
You've been so helpful!

 

[AHBD]

You're welcome ! I'm sorry that you need to worry about her , especially since she just layed eggs and will really be hungry, and she may develop more eggs in a couple more weeks. Is she big and of good weight ? Oh, one more thing, sand can [ but doesn't always ] cause impaction, so be very observant when she poos to make sure there is not a trace of sand in it. I hope you find some good greens way over in Ireland. I think many people do use rocket.

 

[Lainey]

Oh ya shes never had any weight issues, always nice and big, but not worryingly big! She hasnt drastically lost weight from laying the eggs or anything.
I've never noticed any sand in her poo before but i'll keep an extra close eye out for it now.
I'll definitely buy some rocket tomorrow and get puréeing!
I'll keep you posted on her recovery, hopefully with good news, thanks again!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Sorry to hear about your girl's prolapse.
Egg laying can be quite rough on them sometimes.
You mentioned you had UVB, but which brand & what type is it, a fluorescent tube bulb or compact/coil light? How old is it?
I agree, try to get liquid calcium that would help if she has low calcium reserves. At least she has not lost much weight then from laying.
The soft foods are highly recommended just to help her out right now so her system doesn't have to work so hard.

Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie

 

[Lainey]

Its Repti Glo 10.0 UBV (13w) its a coil light, I've always used this brand, the pet shop manager said its their best seller and the only UBV they stock!
Shes around 6-7 now (she was an adult when I got her so not sure of the exact age)
I was so concerned with her prolapse I only thought last night that there might be more eggs to lay, its only her first time laying, there was 7, which I know isn't much.
She's not looking to dig at all now, I have her lay box in the tank, she's still ignoring it.
So on top of the prolapse reoccurring I'm worried about eggs sticking!
She ate some of the puree earlier and shes still alert, just ate a little so far, I had extra calcium in it. And I''m spraying her at least every hour to keep her hydrated, shes hard to give oral hydration to, wont open her mouth but i'll keep trying!

 

[AHBD]

Hi Lainey. I'm glad to hear that she had a little bit of the puree, what foods did you put in and good that she's getting some calcium. Did you give it from a syringe, or can you tell how much she had ? As for spraying, you don't want to do more than once a day, it will raise the humidity in the tank and can cause a respiratory infection, also it won't hydrate her unless she's drinking what runs down her mouth, dragons don't absorb water through their skin, but must drink. The baths only hydrate if they drink, and they take in very little through the vent. If you have very soft bodied insects [ just shed ] you can add those to her diet in a couple of days, for now hopefully she'll eat the pureed insects.

 

[AHBD]

Oh, and you say she laid only 6 or 7 eggs ? They usually lay far more than that, but there are exceptions to every case.Thankfully she does not seem to be eggbound, but you may want to have an X-ray....even if your vet is inexperienced, they should be able to see the round objects if there are any, otherwise you can post the X-ray here. Also, there are many people on this forum who will tell you that the coil UVB is no good....I personally know breeders who use the coil bulbs, but others say you may have problems, that it doesn't produce the proper wavelengths to enable the dragon to absorb calcium. Some bulbs of that type may be just fine, while others aren't. If you can find an Arcadia 12% , the next time you need a UVB bulb, that may be a good choice.

 

[Lainey]

Hi,
I had rocket, carrot, grape, blueberry, cucumber, green beans and insects plus calcium puréed for her, I hand fed her some of it so Im not sure exactly how much she had, shes more of an evening/night eater so I'm not surprised she didnt eat too much yet, i'll be hand feeding again in a while!
She drank some of the water running from her face from spraying but I dont want to risk an RI so i'll just keep trying with the dropper, I added some water to her food aswell to help puree!
Ill keep trying to put her on the lay box, but shes showing no interest at all in digging!
Ive had her x rayed before and the vet couldnt tell if she had eggs :-/
When the UVB needs replacing ill definitely look online for the Arcadia 12% to try!
Thanks again for the help

 

[bren]

I would recommend not keeping her on sand (even calcium sand, or not calcium sand.) Sand can cause prolapse. (We've had rescue dragons with this exact same problem.) Sand that is consumed does irritate the intestines and create a condition ripe for prolapse.
Best of luck to you.

 

[Lainey]

Thanks they only sell sand or bark for substrate in my pet shop, theres always a debate on the two! Could you recommend a suitable substrate?
Shes pooped twice today, small amounts, but no prolapse again luckily,
Shes still ignoring her lay box, and when holding her up theres no eggs visible in her stomach, so ill have to wait and see how that turns out!