Beardie

[spdrbob]

The other day , Beardie ate some blueberries , when he ate the last one it seemed like he was choking a bit but seemed to get it down and was fine after that. Yesterday he was black in the throat and did not eat but seemed OK. I was chalking it up to hormones, he did the same last year at this time and after a few days of being black he went back to normal. Temps have never been an issue in his tank - in the normal range and with a repti-sun 10 for UV. I calcium dust his crickets ever other day.

Today he was acting a little off still black > - he drank a bunch and then threw up the water and it was blue. I fed him 2 crickets which he ate and then seemed to go into a convulsion where he was writhing about scratching at his next it appeared. I gave him a bath and he pooped a bunch and the white part was a little hard. He's really lethargic in the bath. It comes and goes with the lathery , sometimes he's got some power othertimes he looks almost dead.I held him upside down to see if something would come out and blueberry juice came out a little. I looked in his mouth and can see down his throat and it looks clear. His legs and arms seem to be pretty strong as he was not happy about being upside down and tried to get up.

He seems to be breathing OK but his mouth is open all of the time. There are no vets in my area that are open that deal with reptiles. We have him on a heating blanket < on low > and he's just sitting there with his mouth open. Needless to say we are very worried and not sure what else we can do for him. He's been very healthy for the 2 1/2 years we have had him.

Any thoughts ???

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

I am so sorry to hear your beardieis not doing well. How is he doing today? Does he stillhave a black beard?
It sounds as if the blueberry may have gotten lodged in his throat, maybe far enough back that you cannot see it. With him throwing up blue liquid, scratching his throat and leaving his mouth open, it sounds like the blueberry has not gone down all the way.
You should probably not feed him anything until you have the problem resolved, in case it is making it worse.
I would try and find a vet, whether it is a reptile specific vet or other. Any vet would be able to x-ray his throat to see if there is something lodged in it.
This is the only thing I can think of at the moment. I really hope he is better today, but if not, please think about taking him to a vet ASAP.
Let us know how he is doing.

 

[spdrbob]

He seems a little better , beard not as black , slept through the night but still seems to be having some issues. I was so scared to look this AM, I could not see him breathing but he opened his eyes when I looked at him. I gave him a little olive oil this AM to see if that would help lubricate , I think your right about it being lodged down further. I'm waiting to hear back from the VET near us < I hear he's very good > that specializes in Reptiles. Beardie's breathing good and not twitching like he was yesterday so maybe the blueberry moved down enough to make him comfortable. He's under the lamp I'm hoping if it is a blueberry stuck it will break down and he can swallow.

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

How is your beardie doing now? Does his breathing still seem labored? How is his beard looking?
Did you hear from the vet or get him into see one?
Let us know!

 

[spdrbob]

He's doing better , his beard is not black , moving back to normal. His strength is good to and he's mOving from hot to cold side when he needs to. Breathing seems to be good. A little fatigued still but I guess thats expected. We did not get to the vet as there was none that specialized in reptiles available except for an hour away at a busy hospital so we decided as he was improving we would wait and see how he does rather then putting him through the trip. Always a tough choice on what to do when they appear to be doing better..been giving him water from dropper which he is keeping down. Hoping we are doing right by him.. Thanks for caring , it helps .

~ Bob

 

[tdharris]

Glad to hear your beardie is doing better....