Bloated beardie

[PhatROOTz]

Hello. My beardie Xero 4 months has been bloated or looks bloated for about a week now. I took him to the vet because he looks uncomfortable sometimes. And every now and then he does these gulps or swallow motions. I dont hear any clicking. The vet said he definitely has some gas or air in there and doesnt feel any impaction. So she took a sample of poo. Waiting for the results as of the 12th. She also said that its possible he does the gulp motion to compensate for the gas in his belly pushing up. He does not have mucus he doesnt gasp for air doesnt gape for air. She believes theres no RI and beside the air/gas in his belly he’s perfectly fine. Hes on sand. Yea ik what everyone is gunna say. I have a camera in his enclosure and he does not eat it. I also hand/tweezer feed him. But i will be changing the sand to a black mat just in case. He eats and poops everyday. Some days hes really energetic and some days he just basks. I was wondering if anyones beardie has done or gone through something like this and if so what steps were taken to help him/ her?

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, can you post a few pics of Xero and his enclosure ? What does he eat and how much ? No one here will say anything about sand although sometimes the calcium type sand is eaten by beardies and might cause a problem under certain conditons.

 

[PhatROOTz]

He eats dubias daily mustard greens dandi greens daily and collard greens daily. Calcium Monday Tuesday Thursday . Calcium d3 Wednesday friday. Multivitamins Saturday Sunday.

 

[AHBD]

He's very handsome ! Does look bloated, diet sounds good .....how many dubias a day and what size are they ? Might go with a little less supplements. And a side note, try to get the uvb tube in the middle of the tank rather than the back wall.

 

[PhatROOTz]

He's very handsome ! Does look bloated, diet sounds good .....how many dubias a day and what size are they ?

So when i first got him the guy i bought him from gave me meal worms so he was eating that for 4 days. Then i switched to dubias. After a week i went back to get more and he asked how big his head was. So he gave me meal worms bigger ones. He had a hard time eating then so i would cut them in half but he was still struggling so i gave those away and went to a diff store and got the appropriate size. So since then which is about a month ago i started with about ten -12 dubias in the morning. About the same in the afternoon noon and about the same or more around 5 pm. At first he didnt eat greens untill i skipped breakfast one day. So now he will eat his greens.

 

[PhatROOTz]

So when i first got him the guy i bought him from gave me meal worms so he was eating that for 4 days. Then i switched to dubias. After a week i went back to get more and he asked how big his head was. So he gave me meal worms bigger ones. He had a hard time eating then so i would cut them in half but he was still struggling so i gave those away and went to a diff store and got the appropriate size. So since then which is about a month ago i started with about ten -12 dubias in the morning. About the same in the afternoon noon and about the same or more around 5 pm. At first he didnt eat greens untill i skipped breakfast one day. So now he will eat his greens.

Sorry. He gave me bigger dubias.

 

[AHBD]

Feeding a beardie insects 3 X a day is too much. It used to be promoted as a healthy diet but it never was and still isn't. It leads to bloating and being overweight . You can cut down to just 1-2 insect feedings a day with 6-7 insects each time rather than the 36 + he's been eating. Powerfeeding [ what some call it ] is not good on their bodies. He should look less bloated once he's given the reduced amount.

 

[PhatROOTz]

Feeding a beardie insects 3 X a day is too much. It used to be promoted as a healthy diet but it never was and still isn't. It leads to bloating and being overweight . You can cut down to just 1-2 insect feedings a day with 6-7 insects each time rather than the 36 + he's been eating. Powerfeeding [ what some call it ] is not good on their bodies. He should look less bloated once he's given the reduced amount.

Thank you thats good to know. I was told to do that till he was full each feeding. Which he never is lol. So i did around 12.

 

[AHBD]

That's O.K, it was done by some owners for years but led to health problems and many couch potato chubby dragons.

 

[PhatROOTz]

That's O.K, it was done by some owners for years but led to health problems and many couch potato chubby dragons.

Thats why hes been just chillin lol. Makes sense

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Your boy is very pretty! He is most likely just getting too
much protein but as AHBD stated, simply cutting that back he will most likely lose a bit of weight & become more
streamlined.

Tracie

 

[LarryTheLizard]

He eats dubias daily mustard greens dandi greens daily and collard greens daily. Calcium Monday Tuesday Thursday . Calcium d3 Wednesday friday. Multivitamins Saturday Sunday.

Wow your bearded dragon is good looking! I love the ashy-gray coloring

 

[PhatROOTz]

He's very handsome ! Does look bloated, diet sounds good .....how many dubias a day and what size are they ? Might go with a little less supplements. And a side note, try to get the uvb tube in the middle of the tank rather than the back wall.

How often should i give the supps that i have?

 

[AHBD]

Since you're reducing the amount of insects it will work out that the supp's will be in a lesser amount as a direct result. How is he doing on a lesser amount of grub ?

 

[PhatROOTz]

Since you're reducing the amount of insects it will work out that the supp's will be in a lesser amount as a direct result. How is he doing on a lesser amount of grub ?

Hes about the same. But i did see him run around his enclosure a bit. Haven’t seen him do that for a few days.