Bloated but otherwise normal

[ofcourseilikepasta]

Hello!

I haven’t posted here in forever but here I am again! My Gary, whom I’ve posted about in the past, is nearly 9 years old now. We’ve had lots of ups and downs but he is doing quite well now. For some background:

He was at the vet about 2 years ago for what we thought was yellow fungus near this bump on his tail but seemed to just be full of blood, the vet thinking maybe a previous injury we didn’t notice. He also got treated for parasites. Discoloration cleared up and he’s been fine ever since! He’s also had some issues before that with prolapsing from pushing too hard trying to poop. He can still push for a little too long but it’s nothing like it was before and he has whole bowel movements at least once if not twice a day. He eats like a monster. We mainly just give him a salad of dandelion greens and chopped squash which he absolutely loves. For bugs he’ll usually get some wax worms every 3-4 days. We stopped giving too much protein because the vet believed that’s what was causing him to be constipated and prolapse, specifically super worms.

ALL that to say… he acts super super healthy now. He’s bright eyed, eats every tiny bite of his food, usually wants a second bowl, and has tons of energy. But one thing: he is SO fat. But more like bloated. His belly feels like it’s full of either gas, or fluid. I’d say we started noticing it maybe 2 months ago thinking he was just a little chunky. But he’s still eating, drinking, pooping all completely normal. So I don’t feel like he’s impacted and I really don’t feel like he’s overweight unless he can get this big off eating mostly salad? I’ll share some photos of him to give you an idea.

So I’m just wondering how worried I should be? Our other beardie (and our dog) is currently going through a lot medically so I’m hoping this doesn’t have to be an urgent issue. We always have extra money for our pets but these vet bills definitely stack up. I’m mostly curious if I’m feeding him too much or if there’s something I can do to get the gas out if that’s somehow it. Thoughts?


Setup details:
75w basking light with an adjustable dimmer
heat checked with temp gun, basking is around 95-100F depending on the weather (it can get warm in Los Angeles), cool side is usually around 75-80F
Arcadia D3 12% T5 UVB bulb changed around every 6 months
Calcium without D3 every other day, with D3 once a week
He drinks from a spray bottle
Paper towel substrate
40 gallon breeder tank

 

[AHBD]

Hi there ! Are you sure that Gary is a male ? Because females can develop and lay infrtile eggs that late in life. If not, maybe the huge amount of veggies is causimng a lot of gas. Msaybe cut way down even on the veg and offer mostly water to help him poo.

 

[xp29]

You can always collect a sample of poop and drop it off at the vet. Sone parasites can cause bloating. If it comes back clean then maybe adjust his diet. Hornworms and silkworms would be a better choice than wax worms. Hornworms also help with hydration.

 

[ofcourseilikepasta]

Hi there ! Are you sure that Gary is a male ? Because females can develop and lay infrtile eggs that late in life. If not, maybe the huge amount of veggies is causimng a lot of gas. Msaybe cut way down even on the veg and offer mostly water to help him poo.

We are 100% he is a male, confirmed by several vets and how he’s always acted like he wants to commit murder if he catches even a glimpse of our other boy in the other room but gas from too much veggie could make sense! He poops so much though. He pooped 2 times today! So I don’t think he’s backed up. But maybe just gassy, that really could make sense

 

[ofcourseilikepasta]

You can always collect a sample of poop and drop it off at the vet. Sone parasites can cause bloating. If it comes back clean then maybe adjust his diet. Hornworms and silkworms would be a better choice than wax worms. Hornworms also help with hydration.

That’s a great suggestion! Thank you