Blood on Basking Log

[DracoLord510]

Hi all
(Moved post from Health)

First time poster, can't get an image uploaded yet.

My wife and I have a year old bearded dragon male named Java. He eats like a pig, crickets every other day with calcium powder and veggies on days without crickets. Gets bathed twice a week. He's in a 50 gallon tank with sand substrate, 88* in the tank with a 109* basking spot. He's part of the family, we love the kid.

Today, he pooed for the first time in a couple days, mostly undigested cricket legs and some smallish balls (maybe sand?). When he went to bask and we picked him up later we found a dime-sized patch of blood on his log where he sleeps. He's still very active and ate today (and had enough time to head bob at our female who lives in a separate room and cage) and we are probably taking him to the vet tomorrow. Did he maybe just have a hard poop? Normally he has pretty normal shaped and size poo but I'm paranoid.

Any advice to calm me down? DracoLord510

 

[CooperDragon]

I'm sorry to hear Java is going through this =/. It sounds to me like a slight sand impaction if you saw some bits of clumped sand involved. The calcium sand in particular tends to clump like that when it is wet. The blood is likely (but not for certain) related to the sand impaction which can be strenuous to pass. I advise removing the sand and putting down a solid substrate such as ceramic tile. You can also use non adhesive shelf liner or even some paper towels for now. I would provide some softer foods for a few days to help relieve his system. Softer worms such as Phoenix Worms or silk worms would work. You can also use some baby food via plastic syringe. Chicken and turkey work well. Just drop a bit on his nose and let him lick it up. You can include a few drops of olive oil to help him pass any remaining impaction. Baby food applesauce or prunes can help move things along as well. I also suggest providing warm baths which also help with pooping and will also give him an opportunity to drink some water on his own if needed. It sounds like your basking temperature is good. I'd try to lower the cool side temperature slightly to the 75-85 range if you can. What are you using for UVB lighting?

 

[DracoLord510]

We use a ZooMed Powersun 100 watt for both of my dragons, as recommended by the store who sold him to us. My female (Lola) has never had problems like this, and most of the time Java seems like he eats a lot, perhaps too much? He has a tendency to eat crickets and fill his mouth before he swallows. He also enjoys pea and green been baby food. Last night he drank a whole ton of water too.

 

[CooperDragon]

The Powersun is a good source of UVB. If he eats too quickly, that can cause issues as well. To counter that, you can try offering crickets in small batches at a time (I go with around 5 at a time) to help space things out. They can get pretty excited when they get into hunting mode and overdo it. The pea and green bean baby food is a good source of veges as well. I also like the squash baby food. How is he acting now? Is he lethargic or showing a black beard? Or is his energy level relatively normal?

 

[DracoLord510]

He seems to be doing great, we bring him out to spend time with him once a day. We cleaned up his vent and gave him a nice warm bath, we are going to try to feed him some worms later, but he tends not to like them very much and usually ignores them.

When we walked by with our female, he puffed up his beard and did his whole little head bob dance so I think he must be feeling okay.

 

[CooperDragon]

Yeah that's a pretty good sign. I'd worry about further internal bleeding so do keep an eye out for that in future poops. It sounds like you're on the right track with things though. I hope he is able to clear his system and recover quickly =).

 

[DracoLord510]

We will definitely keep an eye on him over the next few days, thank you for the help.

As a side note, the poo he took had a inch or two long waxy-looking thing in the middle of it...I read this could conceivably be a sperm plug. Is that possible, and if so could that have caused anything?

 

[CooperDragon]

That's possible. They can be difficult to pass sometimes and may have caused some strain. In that case hydration should help out. Like I said, keep an eye on him and if his bleeding continues it may warrant a vet visit. It sounds like he'll be OK though.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

It definitely could have been brought on by a sperm plug if he strained to get it out.
It also is a good idea to get the sand out also, since the calcisand causes terrible impactions.
It sounds like though he is doing well if he is bearding you!
Definitely get some extra oral fluids into him just in case he is a little dehydrated. Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

 

[DracoLord510]

Java is doing great this morning. We gave him a bath last nght and he had a nice, normal poo sitting in his tank for me this morning. We moved his lights so he has a cooler spot (the cool side of the tank was above 90) and he slept like a baby on his log.

He had about 10 crickets when I got home and some baby food, and took a big long gulp of water.

 

[DracoLord510]

On a side note, my wife kept the poo in question in a baggie. It was definitely larger than normal and consisted of mostly undigested cricket limbs. I'm wondering if maybe he just passed an impaction or block and just strained himself a bit.

Honestly, I'll change out the Calci-sand if I can, but he's been on the sand since he was the size of my finger. It was recommended to us by a breeder, and I guess I hadn't done enough research on substrate. I think I might switch out to a play sand/potting soil mix for the two of them.

 

[DracoLord510]

http://s1344.photobucket.com/user/patrickm510/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsq78zvqty.jpg.html?o=0#/user/patrickm510/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsq78zvqty.jpg.html?o=0&_suid=142566146595709841951712755453

Here's a picture of my big guy Java this morning enjoying the sunlight.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

He looks great sitting in the sun.
The washed & sifted playsand would be a good change, it has much less impaction incidences, too.
I am glad to hear that he did eat also, he must be feeling quite a bit better now.
He also could have just been a bit dehydrated & had some harder than usual urates.

Tracie

 

[DracoLord510]

Java went to the vet Saturday. His x-rays came out clear, and the vet (who owns six dragons) told us that it looks like Java managed to pass a small impaction on his own, but may have stretched his vent too much getting it through. So we were given some sort of medicine to soak him in and they instructed us to only feed soft stuff for the next week or so.

 

[CooperDragon]

That's good news, hopefully he'll be able to recover from that pretty quickly =)