HELP. I came home to this.

[beezylee]

Hi guys, I am completely sick to my stomach and filled with worry! I was at work today and my fiancé came home from running errands to this in our beardies cage. I have multiple beardies at the moment in different enclosures. I also had a beardie(milo) for 9 years. He passed away the beginning of last year. And I have never in my life had any blood or injury with my reptiles so I have no idea what this could be? Also, I wasn’t home at the time of it so my guy had to clean it up and clean up the beardie. I asked him where it seemed to come from, he thinks the vent area- butt area. Slim (our beardie) was somewhat by it just laying there like normal. He said it didn’t seem like it really came out of anywhere but it obviously had to and he didn’t send me pics of it on our beardie. So I tried to get as much info about it as I could of what he saw and he said it just seemed to be by that area but didn’t look like it came out anymore at that point just a very tiny bit on the vent area… so he couldn’t tell what was going on because it wasn’t anywhere on our beardie. Just a very teeny amount there so that’s obviously where it had to come from or maybe he threw it up?? I have no idea and tried researching it. I am so worried. And it seems like a lot of blood for a little creature. He’s not full grown yet but almost. Please if anyone can give me ANY KIND OF EXPERIENCED RESPONSE, that would be greatly appreciated. It’s Saturday night very late, and we contacted a vet ER but they are quite far from where we are so I plan on taking Slim to the vet but until then I’m just beside myself not knowing if slim is in pain or sick or what is going on. We love all our babies so much. I can’t stand knowing he might be in pain or having something serious going on. SIDE NOTE: please do not criticize on the little mess on slims tile, he likes to run through his food and when we give him mealworms address a little snack, it is inevitable keeping it clean at that time and I was at work all night. His cage is very clean and well provided for. I clean all their cages everyday after going potty, running around, feeding the mealworms/veggies/fruits, protein we do not feed in their home enclosures. We have a separate tank for feeding insects, ect. Slims behavior hasn’t been off or concerning. He’s been eating very normal. Sleeping/brumating at times pretty normal. We had some concerns with his jaw/beard/glands area when he was younger because they looked way bigger than our other beardies and somewhat swollen but since he has grown it doesn’t look like much different anymore. Any questions or anything else needed to help, don’t hesitate to ask! Please HELP!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

So sorry, they always cause us worry & on the weekends no less!
Is his beard dark at all?
Is there a chance he ate something red like strawberries or cherries that could be responsible?
What other type of insects are you feeding him, other than the mealworms? Be sure the insects
aren't too big for him to cause an impaction.
Let us know how he is doing. You mentioned that you had a vet to take him to?

Tracie

 

[beezylee]

Hello,

So sorry, they always cause us worry & on the weekends no less!
Is his beard dark at all?
Is there a chance he ate something red like strawberries or cherries that could be responsible?
What other type of insects are you feeding him, other than the mealworms? Be sure the insects
aren't too big for him to cause an impaction.
Let us know how he is doing. You mentioned that you had a vet to take him to?

Tracie

Yes. They are a worry but it’s because we care so much Lolol his beard is not dark and hasn’t really been. Our other beardie likes to show his dark beard off throughout the week because he’s always wanting attention constantly. But slim is pretty laid back. And I don’t think his beard has ever been black yet since we got him as a baby. He didnt eat anything red lately. He’s been eating mustard greens, collard greens, peeled carrots sprinkled in the greens, crickets, Dubia roaches, and the mealworms here and there at the moment. I mean maybe he had a dubia that was too big for him? That could be but we try to feed him the size that is best for him. Which would by small-medium right now. Sometimes our dealer has size changes where the mediums are HUGE so I have to switch and just get more small and feed my medium sized dragons those and feed the baby the really small ones and feed the mediums to my adult dragons. So we usually have a variety of sizes and pick out what they can handle but it’s possible maybe my fiancé fed him ones too big? Could that cause it? And yes I called a ER for reptiles and they told me a couple vets I could take him too, I had a primary vet before for my old dragon that passed away last year but we just got all our dragons within the last 6 months so we haven’t found a new vet because my old one was where I used to live which is more than an hour away.
Also, so far no more blood. But he is pretty lethargic but I can’t tell if it’s because of this or just normal brumating because he’s been in his sleepy cycles on and off this winter. But he is still eating normal? And seems pretty normal, he doesn’t seem in pain. But I’m worried we just can’t tell, if he really is. I gave him a warm bath. And I bathe them regularly to make sure they are hydrated and shedding comfortably. Regularly meaning twice a month. Unless they aren’t pooping or need to be cleaned because of something. I just don’t know what it could be and feel so bad for him. He’s such a sweetie.

 

[LittleFairySoul]

Has he been tested for parasites? My guy was passing blood and it ended up being parasites. After treatment he was fine

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Sometimes too large of insects can cause GI distress, yes. How is he doing today? I know that a lot
of them are still sleepy & brumating right now since it is still cold.
Are his stools normal & are his urates hard or soft right now?
I agree, maybe get a fecal exam done, if you can to help determine if something is going on internally.
I'm glad that there hasn't been more blood recently, that's a good sign!
Is he maintaining his weight?

Tracie

 

[beezylee]

Hello,

Sometimes too large of insects can cause GI distress, yes. How is he doing today? I know that a lot
of them are still sleepy & brumating right now since it is still cold.
Are his stools normal & are his urates hard or soft right now?
I agree, maybe get a fecal exam done, if you can to help determine if something is going on internally.
I'm glad that there hasn't been more blood recently, that's a good sign!
Is he maintaining his weight?

Tracie

His stools are normal. Nothing weird or inconsistent there. And his urates. They are both big and healthy looking. Not too runny and not too hard just a normal mushy stool Lolol sorry! He is seeming okay for now besides a little of the sleepy side. I mean I’m still pretty worried because he just looks like he’s done a bunch of Benadryl. He seems just very fatigue. But he still is eating, drinking, and moving around normal. Other than having some sleepy days. He looks a little less bloated. Before he seemed bloated to me or swollen. And now he looks normal. So that’s why I was worried if he had something in him… I heard they can release blood from their eyes or mouth? We haven’t taken him to the vet because money was tight this last week. But next week I plan to once we make some more. I feel horrible. But we will definitely get it taken care of. We pour all our hearts, time, energy and money into our lizard babies. I just worry until then and even after because I hope they can figure it out. We have another issue with our other bearded. Her arm is bent out of shape and it wasn’t like that before. I mean she always had a limp, and we thought she was just gimpy because one leg is shorter than the other. And there were no visible problems then and we bought her from a reptile expo as a baby. And her arm has always been a little shorter than the other but now the same arm has a lump that wasn’t there before so I’m just worried about them both. We have 6 beardies altogether. Two adults that are healthy and thriving. Another girl the same size as him (slim) and Maeve (the one w the limp, bump) and a baby Zeke. I’ve had beardeds before for 13 years so it’s not new to me taking care of them. But this is new because I didn’t have any blood with the others or my ones before or injuries or lumps. So I’m trying my best to figure out how to make them the most comfortable until we can take them to the vet next week. Thank you for responding! The fecal exam I get done through the vet? Or is there something I can buy to test it myself until then?

 

[beezylee]

Hello,

Sometimes too large of insects can cause GI distress, yes. How is he doing today? I know that a lot
of them are still sleepy & brumating right now since it is still cold.
Are his stools normal & are his urates hard or soft right now?
I agree, maybe get a fecal exam done, if you can to help determine if something is going on internally.
I'm glad that there hasn't been more blood recently, that's a good sign!
Is he maintaining his weight?

Tracie

His stools are normal. Nothing weird or inconsistent there. And his urates. They are both big and healthy looking. Not too runny and not too hard just a normal mushy stool Lolol sorry! He is seeming okay for now besides a little of the sleepy side. I mean I’m still pretty worried because he just looks like he’s done a bunch of Benadryl. He seems just very fatigue. But he still is eating, drinking, and moving around normal. Other than having some sleepy days. He looks a little less bloated. Before he seemed bloated to me or swollen. And now he looks normal. So that’s why I was worried if he had something in him… I heard they can release blood from their eyes or mouth? We haven’t taken him to the vet because money was tight this last week. But next week I plan to once we make some more. I feel horrible. But we will definitely get it taken care of. We pour all our hearts, time, energy and money into our lizard babies. I just worry until then and even after because I hope they can figure it out. We have another issue with our other bearded. Her arm is bent out of shape and it wasn’t like that before. I mean she always had a limp, and we thought she was just gimpy because one leg is shorter than the other. And there were no visible problems then and we bought her from a reptile expo as a baby. And her arm has always been a little shorter than the other but now the same arm has a lump that wasn’t there before so I’m just worried about them both. We have 6 beardies altogether. Two adults that are healthy and thriving. Another girl the same size as him (slim) and Maeve (the one w the limp, bump) and a baby Zeke. I’ve had beardeds before for 13 years so it’s not new to me taking care of them. But this is new because I didn’t have any blood with the others or my ones before or injuries or lumps. So I’m trying my best to figure out how to make them the most comfortable until we can take them to the vet next week. Thank you for responding! The fecal exam I get done through the vet? Or is there something I can buy to test it myself until then? And yes no blood since so that’s a good thing so far! But still need to understand why and where it came from to make sure he’s okay and not in pain nor sick.

 

[beezylee]

Has he been tested for parasites? My guy was passing blood and it ended up being parasites. After treatment he was fine

No he has not since being with us. We got him from the pet smart here in town. He was very underweight when we got him. He was there for about two weeks in a tank by himself and not w the other baby beardies. I asked about him and if he was sick or something else. They said they just didn’t have room for him in the other tanks. We got him because of this and because he was just beautiful and sooo little and skinny. We wanted him to have a good home. And he has grown and done very well since then. He started putting weight on finally after a few weeks of being with us. And seems very normal and happy. Besides brumating and being sleepy. He eats the same, his stools are very normal and healthy looking. The only issue he had when we brought him home from the store was his mouth. He would contract it. And push it his beard out A LOT. And it looked swollen to us. But then it went down. I tried doing research on it because it looked like his nodes-glands area right behind his beard were swollen along w under his beard and I know they can store food there. But it went away. So since then ( approx 5-6 months he’s been looking healthy and happy until a week or so ago, he seemed very bloated all over. And then this happened. I didn’t think anything of it cause sometimes all of them look a little fatty after eating. But since the blood there’s been no more and stools are fine, his body is normal. So it could be a parasite since he hasn’t been tested… or maybe a abscess? As I’ve stated I have 6 beardeds the other four have no issues whatsoever at the moment. And my other beardeds I’ve had throughout my life I’ve taken to the vet for checkups and such and never had any issues. Nothing so I’ve never really dealt with them being like this and I’m just trying to see what I can figure out and do for the two I’m seeing issues with until we can get them to the vet. Which should be next week. We don’t have any reptile-exotic vets near us so we have to drive about 1 hour n 1/2 or we can take them to the ER if something happens again it’s just 400 down to even take them in when I called a bunch of places. And it’s the only animal ER we have. I but I will have him tested when we take him for sure!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

You are thinking of the horny toad that can shoot blood from the eyes, as a defense mechanism.
Bearded dragons don't have that abilty!
Based on his history during the time you have had him, he sounds pretty normal Since he hasn't
had anymore blood with the stool, it probably isn't parasites. An abscess would be more severe but
not real likely. It is very costly to go to a reptile vet IF you can even find one within a decent mileage
from you.
Since he seems to be eating fairly well, maybe you could just add some bee pollen a few times per
week to help boost his appetite. Plus, it is healthy overall for him, too.
You mentioned his beard isn't swollen anymore either? The can hold food & fluids in it, yes for short
or longer periods of time.
They love pushing their beards out for us too, & will do that just for fun or when stretching out the skin
before a shed, or displaying for the other dragons of opposite sex, etc.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie