Hi, my male bearded dragon is 4 years old and I just noticed today he was straining to poo. A bit of yellow fluid came out. When I picked him up I noticed his vent is very swollen and hard. He is eating, drinking, running around and very alert. I’ve given him 2 baths and one sugar bath as well as massaged his tummy. I’ve also given him some olive oil and calcium water. I have him lying on a warm hot water bottle with a towel over it for extra warmth. His temps are all in the correct range and I keep him on reptile carpet- no loose substrate. Any one have any advice?
He is definitely male, that I can tell from the pictures.
Did the swelling just show up, the best you can tell?
It sounds like he could be impacted possibly, but not positive.
What types of foods & supplements have you been giving to him?
Continue to soak him, daily along with giving extra fluids & maybe more soft foods in case
he may have some harder stool that is dried, etc.
Let us know how he is doing!
He is definitely male, that I can tell from the pictures.
Did the swelling just show up, the best you can tell?
It sounds like he could be impacted possibly, but not positive.
What types of foods & supplements have you been giving to him?
Continue to soak him, daily along with giving extra fluids & maybe more soft foods in case
he may have some harder stool that is dried, etc.
Let us know how he is doing!
Hi Tracie,
Yes when I took him out of his tank today it was the first time I had noticed the swelling. I saw him straining to poop earlier and went in to clean up the paper towel underneath him. I feed him Zilla Freeze dried vegetable mix, meal worms and can o' grasshoppers. I mix the Zoomed ReptiVite in with his water and get him to drink from there. I think today i'm going to try with the canned pumpkin I have been reading about, and will definitely keep you updated on how he is doing.
Good idea to go with canned pumpkin for sure. Baby food squash, sweet potato and raw honey are also good. Cut out the freeze dried food, at least for now, and only use it sparingly in the future. Hopefully he'll pass this impaction soon.
**update** I took him to the vet, he said to keep doing what I have been and also the warm baths. If he doesn’t pass it in 24 hours I will bring him back. I picked up some baby food - blueberry sweet potato and mixed it with his vitamins. He ate a spoonful and is resting now.
Yeah I’m probably not going to go back to the vet and just continue what I’m doing. I have him another bath when I got home, he drank the warm water and immediately started pushing to poop. White slime came out? The same as this morning. And then he stopped pushing and started to swim. He seems fine I just really want to get whatever in there- out.
How is he doing this evening? Definitely no enemas, they are really not a good idea.
Canned pumpkin, a few drops of olive or coconut oil mixed with sugar free apple sauce
will "hopefully" help out a lot combined with warm baths.
Is his vent still swollen?
Keep us posted on him.
How is he doing this evening? Definitely no enemas, they are really not a good idea.
Canned pumpkin, a few drops of olive or coconut oil mixed with sugar free apple sauce
will "hopefully" help out a lot combined with warm baths.
Is his vent still swollen?
Keep us posted on him.
He’s doing better, it doesn’t look as swollen but definitely still is. He’s still alert and active, I’ve found a few vets about 30 min out that specialize in reptiles and I will be taking him there hopefully tomorrow. Just going to let him rest for the day and hope everything goes well in the morning.
That is good news to hear that the swelling may be slightly less. Poor guy, that just cannot
be real pleasant at all!
I'm glad you were able to find a vet though, pretty close which is great. Let us know how he
is doing. I'm happy that he is active & alert, so hopefully it isn't anything serious.
OKAY. Took him to see an amazing herp vet today. Couldn’t go inside, but she spoke with me over the phone, step by step she took. After her exam she called and said he may be impacted, but she needs xrays. Couldn’t even think of giving an enema because his mucosa membranes were so inflamed nothing was getting in there. She did the x rays and saw no signs on blockage, gave him a warm bath and he passed a nice soft poo. Which she then took to test for parasites. She believes that is was could be causing the inflammation. We were sent home with 4 syringes of ceftazidime and two doses of metacam. The Dr. Will be in touch with us hopefully tomorrow with results.
Good, I do not agree with giving enemas though, so I'm glad to hear the vet didn't do one.
They are many times fatal for them, especially if the vet isn't trained in doing one.
I guess the canned foods were too much for him. I would go with more fresh food now,
instead of the canned.
Be sure you are getting extra fluids into him, especially now that he is on medication.
Let us know how he is doing.
The swelling seems to be going down, the vet thinks so as well. He still hasn’t pooped, and there is water leaking from his butt whenever he crawls up onto anything. I’m still giving baby food and lots of water. Finished the rounds of de worming with Baycox, and also his doses of metacam. Gave him his first injection of ceftazidime and he didn’t mind at all. I’ll post a photo of his vent from tonight about 4 days after his first visit with the vet.
Actually, I agree, it does look much improved!
How many Ceftz injections is he due to receive? Did the vet conclude that there was some
type of impaction that had led to some inflammation or some infection in the area?
I am glad to see that he is getting better now. Keep us posted on him.