i havent got a clue whats wrong?!!

[misch777]

Hi All,

My beardy Jeremy is a bit poorly
i gave him his usual yellow peppers & crickets after work today & about an hour later i noticed he was sat gaping. I could see his throat full of sand & stuck to his tongue & he seemed to be flicking to get rid of it. I took him out to inspect further & thought i'd give him a warm bath to see if i could help, he did a poo while he was in there. After a while of feeding him some bits of water he spat up about 2 crickets & then when we picked him up his entire stomach contents emtied into the sink!! He went very limp after this & now is still sat with his mouth wide open still??

Im very confused as ive never heard of any of this before & it was very scary watching his stomach contents empty into my sink!!

Please help

Thankyou
Misch

 

[misch777]

ooh, i forgot to say, hes been through a bad shed just lately, hes been shedding on & off for about 5 weeks.

 

[diamc]

Hi there, welcome to the forum. Sorry that your beardie isn't doing well. How long have you had him and how old is he? You mentioned that he had some sand in his mouth, was it calci-sand, vita-sand or play sand? Are the crickets you're feeding larger than the space between his eyes?

We also need to know more about your setup. What are the temps and what type of thermometer are you using to check them? What brand & type of UVB are you using ex: coil, compact, strip fluorescent or mercury vapor bulb? How close to the UVB is your beardie? What size tank is it and what is the wattage of the basking bulb? What else does he eat besides yellow peppers and crickets? How often do you use calcium and vitamin supplements?

We really want to help and the sooner you can answer these questions for us, the quicker we can try to address what might possible be going on. How is your beardie doing now?

 

[zebraflavencs]

A mouthful of sand ?
Oooh that doesn't sound good at all !
Try this...
some sugar free applesauce with a drop or two of olive oil, warm. This encourages poo, and perhaps this will help !
I would also get a hold of your vet, I am thinking that this is serious business !
I'll try to get a Mod in here to help too !
Aha ! Speak and Diane shows up !
Janie.

 

[diamc]

Hi Janie. I also wanted to mention that you should remove the sand right away because if he is ingesting enough to have his throat full of it, that is very, very serious. So, suggest you get rid of it and even replace with paper towels for now. You can get non-adhesive shelf liner, slate tiles, reptile carpet, etc later on. Does he still have any sand in his mouth or on his tongue? Does he still have his mouth wide open? Is his beard and/or end of his tail darker than the rest of his body?

 

[misch777]

Ok, so after putting him back in him tank i had to give him another bath coz he filled him mouth up with sand again... ive removed all the sand & replaced it with newspaper for the time being.

Hes approx 18 months old it was calci sand i was using. the crickets vary from babies to no bigger than the space between his eyes(hes been eating these for around 6 months & never had a problem) the temp in basking is 100-110 & i use one of those little round thermometres to read it (sorry cant remember the brand). The UVB bulb is (i think) an exo terra strip flourescent bulb which sits around 6-8 inches above him.the tank size is a weird one... he has about 20 gallons on the bottom (basking area) then about 20 gallons on the top which is where he goes when hes sleeping or being grumpy. The basking bulb is 100watt (just a normal household one as they are cheaper & was told they are fine to use). Apart from yellow peppers & crickets he eats watercress, hes a very picky lizard & will only eat certain veg! I supplement his crickets with vitamin pellets when i get them so they have time to take in the nutrients.

I woke up this morning & hes still got his mouth wide open, there is definately no sand in there now. Im a bit worried how much of it hes swallowed though?! Im taking him to the vets hopefully today to see whats up.

 

[Lish]

I am so very sorry to hear about your bearded dragon. I cryed when i read this. I hope all went well with your vet visit. Let everyone know about what you found out so it could possibly help someone else in the future. The people on here are great and will help you when they can.
I do hope all is well

 

[misch777]

I took Jeremy to the vets yesterday & although he couldnt seem to find anything wrong (its so hard to find a specialist reptile vet around here) he said it more than likely hes just eaten a lot of sand & its not sitting well with him. He gave him some liquid parrafin to help him poo & hes done a little poo today. i inspected it & the WHOLE thing was just sand!!! poor little guy must feel awful! Hes eating again today & seems lively & pretty happy but hes still got his mouth wide open?! Im going to give him the sugar free aplle sauce & oil for the next few days to help him along & if hes no better by next week i'll take him back for an x-ray.

Thanks for your help guys

 

[causeascene203]

Yikes, he's probably pretty full of sand. Just make sure you keep him really hydrated while you're using trying to help him pass all the sand. They can dehydrate really quickly.