I have had her for about two years and I believe that she is about six. Her bedding is sand and I have been trying to change it for some time but due to financial reasons I wasn able to get to it. The problem: This morning I woke up to her breathing heavily with sand in her mouth and eyes. I immediately grabbed a large dish and filled it with warm water and put her in. most of the sand is cleared out of her mouth and eyes but she is very still. every few seconds she breathes heavily. her eyes are very narrow and she is gaping her mouth. at first she was feisty but now she is letting me get close and touch her without reacting. in her current state she is very still with almost no visible breathing apart from every few seconds. she is turning her head sideways and sometimes her whole body(which I make sure to prop her back up) and her mouth is limp and gaping. I will provide any extra info you need. please help! no vets are available in the area
It sounds like she ingested some sand. Is the sand play sand or is it calcium sand? It may be causing impaction and/or respiratory issues. It's hard to tell for sure without diagnostics. It's good that you removed her from the enclosure. Try to clean her off a gently and thoroughly as you can using a damp warm cloth. You can try rinsing her eyes with some plain saline solution if they are clogged. Try to remove any sand you see from her mouth. As far as internal blockages go, there isn't a whole lot you can do that I can think of at the moment.
Remove the sand and put paper towels in for now --- if she is not any better you may haft to take her in to the vet --- here is a website to find a vet www.arav.org
Karrie
Thank you CooperDragon, she is acting the same and has a little sand in her mouth. but the sand in her eyes is gone. she had a little outburst where she jumped out of her bath and tried to run. but I'm happy to at least see her moving. about an hour ago I took her out of her bath and put her on her heat rock on the couch. ( she is not going back in her cage with sand. earlier she seemed to be eating the sand on purpose) as for now she is watching tv on her heat rock and her head is still gaping and tilted but she seems to be calm. when I picked her up she had more of a response, which I think is good. ut might take me a little time to respond, as I'm got getting notifs from this site. but I check regularly.
You can replace the sand w/ paper towels and then some NON adhesive shelf liner from your local home improvement store -- its cheap and easy to clean and insects cant get underneath
Karrie
Sounds like you need to do some investigating -- I would type in the zipcodes closes city to you - you may haft to drive at some point --- I am 30 miles from my vet --- or can you call vets in your area and see if they see bearded dragons sometimes they dont advertise they do mine did not and found her by calling and she is wonderful
Karrie