Impacted beardie? Please help

[Kaitlynmilo]

Hey guys, I'm in a bit of a panic. My little guy hasn't eaten much yesterday and today I tried to feed him and he's not doing it. But I noticed when I picked him up, he'd open his mouth and kinda make a gasping sound. I did a check on all of his limbs and all are perfectly fine and he doesn't make any sound. I'm pretty positive it's when I touch like under his belly near his rear is when he would do it. So I'm assuming he's impacted and I probably did cause it because the other day I had to get him a couple of mealworms (yes I know they can't digest them well), but he's had them before in emergency situations (will not eat anything else unless it's alive, veggies, nothing), and I think he like them better than crickets. But either way I think he's impacted. I have him in a warm bath right now and he's moving around, it seems like he's trying to push too because he like got up on his front legs and made that sound again. Is there anything else I can do to help my little guy? I feel like such a terrible mom and I want to do everything I can to help him. Please and thank you!

 

[daughterofMyou]

Bathing him is about the best thing you can do, other than taking him to the vet. The warm water should help him pass a stool. Gently feel around his belly, see if he has any bumps?

 

[EllenD]

You need to go and buy some prune baby food (natural, no sugar added), a can of plain, raw pumpkin from the canned veggie aisle, and a bottle of unflavored Pedialyte (generic Walmart brand is what I buy). Then dump the jar of prune baby food into a little microwave-safe container, add 2-3 tablespoons of the canned pumpkin, and mix it up really well. Then use the unflavored Pedialyte to thin out the slurry to the point that you can feed it to him in an oral syringe (either buy an oral syringe at Walmart, or go to Tractor Supply and buy a box of 3ml Luer-Slip plastic syringes with no needle, they're really cheap and work well). Microwave the slurry for a minute, stir it extremely well so no hot pockets exist, and then fill the oral syringe with the slurry. Test it on your wrist like you do a baby bottle, and when it's warm but not hot, drip it on his snout and wait for him to lick it off, then drip again, he'll lick it off, drip again, etc. Feed him as much of it as he'll eat in one sitting, then let him bask. Give him 3 feeding sessions of this today, then give another warmer than normal bath. If he still doesn't go then feed him more slurry tomorrow morning, let him bask for an hour or two, then bath again. Repeat until he poops. The canned pumpkin combined with the prune baby food acts as a very good natural laxative, and the unflavored Pedialyte will keep him from becoming dehydrated.

And no more mealworms, some beardies can digest them better than others, but some can't digest them at all.