impacted?

[jamesGriffith]

hello everyone sorry for not being able to send pics but i got a baby bearded dragon from a local petstore and i got the cage setup and all that sort of thing, and he seemed to be doing fine for about 3 ish months. now he is still acting 100% normal and such but his belly seems a little bloated? he does seem to have slight lumps on the very far left and very far right side of his belly but not in the middle. im not sure if these are just "organs" that im feeling that feel like a lump or what but i feed him around 6 crix at a time, twice a day becuase thats what the petstore person said. 1 crix per inch or somthing like that? anyways there calcium dusted he has all the appropriate lighting and such, so it just seems strange to me that something would be an issue. i plan on looking for a local reptile vet Asap but thought i would try this first. if he does continue to go poo does this mean he isnt impacted and could be somthing else? or am i just paranoid lol. im not sure if there belly should look a little big or what, this is my first dragon. anyways please help. thanks

 

[BeardieMommy3991]

If he is impacted, you should be able to feel a lump in his belly- they are normally soft and non lumpy. But the fact that he is still pooping means it shouldn't be impaction. :shock: Petstores often give the wrong information to sell products, so hopefully they at least gave you some of the right stuff.

I can't see your substrate, but it needs to be a solid one. aka NOT sand/wood chips/ etc. Often sold as good bedding, they can be eaten nd cause impaction. Paper towels are good, as is tile, repticarpet, and nonadhesive shelf liner.

The bulb that you need is really one of 2. The rest have issues, XP. The two best bulbs are the arcadia 12% and the Reptisun 10.0 tube (bought cheapest at http://www.petmountain.com) The wrong uvb can cause digestion problems and appetite issues.

Temps need to be high enough to digest. He needs at least 100-105 on his basking spot, mid 90s for the hot side, and mid 80s for the cool side. You can use a clear household lightbulb to attain these- you don't need an expensive fancy one.

If you fear impaction, the best thing to help will be a warm bath, up to his shoulders. Keep the temps warm, but not hot enough to burn your inner wrist. Rub his tummy from shoulder to vent. The warm water and massage should encourage pooping.

A beardie generally is pretty pudgy if fed well.

Keep us informed. I'm sure he is just fine

As a side note- his feeding info is crap. Sorry for being blunt, but you will starve that poor thing like that. I know my little one can eat up to 80 crickets a day! He needs to be fed 2-3 times a day, as much as he will eat in 10 minutes. I suggest ordering online,this will save you tons. The crickets he eats should be no larger than the space between his eyes.

 

[jamesGriffith]

wow thanks man really helpful into, especially about the feeding into. he has a all the required lighting and such but i didint know about the crix amount. do you know a descent place i can order some from? normally i go to a local petstore and its like 6 dollars for 2 dozen so its pretty damn costly considering at times he can go threw that in a day. (atleast eating the amount of crickets i was told to give him). he used the bathroom lastnight so he seems to be fine now and the petstore guy showed us some kind of "certification" when we asked and such if he could help haha thats why we assumed he knew what he was talking about, he gave us a dozen free crickets and some mealworms (small) and said these were good for him, but most places i see online now say mealworms not good for babies... so irritating rofl.

 

[BeardieMommy3991]

don't I know it Xp. luckily I did my research online instead of by pet store. There are a bunch of good places to order crickets. I personally used LLLReptile, which ran 18-20 dollars for 1000-2000 crickets, but I believe there was one going around with 13 dollars for that many.

To store them, you can use a 25 gallon plastic bin. Just cut a hole out of the top and glue mesh (so the crix don't fall out if you knock it over. I don't use a lid, and they can't climb or jump out. You can feed the crickets with cornmeal or cricket feed, which is pretty cheap. Greens like lettuce or the greens that get too old for your beardie are great to feed the crix (gives them their water content) Make sure to put some cardboard egg cartons (comes with the crickets) and some paper towel tubes in the bin so the crix don't crush each other. They can live like this for a few months.

 

[jamesGriffith]

is shipping normally really expensive? i checked out LLLReptile but it wants me to enter my card info before i see shipping rofl. i know it sounds dumb but last time i tried to order i got charged extra like 25 dollars ish for overnight shipping i didint even choose

 

[BeardieMommy3991]

I hink it was 25-28 for the price and shipping.