IMPACTED???

[chucksaurus]

my little lizard dune is acting very strange,sometimes. occasionaly(usualy when i pick her up and accidentaly put a little pressure on her tummy she flattens herself as much as possible, gets very stiff and opens her mouth as wide as she can. she usualy stops in about 15- 20 seconds then she goes limp for about 10 seconds, then shes fine, running around and everything. however i think she hasnt been pooing and she isnt eating much. whats wrong with her and how do i help??!

 

[Fogles]

Could you answer a few of the following questions.

How old is your dragon?
How long have you had your dragon?
How long is your dragon?
What is the sex of your dragon?
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?
Do you use UVB lights?
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb?
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?
How old is your UVB bulb?
How close can your dragon get to the UVB?
Do you use a separate basking bulb?
What are the basking temps?
What is the cool side temp?
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun?
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps?
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad? Nope.
What do you feed your dragon?
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)?
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc?
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)?
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?
Do you bath your dragon? How often?
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath?
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done?

 

[chucksaurus]

Could you answer a few of the following questions.

How old is your dragon? im not exactly sure , when i got them the old owner said they were hatched last febuary
How long have you had your dragon?since december 8th
How long is your dragon? about 6 inches
What is the sex of your dragon?female
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?30" by 12.5" by 12.5"
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?soft shelf liner
Do you use UVB lights?yes, T-rex active UV heat murcury vapor light
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb?murcury vapor
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?100 watt
How old is your UVB bulb?a few days old, i just got it to fix the problem,before i had a regular 100 watt lightbulb for heat and a old 60 watt day glow heat lamp that came with them and i hadnt gotten the good lamp yet
How close can your dragon get to the UVB?about 9 inches
Do you use a separate basking bulb?no
What are the basking temps?im not sure it feels about 85-90
What is the cool side temp?around maybe 70 degres
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun? for now just guessing at the temps by touch, still looking around my house for my old stick on thermometers
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps? floor of cool side, log top of basking log
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad? Nope.yes but its a small one and on the side so they can cuddle next to it if need be
What do you feed your dragon? mostly crickets, they dont like eating their veggies
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)? once, hunting then hand feeding around 4pm
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc? yes, cricket quencher with added calcium and fish food flakes with reptivite and calcium supplement shaken in
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)?reptivite vitamins and reptocal calcium
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?i dont know, more are building up but it might just be dune i dont watch them constantly
Do you bath your dragon? How often?now that i noticed her doing this, yes once a day.
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath?no misting, they have a water bowl and i offer drops of water untill thy stop drinking(from a medicine dropper)
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?yes one other,male , i dont bathe him very often he eats more and he is a little bigger but other than those he is about the same and normal/healthy
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done?no

 

[chucksaurus]

wierd, she just did it again, this time when dune pushed her off the basking log. do you think it might be just her way of crying?

 

[Fogles]

If you have a mercury vapor bulb in a 30gallon tank, your temps are going to be higher than 90degrees.
Probably not a good idea to have a MVB in a 30gallon tank.

The opening of the mouth is probably fine, just thermagating.

How long have the two beardies been housed together? The not eating and not pooping could be a sign of dominance issues. I would suggest you seperate the beardies, especially in a 30 gallon tank.

I would get rid of the heat pad, since dragons have heat sensors on their heads, they will try to get warm but it will just burn them.

 

[chucksaurus]

they have been housed together since being hatched, the person who i got them from said, and the hat pad is at closest 1 inch away plus only gets at most (to my touch) warm, barely, also idk wut this means but the lamp says "self balisted mercury vapor lamp". i still have yet to find the thermometers but when i do, il let u know the tempratures.

 

[Fogles]

they have been housed together since being hatched, the person who i got them from said, and the hat pad is at closest 1 inch away plus only gets at most (to my touch) warm, barely, also idk wut this means but the lamp says "self balisted mercury vapor lamp". i still have yet to find the thermometers but when i do, il let u know the tempratures.

Does the male lay on top of the female when basking? Does he try and prevent her from eating?

 

[chucksaurus]

no actualy dust, the (possibly) sick female, lays on top of him(he armwaves whenever i walk into the room or when she comes out of the cave, he seems to be the least dominant one), also, i feed them sepratly in the feeding cage.

 

[diamc]

The male just pushed her off the basking log? That is not good, definitely a sign of dominance which is only going to get worse. Also, having a male & female together means that they will breed especially since they are both about 1 yr old. You should separate them asap before some injuries (or even worse) occur.

A MVB is not recommended in anything smaller than a 40 gallon tank as they throw off a lot of heat and give off strong UV rays. The stick-on thermometer that you're trying to find won't do any good as they are very inaccurate. You need either a temperature gun or a digital thermometer with a long wire & probe end to get accurate readings so I suggest you get one as soon as you can. The 100 watt T-Rex should be a minimum of 12" from your beardie when using at least a 40 gallon tank because of the heat & strength they produce so that could be part of the reason she is acting that way as well as being very stressed from the males behavior.

I suggest you make these changes very soon.

 

[chucksaurus]

well, not pushed her off, she got on top of him and he adjusted to be comferoble with her on him, and she fell.


anyway, your explaining all the problems that my tank has, but there still hasnt been an explanation to what she is doing , why she is doing it or how to fix it if she is sick somehow.

 

[diamc]

Actually, dominance issues do occur that way. She wanted to be on the basking area and he didn't want her there so he moved so she would fall off. I'm talking from experience with this, sorry to say.

The strong T-Rex with the high temps it produces could be causing her issues you're noticing. So, you should make the necessary adjustments of height, tank size, and heat to see if it helps as well as picking up another tank to make it safer for both of them. That would be a good start.

 

[chucksaurus]

ummm i got the new light to help them, if thats what was causing it then how come she did it with the old lights.

 

[Fogles]

ummm i got the new light to help them, if thats what was causing it then how come she did it with the old lights.

You should either upgrade your tank to a 40gallon, or get ReptiSun 10.0 Tube bulb and a basking light.

 

[diamc]

She may very well be impacted if she hasn't been pooping normally. If the male hasn't been allowing her to bask when she needs to, that will affect her digestion making the food just sit in her belly causing her to feel uncomfortable. Now with the MVB in that small tank, it may also cause her to not be able to bask even more because that bulb is too hot and too strong to get near, so the problems may even get worse. You really need to make some changes very soon, including getting a decent thermometer and changing the lights around, getting another tank so they can be separated, etc. Giving frequent baths and massaging her on the right side from the armpit to vent area will help move a possible impaction. Please keep us updated on her. Sounds like a lot of different things are causing this worrisome behavior.

It would be a good idea to try to push the greens/veggies as that will help with her possible impaction too. Here's a site that shows the best to feed: http://www.beautifuldragon.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html How often are you dusting with calcium and vitamin supplements?