Alright so he has no loose substrate in his tank, and it doesn't seem that he eats any insects with a hard chitlin shell like mealworms or superworms. Crickets have a hard exoskeleton but you would see undigested crickets and/or chitlin shells from mealworms/superworms in his poop if he wasn't digesting them properly, trust me, I just cleared a horrible impaction of mealworm shells in a rescue I took in about 3 months ago, and it was awful. But something I can give you some insight on after this experience with my rescue is the
black beard and what might be going on here.
He actually looks well
hydrated, and I don't see anything in that poop (maybe you did up close) that looks like an impaction risk. But the fact that he
black bearded when he passed that huge poop with hard urates is something that is very familiar to me after my experience with Nix. He had no
black beard at all, at any time, only when he was straining and trying to poop. I immediately started feeding him laxative slurries twice a day from the day I brought him home, as his back legs were partially paralyzed when I got him. His prior owner told me he pooped every day or every other day, but they were small poops, and she thought this was because he wasn't eating much. Well it turns out that he had the biggest, most extreme impaction caused by mealworm shells I've ever seen, it took almost 2 weeks and 3 massive piles of chitlin shells, both loose and encased in fecal matter. He passed 3 of these in 2 weeks, and they looked like massive piles of bark chips, either loose or actually wrapped in poop. He wouldn't start straining to poop until I put him in a
bath, which I did once a day after his second laxative slurry. He would continuously strain to poop throughout the entire
bath, but only 3 times could he actually poop, and that's when he
black bearded, as the poop passed. I thought he was fine after the first one, but nothing changed.
After the third time he passed this stuff he immediately started using his back legs again, he started eating the next day and his legs were fully functional the next day, no more straining, no more issues like this at all. I called his prior owner to tell her what had happened and to verify that he had been pooping daily, she said yes, he pooped small, normal looking poops every day or every other day in his
bath, and there were no shells in his poop. He didn't lose the use of his back legs or his appetite until after a bowel movement he had about a month before I got him.
I spoke to my certified reptile vet at length about this, and he told me that it is possible for a beardie to have something in their intestinal tract that is too large or too hard for them to pass, and still pass small, softer poop past the impaction. He assumed that one of the small, normal poops he did finally pushed the impaction (which was inside him at the very least for over a month) against his spinal column causing pain and discomfort, a lack of appetite, and the paralysis in his back legs. The laxative slurries I gave him slowly pushed the impaction out of him in pieces as it was moved through his intestines by the extra
hydration and loose fecal matter, and since this stuff had been inside him for so long, it was extremely hard and dry, and when it actually passed through his vent it was very painful, causing the
black beard.
So that "granular mass" that your guy has in the x-ray may have been in him for quite a while, while he still had small, normal poops. That mass inside his intestinal tract was no doubt causing a lot of gas pressure and pain, and possibly nerve pain because it's very close to his spinal column.
Now the question is was that huge, painful bowel movement he just passed the mass that was seen in the x-ray...You'll get your answer if he starts becoming active again, acting normally, and eating on his own again. I'm thinking it was, that's a huge bowel movement that looks extremely hard and dry. I bet if another x-ray was taken now the mass and the gas pocket would be gone, at least I hope so.
Did you see anything abnormal in that poop? Could have been undigested cricket exoskeletons, maybe a fake plant he chewed up, or like Kingofnobby mentioned THE CRICKET QUENCHER GEL!!! I bet if you had looked in that poop you would find that gel pack, beardies seem to love them...And I think the elevated blood protein level was just a coincidence...