Lump in stomach, kind of bloated?

[MadMeeper]

I was holding my beardie, Sandi, yesterday evening and noticed that she has what seems to be a very hard, kind of ridged lump in her tummy area. At first I thought maybe she was impacted, but after giving her a warm soak last night and this morning I've pretty much ruled that out (had a nice normal poop but the lump was still there). It's on her left side, just below the ribcage. Pictures won't do any good since you cant see the lump, only feel it. I don't even know that I'd call it a lump, it's more like a collection of kind of hard lumps. She also seems a bit bloated but that easily could be from me invading her personal space and not being happy about it.

She is able to walk just fine, very attentive, and doesn't seem to have a problem pooping. She didn't want any food last night or this morning but she did eat some kale yesterday afternoon (this is pretty normal for her to not eat every time she sees food, I just leave them out for her and when she's ready to eat she goes for it). She's spent the bulk of this morning basking.


If it doesn't seem to go away or improve within the next day or two I'll make a vet appointment. I just wanted to see if anybody has encountered anything like this so I can know what to expect! Sandi is 15 years old and been in my care since she was about 6 months, so I am ready and expecting health problems to start showing up. I'd just feel a bit better if anybody had experiences they'd like to share.



Other info:
Age: about 15 years!!!
Gender: I'm about 80% certain Sandi is female.
Substrate: Tiles
Lamps: 100wtt heat + UVB fluorescent
Tank size: ~50 gallons
Diet: Assorted greens daily/every other day + crickets twice a week, sometimes waxworms as treats, dubias make their way into her diet about once a month.
Other: Has been burmating/sleeping a lot up until maybe two weeks ago. Still will have a string of 2-3 days where she won't do a whole lot but sleep, but is awake and attentive most days now.

 

[AHBD]

Wow that is really a ripe old age. You obviously take very, very good care of her. Are you sure that her belly feels absolutely different, maybe you never really noticed before ? From what you describe it would make me think of eggs developing.....but at her age ? Or possibly small tumors. X-rays or ultrasound should be able to tell what's going on. Hopefully Sandi is fine + just has a lumpier than usual belly.

By the way, if you'd like to post a pic with her tail arched up [ if it's not too hard on her ] I can tell you for sure if she's a she.

 

[MadMeeper]

Yeah I'm pretty sure she feels different, I've had her for a long time. One thing I DID forget to mention is that anymore since I'm a full time student, I do go several days without handling since the hours that I leave home/get back is when she's snoozin. It's entirely possible that it developed while I was at school and unable to take her out. That would be probably from Wednesday Saturday morning. I still make sure she has food but she doesnt always come out of the tank.

She is still very bloated and was pretty uncomfortable last night. :C I'm going to test her appetite today and see if she's willing to eat. She doesnt SEEM as bothered today as last night but I was also very intrusive. I might take her outside for some sunshine and see if her mood improves.

I'm pretty sure she's a girl, somebody mentioned that she could be a boy but after double and triple checking I'm pretty sure they're wrong. Sandi also was housed with another female for a lot of years (wouldn't do that again) and there was no sexy business happening

But yee Sandi is my baby :> I've made a lot of rookie keeper mistakes on her (as you will when you're a kid) but she's pulled through. Hoping she pulls through this too

 

[MadMeeper]

Okay so an update; after a weekend of her being VERY uncomfortable, I decided to make a vet appointment for her. Lo and behold, not even an hour before her vet appointment, she's 100% fine. Lumps are gone, her appetite is back, not bloated anymore totally back to her usual self. I still don't know WHAT went wrong, but I'm glad she's back to normal!!

 

[AHBD]

Well that's good to hear. Stay well Sandi !

 

[kingofnobbys]

Maybe she was very gasy from something she ate that didn't agree with her and she "outgased" via her rear end ?

If it appeared and disappeared so suddenly , I'd say it's worth the vet checking her over JIC something nasty happened internally.

 

[MadMeeper]

I think she ate too fast or something, the bloating didnt start I realized until after she had eaten a pretty big meal, and she ate very quickly.

It's almost the time of year I take my two beardies in for check ups anyway, so I cancelled the last vet appointment after talking to the vet and just decided I'll take them both in soon. :> If I ever solve the mystery of what really happened I'll post in this thread again or make a new one depending on if this one gets locked! Just glad that Sandi is happy and back to normal haha

 

[4ndyuK]

My beardie has had the same problem, gone off her food and has 2 hard lumps in her belly below the ribcage towards her rear legs.

After a vet consultation and X-ray, I was told that its not eggs nor an impaction as she is passing normal. Even the vet had 'never felt anything like it' :shock:

She has perked up today and eaten live insects but the lumps are still there currently.

I hope, like yours, my beardie's lumps suddenly dissapear! They definitely feel too solid to be gas to me.