need some advice from the experts

[ryno71]

hello all,
first let me give you some background on my beardie and where i'm at now. About a month ago my beardie wasn't pooping normally (about once a week) and not eating her veggies. When she did go, her urates were hard and yellow, however the poop was solid. I took her to the vet about 3 weeks ago and he said to hydrate her more frequently. I had a fecal done and she had hookworms. I gave her fluids and she perked up and started pooping normally every day, however the poop was watery (from the excess water i was giving her). One day she bit the tip off the plastic dropper i used to give her fluids. The piece she swallowed was approx. 2mm x 10mm. Pretty small and i'd figured she'd just pass it. Later that day the panacur(1 ml, 50 mg) arrived in the mail and i administered it. This was about a week and a half ago. She stopped pooping and seemed impacted. I took her back to the vet and he gave her an enema. That evening i gave her another enema and some poop and a hard urate plug came out. Unfortunately she went into shock. Jet black beard, her eyes recessed, she stiffened and started "tumbling" to one side. I thought she was a goner. I made her as comfortable as possible. The next morning i checked on her knowing she had to have passed. Miraculously somehow she pulled through! By evening the next day she looked nearly normal, eyes and color bright, no stress marks or black beard. However shes still bloated because the saline from the enema never exited. She even ate 2 small dubia yesterday. I dont want to keep feeding tho cuz she still isn't pooping properly. Today I placed her in the tub with warm water and made her swim. Some poop came out today but she still bloated. Any suggestions to get her to expell the fluids in her?
ps sorry for the insanely long post

 

[tf2185]

I'm by far not an expert, but I can offer you some advice and ask some questions the experts generally ask.

What type of substrate do you have her on? What are her temps in the Viv and what are you using to measure them with? What kind of lights do you have? What type of food does she normally eat and do you dust her food?

I was told, and I'm not 100% sure if this is correct, that hard urates mean dehydration or lack of calcium. Are you dusting her food? I'll let the experts answer any concerns on that part but I'll try to help with the other concerns.

As far as getting the liquids out, have you tried prunes as in juice or the baby food? This would help with possible impaction and getting excess fluids out. Also canned pumpkin, the unseasoned kind might help out too. As far as the not eating thing because she still hasn't been poopong right, you could try giving her baby food, either chicken or squash. It would easier for her to digest then live feeders. I know when my girl was impacted I couldn't imagine just not feeding her so that's what we did and she turned out fine.

 

[AHBD]

I agree that a little bit [ just a few drops ] of baby food prunes, mix with something she likes,maybe fruity flavored] and water should help her to go. Whatever is in should come out. I would never give her am enema again....they can be very harsh [ as you can see ] Use a bit of baby food prunes, canned pumpkin, or veg. oil. I hope she gets better.

 

[ryno71]

thanks for the replies- the floor is tile, basking temp 103F, zoomed 10uv.. reptisun i believe? uv is about 9 inches from her basking spot and is less than 6months old. she normally gets dubias for protein, collards, butternut squash, blueberry, canatlope etc. i dust with herptivite and repcal a few times a week. i have a blood test done and her uric acid levels were ok. I have fed her via needleless syringe squash baby food with a few drops of olive oil yesterday and today, along with pedialyte. i'm afraid to keep feeding because i want her to expell whats already inside. Does anyone think that a 2mm x 10mm piece of plastic could cause impaction? Or could it have been from the dose of liquid panacur? I don't understand why she won't excrete the fluids. i will try and find prunes tomorrow. Any more suggestions?

 

[AHBD]

I doubt it, but there's no sure way to tell unless it would show up on an X-ray. And some dragons just don't have b.m.'s as often when they are mature, but extra hydration + more veggies usually helps.

 

[ryno71]

yeah i'd didn't think so. The only thing i can think of is maybe the panacur killed off the hookworms in her gut, but maybe some were embedded in her intestinal wall and so when they died they caused an inflammatory reaction, thus restricting the passage way. Iike i said i did get a decent amount of poop out after the enema (on tuesday 9/18) and today (9/20) i got a lil bit of poop out in the tub. The reptile vet is in on monday so i guess i'll see what he says. an xray may be needed.