Newbie Help: Bloated Beardie

[anamlgrl]

Hi everyone. I am a new beardie owner (well we have three: Atticus (9 in. male), Jasper (5 in. male) & KiKi (5 in. female). They all are housed separately.

My concern is for Atticus. Starting yesterday, he became very bloated. His stomach feels like it is filled with air. It is not hard and he has had a normal bowel movement today. He is a custom (36x26x18) melamine cage. He has a Repti Glo 10.0 UVB compact light (I am ordering Repti Sun bulbs today) and use a 120w household light for heat/basking and 75w red night bulb. His cage is kept between 95 to 100 degrees during the day and at around 80 at night. He has rock to bask on and a log which is kept 12-18 in. from the heat source. His substrate is calci sand.

He eats crickets twice a day that are gut loaded and gets wax worms as a treat. We did give him occasional meal worms but we stopped that. He also gets a daily salad of mustard greens, apples/grapes, carrots & yellow squash. We mist him daily and he has shed once since we had him (2 weeks). We adopted him from a family who didn't pay any attention to him or his habitat needs. On top of that he is still pretty aggressive but we are working with him. We truly adore all three of our beardies.

I have researched online what could be the cause of his bloating but it could be so many things. His eyes seem fine, he is still eating, still going to the bathroom and is generally acting "normal". I did give him a warm bath this morning and massaged his belly lightly. I found no lumps or anything hard. He just fees like he is filled with air. I also need to locate a good herp vet in the area so if anyone knows of one in South Jersey please let me know.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciate & I am happy to be a member of this great site!

 

[catUK]

He looks fine to me- if he's pooing ok then i don't think its anything to be worried about. be careful holding them on their backs- they can't breathe properly this way. Also i would get rid of the calci sand- its known to cause impaction as it can harden in their stomach if ingested.

 

[lauraj1055]

2 votes to get rid of the calci sand.. that is the worse subtrate for them to be on, because they will lick it, and develop a taste for it. It will harden in their stomach and cause them to be impacted. There have been way too many beardies that have suffered from this... Tile (you can get at any home depot or lowes really cheap) on non adhesive shelf liner (walmart). 2 very cheap options, easy to clean so it's much more sanitary..

 

[anamlgrl]

First thank you both for responding. As soon as I read the first response I took out the calci sand, steamed cleaned the entire tank and its furnishing and the laid down tile I already had here at home (I steamed that too). I gave him another warm bath.

Is there anything I can do for him to help him if he did ingest it? Should I just go right to a vet?

I appreciate all the help.

 

[lauraj1055]

First thank you both for responding. As soon as I read the first response I took out the calci sand, steamed cleaned the entire tank and its furnishing and the laid down tile I already had here at home (I steamed that too). I gave him another warm bath.

Is there anything I can do for him to help him if he did ingest it? Should I just go right to a vet?

I appreciate all the help.

Just keep a close eye on him to make sure he keeps pooping.. If he did ingest it, and since you took it out, there is no fear of him injesting more, he may be able to pass it. If he doesn't poo for a couple days, I would give him some olive oil, or baby food prunes, this will help him pass sand.. The first sign of impaction is they will stop pooping. So, keep an eye on it, and you may see the sand pass through his poo. Keep us updated!

 

[anamlgrl]

Atticus has pooped several times over the past two days. He ate today too. He is just so bloated with air??

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Have you put him in a bath lately? Sometimes they will inflate themselves with air when they are in the water & it takes awhile for them to decrease their air/inflation.
Also, the calcisand can cause some impaction problems, if ingested. How long has it been since he has gone to the bathroom?
The soft foods as suggested can help pass an impaction. Warm baths can help as well, with a gentle belly massage & extra oral hydration. Try to keep his tank around 80 at night to help the metabolism rate.

Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

 

[orionandloki]

Sounds like its fine.. but if you do see a concern for compaction.. a warm bath while gently rubbing his belly from top to bottom for about 15-20 mins (keeping the water temp up at all times of course) or if he poops before then then you can stop for the time being... my beardie came to me compacted from day one.... the xray was devastating and we weren't sure he would make it... our vet and us are convinced i saved him using this massaging bath method. he passed during or soon after every bath. i only did these at the most every other day to every three days if he had not passed on his own before then. once he passed on his own i stopped and he's been great since.