Nothing is fixing my stressed out beardie...

[sirenique]

So as some of you might know, my 4-5 mo. old beardie Bones and I are having a sleepover at my mom's house this weekend while I housesit/catsit for her. This is not the first time Bones has ever been to a new place; there was a whole week where he was a refugee from my apartment during inspections that he stayed with me at work in his 10gal tank and was totally okay with it. He's in the 10gal tank this time, but he's just a bit too big for it -- to remedy this I have been letting him bask under his lamp for a couple hours, then taking him out and letting him run about my bedroom so that he doesn't feel cramped. Because his tank is so small and he's so big it's really hard to create a hot/cool environment, but I have the heat lamp on one side of the cage, and when I see him get down from his perch under the lamp, I assume he's getting a bit hot and take him out to let him run around my cooler room where he can access his water and greens. Sometimes when he's in his cage, he starts getting really active and flipping out, but I don't know what he's doing -- he's not really snout rubbing, he's more like psychotically trying to dismantle everything in his cage for no particular reason. He even dove into my pile of pillows and burrowed under a pile of them which he has never done; he usually treats pillows as though they are mountains for him to climb.

He's eating crickets with enthusiasm, and hesitantly eating his greens. He wants nothing to do with his water, and he hasn't pooped since he's been here (about 24 hours). I'm about to try giving him a bath, and I'm keeping the cats out of the bedroom so he hasn't seen them. When I let him out of his tank, he has no interest in exploring like he usually does. He has stress marks constantly; when he's sleeping, when he's basking, when he's sitting, when he's eating. His substrate in his cage is mostly newspaper and some comfy blanket material so he can snuggle in there at night, so I'm not thinking he's impacted. He doesn't look or really feel impacted; his belly is soft except for right near his vent, which is a little hard and I'm assuming is due to his constipation.

Ideas/suggestions? Am I overreacting to a very normal reaction by my dragon to a new place?

 

[Beardednoob]

Baths would be a start, slightly warm the water more then usual. This will better relax him. During the bath give a gentle belly massage. Don't over do it though, if he looks like it is bothering him stop. Some discomfort on his part is normal. After the bath I would let him bask, one thing to consider is you are bringing him out of his enclosure away from the warmth and wanting him to pass fecal. Maybe try and arrange a place you can lay out the newspaper and his light above him, without the enclosure. If he still doesn't pass then a couple drops of olive oil in his food might help. I have never tried the oil, so I cannot comment too much on it. The other thing that would work is movement on his part, activity levels can affect his bowel movements. His he is not willing to move on his own then you can coax him by touching the base of his tail, kinda rub the sides. This sorta sends a jolt through some sensitive nerves in the location. Works on my dragons.

 

[Gail]

Nothing about his behavior point to impaction, it most likely stress due to being in a new enviro.

 

[sirenique]

Thank you guys for all the advice; the bath and stomach massage as recommended fixed his constipation and I was really grateful for that. He's still very sluggish, but he's starting to eat more greens now that he's not backed up... after that, I let him crawl around on the linoleum flooring in another room, and his stress marks definitely diminished so I'm thinking he's a) freaked out from all the transportation and b) not able to regulate his body temp as much in his small viv as opposed to his big viv, and he's uncomfortable because of it.

I think maybe some extra cuddles tonight with me will help him feel a bit more comfortable =) poor bitty Bones.

 

[Beardednoob]

Thank you guys for all the advice; the bath and stomach massage as recommended fixed his constipation and I was really grateful for that. He's still very sluggish, but he's starting to eat more greens now that he's not backed up... after that, I let him crawl around on the linoleum flooring in another room, and his stress marks definitely diminished so I'm thinking he's a) freaked out from all the transportation and b) not able to regulate his body temp as much in his small viv as opposed to his big viv, and he's uncomfortable because of it.

I think maybe some extra cuddles tonight with me will help him feel a bit more comfortable =) poor bitty Bones.

I am glad this worked out for you.