red something trying to be pooped?

[GiseleC]

Hi, so one of my beardies has something odd going on. Not sure if this is normal. I've already discussed husbandry in another post so all that is good. He is pooping regularly usually one to two times a day and they are formed with white urate and not that smelly. But I've noticed when he is pooping that there is a ball of red that almost looks like part of his insides that are trying to come out. At first I thought it was some undigested cricket or something but I figured he would have passed that. I mean he is still pooping normal poop and there is no blood in his irate but when I feel his stomach its bumpy/lumpy inside. Any idea what it could be? A few weeks ago the pet store messed up their cricket order and only had larger ones for like a week. So we bought some and only fed the smaller ones and ripped apart the bigger ones. He didn't really eat much that week but did have a couple, could it be some form of impaction? Maybe there was one cricket that was just a bit too big? But then why does it look red when he's trying to poop? Its larger than his normal sized poops too... He seems unaffected by it. Eats sleeps and basks normally. Any I do would be appreciated. Sorry no pics. I'll try but it only lasts a couple seconds then it goes back inside...

 

[AHBD]

Hi Gisele.... can you refresh me on how big he is and whether or not he's drinking ? What you are seeing is either a hemi pene [ the reproductive organ, which there are 2 in lizards if he's definitely a male ] or else his rectum. This will be more serious if it's a rectal protrusion....you definitely will want to keep him well hydrated and avoid ANYTHING that is too large for him to eat. Thankfully it's going back in, but if it pops out then it's called a prolapse and is an emergency. You would immediately soak him in cool sugar water to reduce swelling + it would hopefully go back in. If not, you would need to get to a vet ASAP.

 

[GiseleC]

He is about 8-9 inches long and I'm almost positive its a male. I did the flashlight test and saw what I believe are the hemipenes. The red lump seems too big to be those... He was drinking in the tub but hasn't for a while... He only eats crix that are no larger than the space between his eyes. That large cricket incident one a one time thing. The store only ordered large crix by mistake. I will give him another bath tomorrow and see if that helps... Now that I think about it I never noticed this problem when he was drinking in the tub. I switched his baths to the sink and that's when he stopped drinking in his bath. He used to drink like crazy in the tub. I'll try that tomorrow and see if it helps. Just curious how dehydration could cause this? What are other signs of dehydration and I hadn't noticed anything other than this issue. Thanks for your help!

 

[AHBD]

You're welcome ! Dehydration could contribute to constipation because the animal has to push harder to expel the waste. It's similar with humans who don't drink enough, it's just harder to push fecal matter out. So with beardies, that can be a result....they push harder than they would need to in order to expel the poo. It could also happen with a heavy parasite load or when trying to push out feces that is impacted because it was too large [ possibly due to a prey item that was too large]

You might also get him to drink if you spray or drip water on his snout gently.

 

[GiseleC]

That makes sense.. I always drip water on his snow during bath time but since I switched to the sink he stopped drinking during bath. Must not like something about it. I'll bathe him in the tub tomorrow morning and if he drinks I'll give him another bath later on. He was well hydrated from what I could tell before. He drank a lit in the tub. What are other signs I can look for in the future? What about his lumpy stomach? My other dragon who's is in a separate tank doesn't feel like that from what I can tell.

 

[GiseleC]

I don't think it would be parasites as he seems healthy in behavior and his poop doesn't smell strong. ( no ones poop smells good lol but its not strong smelling and I clean it right away when I'm around).

 

[AHBD]

Beardies bellies do get lumpy at times....there are threads about that every now + then and it isn't generally any health problem. Having said that, he could be a little bloated from the larger crickets. Even if they were ripped apart to be given in smaller pieces, the pieces are harder and more difficult to digest. But he should hopefully be fine since he's pooing as of now.

 

[GiseleC]

That cricket incident was about 3 1/2 to 4 weeks ago and he has not had a problem pooping at all. There was about a week where he was eating baby food because the crix were too big and we did not feel comfortable feeding them to him. After that he had phoenix worms and now small/ pinhead crickets. His poops look good, but he could still be dehydrated, I switched to the sink a couple weeks ago and never thought that he might not be getting enough water since he was always a good drinker.. I'll see if the tub thing works tomorrow.