Ridiculously Plump Beardie

[Damieboo]

So I have a ridiculously fat bearded dragon. She was a rescue that I nabbed from Facebook about 2-3 weeks ago. She was found swimming around in a pool and a nice guy pulled her out. Luckily this is in Arizona so temps were around 80 that day. MOVING ON, I noticed after the first week that she had a really plump belly. But if I pick her up, her belly "deflates" until I put her down and she relaxes her abdominal muscles. I chalked it up to malnourishment from being outside as I know malnourishment can cause your stomach to bloat. But it's been 2 weeks of daily hydrating and feedings and she's filled out fine, but her stomach is still so big. I'm pretty sure she has parasites because her poos smell terrrrrrrrrible, so I gave her a dose of Panacur and that cut down the smell by quite a bit. That was 5 days ago. Can worms cause her stomach to bloat like that? I've felt around in her tummy but there's no lumps, just feels like air or something. Attached some pictures of her. Her name is Panoodle. Cross between Pancake and Noodle (like the pool noodles). :love5:

(excuse the mess of her tank...was in the process of cleaning up the present she threw all over the walls :S )

Her tummy when she's not "relaxed".

 

[CooperDragon]

She was out enjoying her daily swim, minding her own business and somebody just scooped her up out of the pool? The nerve ;-). Thanks for taking her in! She looks like she's in relatively good shape for a rescue. I'd definitely keep up the treatment for parasites, but I'd also give her a hearty dose of probiotics. She could have a gut imbalance of some sort that is causing problems. If she's puffing and deflating, it could also be her lungs. Does her mouth look like it has thick mucous? Or is she coughing regularly?

 

[Damieboo]

Nope, no coughing, although she did have some sort of black crusty substance on her lips. I wasn't sure if it was from her trying to eat inedible things or if she rubbed her mouth on something hard while outside. It went away after 2 shower/baths. I haven't had a chance to check the inside of her mouth because she's a butt when it comes to me touching her head. Anywhere else is a-ok but if I touch the top of her head, she zooms away. Never did find out if she was abandoned or escaped. She seemed to be in too good condition for someone to let her go in the wild, those people typically don't have good husbandry in the first place if you get my drift...But nobody claimed her when I put up ads. :dontknow: Also, would you happen to know when I should do the next Panacur dose? I lost the instruction sheet for it, all I remembered was I gave my 600 gram beardie 0.3ml so I gave her 0.2ml to be on the safe side.

 

[CooperDragon]

No coughing is good. She may just have been out of proper heating for a bit (and in water) so it may clear itself up while she's under good lighting. As far as the Panacur goes, I'm not certain. I think it's one dose every two weeks until the fecal test comes back clear, but I haven't used it so I'm just drawing on what I remember reading.