My partner and I are pet sitting a beardie who the owners thought might be going into brumation. We fed her a cockroach and horned worm (that we misted in water) yesterday. She has access to water too. Today we’re having problems with her. When we went to pick her up, there was something hanging out of her cloaca that we thought was poop, but it almost looks like she has a prolapsed cloaca. But it’s not pink flesh colored like other pictures we’re seeing here. It seems to have some white calcium spots on it. We’ve had her soaking in water for an hour but nothing is changed. Could this be an egg? Or is this a prolapsed anus? Is she passing calcium?
A prolapse of the cloaca (the organ into which the digestive and excretory systems empty, and which houses the penis) is a situation that most herp keepers face at one point or another. I have observed it most commonly in frogs, less so in salamanders and reptiles. In a prolapse, the cloaca protrudes through the anus, and is dragged about behind the animal. If untreated, the tissue dries out and becomes necrotic (basically, the tissue dies). A veterinarian may be able to remove the organ, but often the animal cannot be saved at this point.
A cloacal prolapse should be treated immediately upon discovery. A long-established and often effective measure that you can take is to place the afflicted animal in a shallow bath of sugar water. The amount of sugar is not very important – go with 1 tablespoon per 3 ounces of water if you prefer to measure. The sugar will draw fluids from the cloaca, allowing the animal to withdraw the organ. You can assist with a Vaseline-coated cotton swab.
If this does not help within 20 minutes, your pet should be taken to a veterinarian (a follow-up visit is a good idea even if you are successful). It is important that you then look at the conditions that may have led to the prolapse – dehydration, constipation, straining to expel eggs and trauma caused by scent marking (rubbing the cloaca along the substrate) – are most common
How is she doing ? Did an egg pop out ? If it was white + rounded then that's what it is. Keep her warm and definitely get her to an experienced reptile vet. If she's having trouble laying eggs they can give her a calcium shot and possibly oxytocin.
Yeah, this doesn't sound good either way, and getting her to a 24-hour reptile vet (seeing as it's Sunday) is advised. Can you possibly post a photo of what you're seeing? That would be extremely helpful for us...
If it's an egg and she's having trouble pushing it out, then she may actually be "egg-bound", meaning that for one reason or another she cannot pass the eggs. Or even worse, she may have had an egg rupture inside her, which can result in a very serious infection called "peritonitis"; both egg-binding and an internal egg-rupture are fatal without immediate medical intervention.
Please get her out of the bath too, if she's already been soaking in the water for an hour, you need to make sure that she doesn't become chilled, which can easily happen to cold-blooded creatures when they're wet for long periods of time. See if you can take a photo of what you're talking about and post it for us to see, maybe a warm water soak is appropriate, maybe not, it's hard to tell, but an hour in the water is probably not great for her...
Another question for you,...how sure are you that she's a female? I'm asking because there are other things it can be if the dragon is a male...
That sounds serious if it is indeed a prolapse. Do you have any pictures of her?
I agree, if she is having trouble & this is still an issue tomorrow you will need to get her
into the vet for analysis. They can crash very quickly if they become egg bound.
Is her beard black?
Do you know about how old she is?
Let us know how she is doing.