Worrisome "marbles" in belly

[snazzyglasses]

Oh bummer I hope it's soon too! For both your and Bean's sake!

 

[emilybortz]

Well, some good news:
Both Bean's appetite and energy have picked up considerably in the past day or so, so I chose to hold off on the ultrasound and see how she does for a few days. If I'm still worried, I'll bring her back in, but she's doing so well today that I decided to wait and see a bit more.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

That is great Bean has improved so much on her appetite. Maybe you wont have to get an ultrasound right now.
I am happy to hear she is doing so well now & improving daily.

Tracie

 

[emilybortz]

Thanks so much, Tracie!
This is how I found her this morning - couldn't resist. She loves that stick so much for reasons I'll never understand.

 

[uabmicurn]

Hey there,

I saw your thread on here and wanted to post my experience that happened back in May. I'm not trying to scare you, but just give an experience that I don't think many have gone through....

My "boy" Hughey was supposedly a few months old (we were told he was 8-9 months old when we got him in August or so of 2011, but when I took him to our herp vet, he said he was more than likely only about 4-5 months old b/c of his size)....anyhoo, Hughey was supposedly a boy, according to the vet, so of course, that's what we went with. Hughey never showed any signed of needing to nest/lay eggs, etc. (of course, right?! Hughey's a boy?!) He never did any of the digging motions they say females will do. He would go through periods where he would not eat much, be lethargic, but then after a few days, would perk back up.

In May of this year, Hughey suddenly took a turn for the worse. He had not had a BM in several days and the area around his vent became very hardened. I called the vet immediately and spoke to him several times that day. We were, obviously, thinking impaction, either from his last meal of crickets, or we were afraid that he possibly could have gotten hold of one of my son's tiny Lego's.

Over the course of literally just about two hours (I was bathing him, massaging his belly, trying to get Pedialyte in him....all according to the vet's directions), he took an immediate turn to really, really bad. Just as we were about to load Hughey up and meet the vet at the emergency clinic, he died while my husband was holding him (and while I was on the phone with the vet). Needless to say, we were devasted.

My vet graciously and generously offered to perform an autopsy on Hughey, as he was as perplexed as we were, on how or what could've taken our sweet boy so quickly (we were all still thinking impaction). Suprisingly to the vet, Hughey ended up not being a "he" but a "she" and was full of eggs, the vet said many of which were black, hardened and necrotic, which meant they had been in there "since the beginning," I suppose. In all the time we had her, she had NEVER exhibited any signs to make us believe that he could've been a she and was trying to lay eggs. The vet said she must have had some sort of anatomical deformity that prevented her from being able to lay the eggs, though she was still producing them. They were basically just accumulating in her body with no way to be expelled, which caused her to become septic and this is what killed her. He told us that though we thought she was a he, the only way we could've known for absolute certainly was to do a blood test (though at the time of her initial check up, we had no reason to do this) and if we had known she was a she, he would have done a hysterectomy.

As I said earlier, I'm not telling you any of this to scare you, but just make you aware of things to ask your vet, especially if they're not a herp vet. My vet is a herp vet and is very knowledgable, and even this threw him for a loop. I'm not sure how often female beardies are supposed to lay or how long it takes them to lay, once they have produced eggs, but it may be something to watch for, to make sure Bean does lay the eggs within a reasonable timeframe? I hope no one ever has to go through what we went through, so when I saw your post, I felt I needed to tell my story.

I hope your Bean feels great again very soon! Please keep us posted on her ultrasound. I'll be saying a prayer for her!

 

[emilybortz]

Thank you so much for sharing, and I'm sorry to hear about your little girl

Bean is very lucky to have a great herp vet, but I've postponed the ultrasound as she seems to be doing well now, although I'm still keeping a sharp eye on her. She has perked back up and her appetite getting bigger and bigger, so I'm hoping that that is due to the eggs.

Do you know what the vet said could have indicated the necrotic eggs in her blood test? I just had one done for Bean and I'd love to let our vet know what to look out for.

Emily

 

[uabmicurn]

Hi Emily,

I'm so glad Bean is perking up!

The vet did not know about the eggs until he performed the autopsy on Hughey. We had no idea, until during the autopsy, that that is what she died from. We had had her for several months before she got suddenly sick and passed, so the vet said there was no telling how long some of the eggs had been in her (the ones that were necrotic and hard had obviously been in there for quite some time). There were also "fresh" eggs (which he showed me....they basically looked like garbonzo (sp?) beans). For whatever reason anatomically, she had no way to pass any of her eggs, so they just stayed inside her, going bad and making her sick.


The blood test that my vet recommended would have only determined Hughey's sex, which as he said, we really had no reason to do when I first took her for her initial check up when we got her.

Like I said earlier, I have no idea how long it takes for beardies to lay their eggs, once their bodies have released them, so this is one thing I would definitely find out. My vet had never seen a case like Hughey's before and said it was rare for it to happen, so more than likely Bean will not have this issue. But, since you now know that she is carrying them, you could find out from your vet how long it should be until she should lay them. I'm sure others on this forum would know. There are VERY knowledgable people on here (Jess and Tracie are just a couple that I've learned a LOT from!)

Good luck with your girl and keep us posted!

Melissa