Constipated Beardie?

[jessieJEALOUSY]

My beardie has recently been diagnosed with MBD he has been to the vets, and recieved calcium injection, as well as some hydration.
He went back a week later, after i had given him twice daily calcium injections, and been feeding him on a liquid mush stuff made of dog food and an insect supplement recommended by the vets.
The vet told me he was on his way up and he should start to look up over the next week, he didnt give him anymore injections (which i was under the impression he was going to after the previous vet the week before told me he would)
Anyway, since friday, he has become really bloated and lethargic, sleeping most of the time.

I was just curious as to whether or not the bloating is cause of a constipation, or diahorrea because of the food he has been eating, or cause of the MBD.

I have rang the vets, and he is being admitted on wednesday for an over night stay, as there is no way i can get him down tomorrow.
I just wanted to know if there was anything i could do between now and wednesday morning to make him more comfortable, ive tried warm bathes already to no avail.

All he seems to be able to pass, is the white stuff, and only the smallest ammount.

 

[AshMan]

the white stuff is urinic (dont quote me on the spelling) acid, not digested food, so he is passing his liquids but not he's solids. best of luck, hope things look up for the little guy!!

 

[Chris1]

if hes trying and only passing white stuff then youre probably right assuming its constipation.

try heating a bag of wheat or rice to a nice touchable but warm temp, wrap it in a towel and place ur beardy on it, wrapping the towel over him, when hes really nice and warm try the warm bath again,..

sounds gross, but if u see him squeeze check to see if any poo pokes its head out, and gently pull,...

you can offer diluted friut juice, (i do 1 part juice to about 7 parts water, so just a little bit for the flavour before trying the heaty bag thing.

ive never heard of MBD causing bloating, but if the muscles are too weak to squeeze out a nugget that could be a possible link. (in servere cases the muscles are affected too)

has he been getting plenty of sunlight along with the calcium injections?

when was the last poo? and could he have injested anything unpassable?

lethargic is never good, please keep us updated on his progress.

 

[jessieJEALOUSY]

Thanks, ill try the warming up and then the bath again.
The vet told me to try him on some energy drinks? stuff like powerade?

yeh ive been making sure to get him out into the sun, aswell as having his UV light on 12+ hours a day

He is kept on astro turf, so i dont think he has swallowed anything unpassable as such, but there is always the possibilty.

He seems like he tries to push stuff out, tensing his stomache up, but nothing comes out other than the white stuff.

I hope he starts to look up like the vet said, but its all upto him, i hope he's strong enough.

 

[Chris1]

yeah, powerade is fine too, i think the juice seems to create a bit of flatulence tho which seems to be helpful with impactions.

 

[jessieJEALOUSY]

awesome, thanks. ill try that now.

 

[cma_369]

A mates pygmy bearded dragon was suffering from impaction, due to sydney sand being used as a substrate (dumb move). This poor little girl was so blocked up you could see the arch in her back.
What i did to help her to pass was soak her in warm water upto her shoulders for 20 mins at a time, whilst massaging the belly from her neck till the vent gently.
It was worth wasting a saturday night, as she passed the blockage the next morning

 

[jessieJEALOUSY]

He does have an arch in his back, but i put it down to the MBD, but now i think it may be impaction.
Im just baffled as to what have cause this impaction?! he is kept on astro turf, because i knew about the sand.
and he has only eaten a mixture of cat food (that i made up into an ice tray, froze then defrosted one each day) i then added an equal part of this insect supplement, and water to make it runnier and easier to suck up into a syringe.

Ill spend a fair while tonight massaging his tumming, but im just scared about how much pressure to put on him? i freak out that i might pop his insides >_<

 

[cma_369]

I was very careful and gentle, infact i was only able to use my pinkie seeing as shes only a hatchling.

 

[Lollypop]

Hi! - how's your beardie going??

One of the best & most effective things I've found for impactions is apple baby food, 4-6mth old formula, and depending on age how much u give them. So 2-5mls just syringe fed or drop on end of nose & let them lick it off. This done at the same time as soaking usually works a treat if not too late. Then repeat 2-3times/day until he poos, NO live feeders or veg or anything else until he poos.

With the MBD - how old is your beardie? And how long have u had him/her?
If u run thru your temperatures, at the basking & cool end - the wattage & what type of heat light u use, the uv u use, whether coil or tube & a 5.0, 8.0 or 10.0. Also how big the enclosure is & ventilation. All this info is the only way anyone can help u get it right without physically seeing your setup.
Why did the vet say he/she has mbd - blood tests? xray?

Heat & uv are the 2 biggest contributing factors to mbd due to firstly the ability to digest the food given, then secondly to be able to absorb the calcium & nutrients from that food & distribute it around the body.

Lastly, I'd be keeping the lights on until about 12 tonite, & have them come on at 5am.

Hope all goes well!!!!! - Kathy

 

[jessieJEALOUSY]

Thanks Kathy,

My beardie is almost 14 months old, before i had taken him to the vets the first time, i had been told to try him on baby food, and had been feeding him that.
I have had him for over a year, so i thought it was odd he only just showed signs of MBD in the last month. All that has changed was his tank was moved out of my bedroom (the garage) into the lounge room.

at the moment, i have him in a smaller tank, in the hope of keeps his temps up.
I have a ceramic heat emmiter, 100w, and a 10.0 UV fluro shaped light, tube?
The tank is 40cm/35cm/30cms
the whole top of the tank is mesh, but mostly covered up by the UV light, aswell as the mesh stuff around the top 1/5th of the tank around 3 of the sides.
His hot side under the basking spot can drop to the lowest of 34 degrees, but mostly stays up near 38, the cool side can drop down to about 24, but usually sits at 29, i have a thermostat set-up, the pet store guy told me, that since the thermostat only goes upto 35, to sit it at the cool side, so that if it goes above 35 on the cool side it would shut off, then when the temp drops to 29 it comes back on. But with such a small tank, and big light, its had to create a big heat gradient

I had initally taken him to the vets cause of him being lethargic, and having the inability to lift his front part of his body up. But she didnt run any test, she said he wasnt to far along because he was still digesting his food, and happy to eat live foods.

since i took him to the vets, the week before last, he hasnt had any live food, only this meat mixture and the calcium stuff i had to give him.
she also told me to give my other 2 beardies this calcium once a day aswell. But neither of them are showing signs like my little batman was.

I soaked him for half an hour or so tonight, massaging his tummy, more of the white urate stuff came out, but nothing like poo. im keeping the lights on late, cause a cool change has just come over this part of sydney.

 

[Jeannine]

i was told to use a few drops of olive oil (placed on the lips for them to lick off) to help loosen anything in their bowel and warm baths which eventually got it moving

good luck

 

[The_Dreaded_Pets]

just curious but canit use its back legs??/

friend of mine has a 8-12mnth old central that has lost the use of its back legs and hasnt pooped in a few days now she is off to the vet tomorrow about it however they think it is mbd aswell as impaction.

i havnt seen her setup untill recently as i live a bit of a drive away but ended up haveing to lend her a heap of spares i had laying around as she is useing a dayglo bulb for heat and uvb however all the dayglo bulbs i have seen at petshops only state uva on the box so this could be the cause of mbd (altho she has it outside everyday.

her temps were 27c-36c with no basking spot only a heat rock.

lent her a spotlight for decent hotspot, my duel thermomoter, some coco peat for substrait, calcium sup and a few new branches i also lent her my mvb but turns out her tank wasnt as high as she thaught lol so she bought a uvb fluro today.

spoke to her an hr or so ago and her lil guy still hasnt pooped ither so sent her an email with the advice thats been given in this thread so hope that helps some in th emorning before the vet visit.

will see her tomorrow when there finished at the vet so hope everythiing ends well for both you and her

 

[jessieJEALOUSY]

Yes, he can still use his back legs, so im at a loss.
it all started with his front legs weakening, so he couldnt lift the front part of him up.
he does have an arch in his back which i thought was just the MBD cause he has a lump on his tail to (only over the last 2 weeks has this popped up)

when i was massaging tonight, his tummy was very soft, iuno if you can normally feel the impaction, but i couldnt feel anything solid (i wasnt pushing hard though)


Ill try with the olive oil in the morning, and another bath, see if he can push anything out tomorrow while im at work.
Im really freaking out over this, cause im so confused about it all

 

[Lollypop]

How's he going this morning??

The baby food for impaction has to be the apple, it works as a natural laxative. With his age, go the full 5mls, 2-3 times/day.

With such a small tank, you'll cook him with a 100W ceramic. Can u change that to a 60W (preferably) light bright bulb - just a spotlight from bunnings, & disconnect the thermostat once the 60W is in place - with the ventilation u have, this should create a hot/cool end, but obviously monitor well first couple hrs - a cheap digital thermometer is great for this. The spotlight will help brighten up the enclosure, which beardies prefer, plus offset the uv rays effect on his eyes.
With turning the thermostat off, you're trying to get a constant 40-44C directly under that light where he basks, & hopefully the cool end shouldn't go over 30C in that size enclosure.

How big is the original tank he was in? and was he in with the others?
Also how far away is the closest point to the uva/b light & did he sit up under it??
ATM, if his front legs are still as is, you'll either need to build the bottom of the tank up, or drop the uv light so he is close enuf to it.
Ideally to get him out in the sun would be great, so keep that in mind for when u have time & not working.

Also is there any swelling in his front legs that u can tell?

 

[jessieJEALOUSY]

Ill grab a new light today and put it on.

He orginally was in a 4ft tank with two others, so i was suprised neither of them showed any signs.
Under his uv light i have a log, which he does manager to pull himself onto quiet frequently, leaving a gap of 20cms between him and his uv light.
i have been getting him out into the sun when i can.

as far as i can see, his front legs arent swollen..

This morning he has done a small poo, but it was very running, and stank to the high heavens lol.
I gave him a little rub down again this morning. but im worried about putting more food into him while he is still so blocked up.

 

[Lollypop]

If u stick to the apple food, or olive oil if that's all u have, that's all you're going to give him until he poos well.
As said earlier, no live feeders, no veg, no other baby food or anything. With the calcium supplement the vet gave u, just mix it in with the oil or apple food.
With his condition, he may have been the least dominant in the tank, therefore not getting optimal heat & uv, which is often the case.
Hope all goes well with him - keep us posted!

 

[Chris1]

only feed him liquidy mashed stuff till he drops a decent one,...

when your beardy is facing away from you massage from halfway down his right hand side belly towards his vent, thats where the bowels live.

if you doubt the vets diagnosis ask for xrays to show the bone density when u take him back, i cant believe she hadnt already done that.

has he has a big growth spurt recently?
that can be the reason for the sudden onset of MBD. (need for calcium is greater when growing)

 

[jessieJEALOUSY]

Just thought id let you guys know, batman passed away today, im bawling >_>

He did poop a bit this morning, and when mum got home from work, she gave him another bath and massage, but his breathing was laboured, and after she put him back in his tank, his breathing stopped all together. he picked back up again, but eventually just couldnt do it anymore.

RIP little batman.

 

[Lollypop]

OMG!!!!! So so sad!

If it were me, I'd be doing a heap of research into whether your tank's right in order to make sure the others are right.
AND getting vet visits/blood tests to ensure they not got any mbd symptoms or chest infections or worms etc.

Thing i neglected to ask is what substrate u had?

I am so sad for u, never ever nice to have one die - regards, Kathy