Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well my HL ate a TON of food a couple of days ago and he has not gone to the bathroom since.... Normally he goes once to twice a day. But there is a huge lump/hardspot in his belly... I think this might be pretty bad. It is not sand impaction cause he eats off his rock and does not scoop sand up. I am pretty worried. Any suggestions on what I should do?
Thanks
- Jim

You might try putting him in natural sunlight for at least an hour. I have noticed the intense light output and heat really speeds up the digestive process and that HLs will often defecate about 10 minutes of basking in the sunlight.Jeff

I remembered reading this and I just found it again. Anyone care to comment on the advisability of oil (what kind?) for this symptom?

"As recomended, I try to dust their food with supplements, but I don't think he likes it as much; I use a 50/50 mixture of Rep-Cal's Calcium with Vitamin D3 and Herptivite. About two years ago, Dino started to eat the sand in the cage, apparently a sign that he was not getting enough minerals. Unfortunately the sand is primarilly silicon dioxide (SiO2), and not dirt which he could digest portions of, so it was not helping, and he clogged his bowels, and stopped eating. I started to force feed him, and give him Neo Cal Glucon Syrup (a sugar-calcium source), but when things didn't get better we went to see a herpetologist who gave him some oil orally to help loosen his bowels, and I soaked him in warm water a few times a day. After a second oil treatment he was fine, and he's been eating on his own ever since. Here's a note Dino sent off to some friends as his recovery was just beginning. The pet shops sell colored calcium carbonate (CaCO3) for cages, but his cage has 250lbs of sand, so to do that with these calcium carbonate "sands" would be a bit expensive, so I just used some powdered calcium carbonate as a top layer and later mixed it into the sand. "

http://homepage.mac.com/schrier/care.html