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Arakasi was my first bearded dragon . He was an ace pet. But he only reached 7 weeks. He died of what appeared to be impaction. I had no idea what to look out for... what the symptoms are (other than paralysis) in the early stages of impaction... how long it takes for impaction to kill a beardie... how i can be sure it isn't happening again... If anyone can answer these unknowns for me it will be greatly appreciated.

As for the future, I have taken everything out of the viv' and replaced it with non-toxic absorbant kitchen roll - no peat/gravel/sand substrate!! All insects are way smaller than the distance between the eyes. And nothing is in the viv' that is small enough for Lujan (Arakasi's brother)- my soon-to-be beardie hatchling. Impaction is now my number 1 enemy!!
I pick-up Lujan tommorrow, to begin a long and happy life.

sounds like you are on the right track. No substrate till they are older. Keep the meals small with lots of veggies. I have heard that mealies will impact a small beardie. I have seen a large meal give a babie loss of rear legs before scared the heck out of me. I was feeding my leos when a large crix jumped out and into my beardie enclosure before I could catch it my little one snatched it up. He was at a loss of rear legs for a day and a half then after a very big poop he was ok again . Impaction is a serious thing though seems to me more so in beardies??
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"Why is it we treat the earth as if we have a spare in the trunk"

It alsways sucks to lose a dragon (or any other pet) to silly mistakes that could have been prevented. Ask me, I know first hand..... The main thing to consentrate on is educating yourself not only about impaction but also about other things that can cause harm and/or death. CheriS has a sight called reptilerooms.com and she has a wealth of info posted on bearded dragon care. If I were you I would spend some time there reading up on the many different ailments that you could experience as a beardie keeper. I wish I had done that before I contracted adenovirus from an unresearched female I purchased on line and my entire colony was infected and died ( not to mention the several others who also suffered loss as a result of me selling infected babies from the infected mother unknowingly... that was a HORRIBLE experience and feeling to be responsible for that much senseless loss no matter how innocently introduced).

Another good site to read up at is beautifuldragons.com if you have any questions about diet and the right foods to feed. I also enjoyed reading at www.dachiu.com. They have some great info and some awesome pics to check out as well.
Don't kick yourself to much... most everyone here has a hard learned lesson they could tell you about, just start researching everything you can to prevent another one........ Hope this helps!

Later,
Robert Wood
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I know you like to think that your $h1T don't stink but bend a lil closer see your roses still smell like poo poopoo
( OutKast )

One of the biggest reasons losing a small dragon is impaction and dehydration.

Keep hydration up for them til they are past that fragile stage, getting them use to an eye dropper or syringe when they are very young is a good idea and you can give them water, diluted pedialite or diluted gatorade occassionally which they all seem to love. It not only keeps them hydrated and their system easier for food to pass through digestion, it gets them use to a syringe if they need to take meds later on or need to be hand feed for a short time.

Some owners brought us a badly impacted dragon that weighed 96 grams Monday, she is such a sweet little dragon and she could not move her one back leg at all and the other was limp. They had been feeding her a diet of mainly mealworms as they were advised that by someone else that was a good food for young beardies. We could feel the impaction in her lower tummy area, a hard knot there, so she had already moved it out of the stomach and into the intestines, but it was blocked there and she had not gone to the bathroom for 2-3 weeks

We gave her 3 drops of mineral oil, warm soaks every few hours, acidolphiliz+ and some very runny baby food chicken and squash. She went into the hospital tank with a heat mat at 100-105F for two days. Yesterday she passed 25 grams of poo and urates!!! today she is up walking on all four legs, favors the one rear leg some, but I am sure she will get back all her mobility.

That was 30 percent of her body weigh in poo! At the end of the urates was a little larger than a pencil eraser size compaction of chitin, that is what makes up the shell on meal worms. She is doing great now and will return home to her owner this Friday, along with some care sheets and info on them.

These people love this little girl dearly and did not know that they were doing anything that could harm her, they were following directions from someone who claimed they knew bearded dragons. It happens when people that do not really know a species try to advise others. She is very tame and loves people, they have spent a lot of time with her and it shows. She should have a good life now, but had they continued to listen to one person, they would have lost her and never understood why.

You were doing what you thought was right for yours, we all learn from any experience and that knowledge helps you and others in the future, hopefully someone else will have a good experience with their dragon, because you can help them now by sharing your story.
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www.reptilerooms.com

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Beautiful Dragons

thanks for the advice - it is greatly appreciated

Hi
sad to hear you lost a beardie that way .
even when they r older they can be impacted to .
i would avoid always the nice colord calsium sand.
also when they r older it can cause impaction .
for toungh flicking animals it can be harmfull.
every time grain by grain can form one piece in tummy til its to late .
last time i lost a female beardie 1 yearold she whas also impacted she got tiny eggs and a hard poop could not pass good then i lost here.
the veterain dith a autopsy and then she told me i whas right she whas impacted and got tiny eggs and a hard piece of poop in here gut
i have bath here for 8 days but it not helpt her pitty lady in orange ,that whas her name i got not a name yet for her.
byeeeeeee

Again... thanks all for your advice - I'll be doing alot more reading on beardie welfare and behaviour. Be sure that i'll keep you updated with Lujan's progress

We all learn the hard way, Just be glad to learn. I had a German Shepard who died of stomach cancer and I found out later that the dog food I was feeding her had a perservative in it that was subspected of causing stomach cancer. Was I mad at the dog food people, because I had first hand knowledge that it was super bad for dogs. needless to say that company is out of business now. And I buy perservative free dog food. I am sure that everyone here has a similar story about some animal Beardie or not.
Good luck with the new baby, And Enjoy the growing time , do not keep hitting yourself over the head for past mistakes.

After that they live on dirt. The reason is to separate dominant animals from submissive animals, to allow them to be healthy, fed, and hydrated. Impactions fall back on husbandry, Ive never seen an impaction in any of my dragons, monitors or any animal for that matter. Dehydration, improper basking temps, too low ambient temps, all can manifest themselves by causing impactions by not allowing proper digestion or growth. I recently added some 8 inch one month old snow giant dragons to our collection, yet my little 1.5 week old male baby from Nemo and Snuggles is now over 6 inches long and growing so fast. I have him on paper towell and mist him 2 times a day, he eats 1/4 inch crickets, waxworms, and veggies. At around 3 months old he will be on dirt. Soon they will all be eating adult crickets, superworms, lobster roaches, etc.