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I have a bearded dragon that is about 7 inches long. I purchased a great setup from my pet shop that specializes in reptiles (beardie breading). My beardie has been having lots of problems lately and I'm afraid he may die if I don't figure out what is wrong with him.

For a while he has been suffering with gout (enlarged joints and difficulty walking). I regularly gave him calcium drops by mouth and dusted his veggies and worms. Lately he has been getting worse and has been sleeping more and more. I noticed that he had not gone to the rest room so attempted to clear him out by soaking him in warm water for about 4 to 5 min at a time. That didn't work so I tried messaging out his excrement in warm water. The first time I did this he yielded a great quantity of some very hard and some soft feces. Again 2 days later, after he ate a few worms only, I found that he had gone to the bathroom but it had dried to his rectum possibly because he couldn't move after he had gone. I washed him up and again massaged his bowels out.

I am afraid that he has lost the ability to move his hind legs and is starting to get backed up more and more. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do at this point? I really love my animal but if he is going through more pain than joy I think it might be time to put him down... Let me know your thoughts.

He sounds like he's dehydrated, I'd try feeding him some pedialite for that. I'd lose the liquid calcium, it can be too strong and go with one of the powders like Repcal or Minerall. Soaking is good but 5-10 minutes really isn't long enough if he's impacted, I'd go more like an hour or until he poops. You'll have to keep adding warm water or set the container on a heat pad to keep the water warm. He sounds like he's in pretty bad shape but with some TLC hopefully you can pull him out of it. I certainly wouldn't rule out a trip to the vet for their recomendations also.

Sean
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Heart Mountain Herps

A question for you. What kind of substrate are you using?
Cricket

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AlphaDragonZ
www.AlphaDragonZ.com

It deffinitely sounds like your dragon has major impaction problems. I would take him to a vet asap. Soaking can loosen things up but soaking him for an hour or till he poops could be more dangerous than helpful. He could get overly chilled for being in water for that long. If soaking for 10-20 minutes doesn't get him to go poo, then I would take him to a vet. You did mentioned massaging his stomach to vent and doing this helped him go, I would try this after soaking for 10 minutes or so but don't rub too hard.

You mentioned feeding him worms, what kind of worms are you feeding? Mealworms are hard to digest especially by small young dragons. ALso if he is on any lose substrate (playstand, calci-sand, etc) I would get him off it completely, replace it with plain paper towel for the time being. Also make sure he has water available to keep him from getting dehydrated.

The 'gout' he had isn't caused by lack of calcium but more like lack of iodine. Are you giving him any multi-vitamines dusted on his insects? A vet check will determine exactly what is wrong with his joints. Lack of D3 due to low or no UVB rays would make it impossible for the dragon to use any calcium he is eating or being fed. That is another factor that could be the problem. Improper lightening and heating could mean he isn't able to properly digest his food. Are his basking temps between 95-115F?

Again I would strongly recommend going to a vet with your dragon, before doing anything else.
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PHLdyPayne