Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I haven't been able to find anywhere that I can take my dragon today that isn't hours away. I have noticed that he has some kale stuck in his throat and mouth from a meal he was given yesterday. Does anyone know how to get an adult dragon's mouth open long enought to try to pull some food out. I think this is what is causing his bulging throat.

do you KNOW that there's something stuck in there? If you're new to beardies though, beardies puff up their throats to make a "beard" display, this often turns black, it's an aggressive behaviour

I agree it could just be a defense or agression display...however if there is something stuck in his throat you can use a small piece of clean plastic to slip in his mouth and pry it open... or my vet has even used small pieces of cardboardto get his mouth open... should work well enough hope it helps

Derek

I have often seen my beardies do that too, it is almost like they have a crop to store food in like birds do. I have seen one of my females munch a whole bunch of silkies and keep them there in her pouch, and then swallow them later.

If you are really concerned, use something plastic and fairly soft to open the mouth, I start at the corner of the mouth, once the mouth is open you need to put something like a pen or pencile all the way across to keep it open. The dragon will hate this, and fight a good deal so if you are by yourself dont attempt it until you've had some more experience.

If your dragon is acting normal otherwise, I wouldn't even try it at all, too stressful!

Sarah
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FireDrake Exotics
www.FireAndLilac.com

one more thing, your beardie will mostly like not choke, it's pretty hard to choke a reptile on greens!
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FireDrake Exotics
www.FireAndLilac.com

food storage in their throats? I've never heard that one... My beardie puffs his throat sometimes when feeding, but this is as an aggressive display, one thing I've learned, never bother an animal when they're trying to eat, they really don't appreciate it. I'd assume that the specific reason why my beardie (and what seems to be other people's) do this is that they see you as another creature which might try to steal their food source.

Yep - They have a small pouch in between their mouth and their actual "esophagus". It acts as a crop for em, but Im not exactly sure WHY they would need to store the food. Im guessing so they can eat a lot at one time and then not have to worry about it becoming lodged in the throat and becoming uncomfortable or something.

David - KDRKreatures
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David and Kevin

KDRKreatures.com
Exotic Reptile Breeders - Specializing in Bearded Dragons

Email

I just got back from emergency care. I could smell an awful rotting smell coming from his mouth and yes, I could see kale in the back of his throat. Thanks for the comments, but I'm not new to reptiles and I am aware of their displays and what not - i even call my dragon Black Beard because of his exceptionally dark beard. Anyway, I didn't take time to write all the specifics earlier - I was freking out a little. I didn't want to hurt him, so I let the vet get in there and take a look at his mouth. She came out and showed me a ziplock full of kale that they had removed from his throat. She informed me that he has mouth rot, and she gave him some shots - some for rehydrating and food and some for antibiotics for the infection. He apparently couldn't swallow the kale, even though he was chomping it down in mouthfulls. I guess the infection has caused some swelling and blocked his throat some. This dragon had no signs of a health problem until yesterday. He is two years old, and he is/was a healthy, vibrant yellow dragon. I hope anyone that reads this will remember to look for signs (although I don't know what they are) of mouth rot. Mine still has no signs (without prying his mouth open and sticking a flash light in there) of mouth rot. I will be taking him back every two days to a local vet for more work. On a lighter note, when the vet came in the room to tell me what she found, she said very seriously that she thought his liver was failing because he had turned very yellow. It was pretty funny - she had no idea that there were different colored dragons and that was his natural color.

Well, I'm glad that you did get him checked out and everything sounds like it should be ok

did the vet give you chlorahexadine (nolvasan) for the stomitis? that is the recomended rinse to use. What are your basking temps in the enclosure, maybe this is part of a larger problem?
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Bennett

beardiedragon.com
Home of the Florida Orange

His temps and everything are alright. The vet said he probably scraped his mouth eating something and got an open wound which got infected. I just administered his meds using a little syringe I use to squirt it in his mouth. Total damage =$220.00 - a small price to pay to see my boy getting better. An interesting note, the vet said that most reptiles take a month to actually show signs of their sickness.