Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i use a topsoil in my tank which contains some small twigs, and i just saw my dragon eating some! the twigs were such that i could hear them snap in his mouth.

why is he eating these? they are brown or black and do not move! is this normal?

will he have trouble passing or digesting these? he has plenty of food, and the temps are like 77-90 .

i suppose its possible that there may have been a bug on the sticks, but i did not notice any, nor am i aware of any running around in the tank.

these could pose a problem and if i were you and he was acting strange i would take him to a vet ASAP impaction is a big problem and is lethal if left. i would suggest changing his substrate or at least taking out anything that could pose a problem as an impaction.
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CHONG188

There are two reasons why a waterdragon would eat miscelaneaous object from the ground. Either he is looking for calcium or he is looking for microflora. You didn't mention the age of your waterdragon, but impactions as mentioned above are common when the calcium or microflora is absent from the substrate being eaten causing them to continue to eat odd stuff looking for it. The solution is simple if you are already suppliment with calcium, try mixing some into the substrate just to make sure. Give him some natural yogurt with active cultures for the microflora. If you have both of those covered and he still eats the occassional stick, I wouldn't worry about it.

when calcium is absent from the substrate? how would mixing calcium powder into the substrate help - is eating it common?

i feed my dragon earth worms, super worms, gold fish, and pinky mice, and it is over 15 inches in length.

i took it to the vet not to long ago, and the doctor said it was healthier than most dragons he sees. How would a vet diagnose or treat impaction?

Yes actually it is very common, with many lizards it is a serious health hazard as they routinely become impacted.Usually it is more of a problem with baby lizards as they are growing and their calcium and microflora demands are high. Beard dragons for instance, are never reared on sand or soil, because of there tendancy to become impacted. It is far less common with adult lizards who can eat alot more and need far less calcium and already have established microflora. One solution is to mix a calcium power into the substrate, some companies even sell a calcium based terrarium sand for that purpose. Basically, if you suppliment their diet with calcium and natural yogurt(live cultures), you shouldn't be concerned.

how can you feed yogurt to a dragon?

eye dropper or syringe.