Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I am new to this site and also to owning a Beardy. I only have him because I work at a petstore and he came in blind as a 5" baby. We force-fed him for months and as he grew he started to be able to see shadows and motion. he seems to be improving but lately he gets VERY bloated between meals and I have to soak him often to get him to pass gas and poop. Only then does he deflate back to normal. I am feeding him crickets and mainly collard greens and baby arugula with some sweet potato and a little touch of carrots, peas or string beans. He has a strip florescent light for UVB (Zilla Dessert Series) and a 150 watt red heat spot above his basking hammock, as well as another 50 Watt blue day heat bulb. Day temps are about 80-85 on cool side and 95 - 105 on hot side in basking area. Night temps are about 65-70 on cool side and 80-90 on hot side. He usually stays as close to the heat as he can get, even during the night, but sometimes moves to the bottom of the tank if it gets too warm. He is about6 months old and in a 20 gallon tank.
Does anyone know why he gets so bloated and what I can do about it? He literally feels and looks like a balloon, and you can actually feel and hear the air in him when he gets like this. He sounds "hollow". It happens every other day most of the time.

Mine will bloat herself as a defense when she gets stressed (usually when I take her outside after a few months inside). She will deflate when I take her back in or she starts running.

Your lizard, being blind, could get stressed by something very trivial that may not be expected to cause stress to a normal bearded dragon. The only other thing I could think of is something with the intestinal tract being off. I am not a vet and have never heard of this in any lizard so I couldn't even take a guess as to what it might be if it is not stress related. Seeing as warm water fixes it, either water is soothing to your beardy or it acts as a laxative (which warm water usually does for reptiles).

Save up some money for a vet visit - one that specifies in reptiles and will actually have a clue as to what he or she is doing. Despite consulting people on forums and getting ideas, the only sure way is to find a reptile vet and get them to figure it out, which will cost money, sometimes even for simple diagnosis.

First look for any signs of anything in your cage causing stress. Also keep feeding it healthy food but change it up - something could be causing your beardy gas. I know mine won't eat carrots because they do cause her to have gas and boy does it smell haha. Try alternating some foods out.