Impactions can occur for several reasons. For example, when a reptile is fed too large or inappropriate food, feeders that have chitin shells and the reptile is too young to digest them, basking temperatures that are too low for adequate digestion, dehydration and also when some meds are administered from parasitic die offs. This is a method we use for lizard species
Another cause that can develop over a few days or several weeks is impaction from ingesting substrate. These impactions seem to build gradually and by the time you become aware there is a problem, it is usually very major. At that point and will require medical intervention by a professional. Most substrate impactions result in death without the upper digestive system being flushed out or surgical intervention to remove the impaction. Don't buy the theory that "I have used it and never had a problem", because I guarantee there are just as many that had a problem, you do not hear from as they lost their pet.
Substrates that are at a high risk of impaction include Calci-sand and other calcium based substrates, pine, wood chips, gravel, sand, and dirt (this also has the problems of fungus). Some safe substrates are washed playsand for subadults and older, paper towels, newspaper, YN (yesterday news), shelf liner and reptile grade carpet. Aspen, cypress and other wood substrates may be safe as long as the animals are not fed on them, check care sheets for your species.
Figure 1. Hospital tank for recovering babies. Heat is supplied from below via under-tank heatpad. UVB and heat is supplied from above using a Mac Industries/Westron 60Watt Mercury Vapour bulb with external ballast. |
MILD IMPACTIONS:
One symptoms of a mild impaction is the inability to excrete regularly or straining when they do, if an animal is passing some feces and urates, you can increase fluids with a dropper or soaks in a warm bath to help them pass it. If that does not help the situation, seek veterinary care and also have a fecal to rule out parasites or gram negative bacteria being the cause. Left untreated that can create a prolapse which requires immediate medical attention.
MODERATE IMPACTION:
Figure 2. X-Ray of adult Bearded Dragon |
You will see other symptoms before you realize they are not defecating. Some are slight leg trembles, regurgitation, dragging one of both the back legs, not walking properly and you may also see a slight bump along the spinal area.
The paralysis you are seeing is because the stomach empties out into the intestines laying right along the mid/upper spine. (Figure 2) It puts pressure on the spine, they do not have disc between the vertebras that protect the spine like other animals. Lower impactions will usually display a slight raised area along the mid to lower back or you can feel it in the abdomen area.
MAJOR IMPACTION:
The animal will not be very mobile, one or both back legs may appear paralyzed. If the impaction is higher in the digestive track, the front legs may also be paralyzed. A lower impaction that is only affecting the back legs can continue to grow until the front legs are also affected.
Again, you may see a raised area along the spine (Figure 3) Do not push along the spine right now or force them move their legs, let them do it in their own time, forcing them can cause permanent damage.
Here is a method that we have used several times now with bearded dragons that has worked. You need to move the impaction down and out
Figure 3. Impaction bumps on spine. |
- Setup a hospital tank (Figure 1) with under-tank heat. This is one of the few times that a bearded dragon will need heat directly on the tummy area. Make sure it does not go over about 95F for a bearded dragon. For other reptiles, a few degrees less than their normal basking temps.
- You can give the animal a few drops of mineral oil, olive oil or vegetable oil (depending on his size) daily. For a young dragon under 4 months and up to 60 grams we use 3 drops. For a larger animal we increase the drops, one drop for each 20 grams.
- Then warm soaks, do not force him to move any of his legs, let him do it on his own. Do the warm soaks several times a day. Make sure the water is the appropriate temps they normally bask at, not hotter.
- Try to get as much fluids in him as possible, diluted Gatorade (strawberry-kiwi they love) is something they will usually drink good from a dropper. The fluids and soaks help relax then move the impaction along the digestive system
- NO crickets, worms or any solids right now, get some strained baby food like chicken, squash, sweet potatoes (just veggies for vegetable eating reptiles, like iguanas) and make it runny with water or pedialyte (also warm, not hot), feed that with a dropper. You can also add calcium and vitamins to this mix. Depending on his age, if under 4 month, get at least 1 cc in him daily or broken into 2 feedings a day. Older reptiles you can give more if he will eat it. What you need to do is support his strength while the impaction moves through him and not contribute to it.
It may take several days using the above method to get him to move an impaction down and out. You do have some time to work here before it becomes risky to him. DO not let it go more than 10 days, (less if the animals is showing other signs of distress) if the impaction has not passed by then, he may need to have enemas to try and move the impaction out (WHICH SHOULD ONLY BE ATTEMPTED BY A VETERINARIAN!) and also he will need a fecal run on it to determine if the impacted food created bacteria when spoiling in him.
Once the impaction is out, it may take several weeks for him to regain the full use of his back legs, so don't panic if he is still not moving then, it will take that time for the inflammation around the spinal cord to go down and they will usually regain the use slowly
In serious impactions, you should be able to see the impaction area along his spine unless he is older, but impactions are more common in a younger or smaller reptile as they have not developed to the point of being able to digest chitin shelled worms and other feeders. Make sure the size of the feeder is appropriate, too large crickets can also cause serious problems. Even a single cricket as we have experienced.
Below is picture of two dragons that had serious impactions (Figures 4 & 5), the one of the left is the same baby pictured with the bump along the spine, he took 5 days to move the impaction through him and 7 weeks to fully recover the use of his legs. All four legs were paralysed, he regained the use of his front legs in about 5 days and the back ones improved till he was running catching his crickets 7 weeks later. His was casued from one large cricket that was accidentally given to him from the smaller cricket bin. The girl on the right had a moderate-serious impaction, she could not use one back leg at all and the other was very weak. She passed the impaction in two days and was back using both back legs within 24 hours, but one was weaker and took longer to gain most mobility. Hers was caused by mealworms, something we do not recommend for dragons at all and superworms only after they are several months old. Both have chitin shelling and only a mature digestive system can break these down and digest them.
