Help! Bloated Tegu

[NickJan14]

Hello! I have 1.5 year old male Argentine B&W. I acquired him on the 30th of November so I haven’t had him for too long. He’s ate great (I feed him a meatball with zucchini in it every other day and give him a f/t hopper mouse once a week) and loves to be handled. About 5 days ago, he rejected his food. So I tried the next day and he didn’t want it. I was assuming that we was going to take a long nap or begin brumating because he went from being active to sleeping all day so I stopped feeding him and I gave him a warm bath so that he wouldn’t be sitting on his meal. Today I noticed that the rear end of his body was started to get bloated and had a lump. When I touch it, it feels rather firm and not too soft or anything. However, when I touch his belly, it feels really soft and like it’s full of air. Nothing about his body looks wrong accept for his rear end. No cloudy eyes or awoken joints or anything. He drinks out of his bowl every day. Please let me know what to do, I’m starting to get rather nervous about the situation and don’t know the problem or solution. Thanks!

 

[Member1421]

Do you let him roam around at all? Usually when mine is mobile he wants to go to the bathroom more. I have never had an issue with impaction, but the diet you are feeding doesn't seem to be too bad as long as you are supplementing with calcium and providing UV. My only advice is make sure your temps are dialed in, humidity is good, and that you always keep an exotic vet's number ready and an appointment scheduled ahead of time to be safe in case you have to get him in. Best of luck.

 

[Josh]

Have you tried another bath? Maybe a baseline vet check-up just to be sure he's in good shape?

 

[NickJan14]

Have you tried another bath? Maybe a baseline vet check-up just to be sure he's in good shape?

Yeah I have him a bath on the 29th and he didn’t poo. I definitely will look into getting him a checkup. Thanks!

 

[Debita]

I had a prob with impaction with my adult male, and lost a juvenile blue when it developed a lump on it's back. His tongue should be an obvious pink if he's getting enough water, not grayish pink. They drink for awhile when they're impacted then can't. They want to eat, but can't. They get dehydrated and can die. If you have a vet available, they can do an exam, or remove a blockage. Urates can become like stones, and be difficult for them to pass. The earlier the treatment, the better.

I was never sure what caused the impaction, because his diet was good, and it never made sense to me. I believe the blue died of MBD which is caused by a lack of calcium. He was a baby, and may have had it when I bought him.

Let us know how it goes!! Good luck.

 

[NickJan14]

I had a prob with impaction with my adult male, and lost a juvenile blue when it developed a lump on it's back. His tongue should be an obvious pink if he's getting enough water, not grayish pink. They drink for awhile when they're impacted then can't. They want to eat, but can't. They get dehydrated and can die. If you have a vet available, they can do an exam, or remove a blockage. Urates can become like stones, and be difficult for them to pass. The earlier the treatment, the better.

I was never sure what caused the impaction, because his diet was good, and it never made sense to me. I believe the blue died of MBD which is caused by a lack of calcium. He was a baby, and may have had it when I bought him.

Let us know how it goes!! Good luck.

So he’s always very hydrated, he either drinks from his bowl or I poke a hole in a water bottle and he drinks from it. I gave him a bath yesterday and he had a bigger poo than normal but now his hemipenes are out. Thats what I think it is but it could possibly be a prolapse. I’ve given him two sugar baths today and one last night and he slept in a tub with a clean dry towel last night. They still haven’t gone back in. What do you recommend?

I had a prob with impaction with my adult male, and lost a juvenile blue when it developed a lump on it's back. His tongue should be an obvious pink if he's getting enough water, not grayish pink. They drink for awhile when they're impacted then can't. They want to eat, but can't. They get dehydrated and can die. If you have a vet available, they can do an exam, or remove a blockage. Urates can become like stones, and be difficult for them to pass. The earlier the treatment, the better.

I was never sure what caused the impaction, because his diet was good, and it never made sense to me. I believe the blue died of MBD which is caused by a lack of calcium. He was a baby, and may have had it when I bought him.

Let us know how it goes!! Good luck.

 

[Debita]

You can gently put them back in with your finger - I've done this, and it's not hard. You don't want the tissue to stay out too long, as it can dry out and/or get dirty and you don't want that to happen. I've heard it can be a problem if left unattended after 2 hours of not going back in on it's own. Apparantly - most of the time - they retract the tissue without incident. Wish I could remember where I read it, but basically it said to carefully tuck it back in with your finger. I did do that, and it hasn't been a problem since. Good for a year now.

If you're seeing poops with normal urine/yellow urates then it sounds like it was temporary and it took care of itself. Another indication that my Skully had a more serious problem was that he was bloated and his stomach was getting hard. I did massage it and it triggered a response to go, but he wasn't able to get anything out. Eventually, I went in through his vent to clear the urates myself, and it worked. They were hard as stone. His eyes had changed, no longer bright and like I said before, his tongue was almost completely grey. I know this isn't for everybody to attempt, but I knew I was losing him and wasn't near a vet. It took him about 3 weeks to recover.

Glad yours is doing well! Congrats