IMPACTION

What is impaction?

Impaction is a condition in which the digestive tract is blocked by a solid or sem-solid mass. If it is not treated it can become fatal.

What causes impaction?

Impaction can be cuased by various sources. The most common of which is housing them on loose substrates. Other causes of impaction include feeding reptiles food that is either to large or inappropriate. You should never feed insects that are larger than the width of the reptile's head (excluding snakes, of course).

Feeders that are too large can get stuck in the digsetive tract, causing the blockage. Feeder insects that have a hard Chitin outershell can, also cuase impaction. You should only feed these type of feeders to larger reptiles, never babies or juveniles.

Low basking temperatures can cause inadequate digestion, one more reason to make sure you have proper temperatures.

One other cause of impaction is dehydration; always provide your reptiles with fresh water.

Substrates

Impaction caused by loose substrates develop overtime, so the symptoms are more gradual and gone unseen until it is too late.

Calci-sand/calcium based sand is a BIG nono. Do not trust the manufacturer's label as digestible. Because it contains calcium, reptiles are more likely to eat it, but where calcium is good, sand is not. When wet, Calc-sand clumps together. Imagine what it will do inside a reptile... Clump... When wet, it doesn't desolve either, so what makes the manufacturers believe it will in a reptile's body?

Other high risk substrates include playsand, pine, aspen, cypress, woodchips, dirt, and bark. Corn cop, Crushed walnut shells, gravel, cat litter, pebbles, and any other pellet-type substrates should not be used either, as they, too, can cause impaction if ingested.

Symptoms

Mild Symptoms include constipation and straining to excrete fecal matter.

Moderate-Severe symptoms include slight leg trembles, regurgitaion, slight bumps along spinal area, paralysis (When paralysis occurs in one or both back legs, impaction is in the lower digestive tract, but when it involves one or both front legs, impaction is in the upper digestive tract.),lack of appetite, lethargy, a blue-bruised area on the abdomen, and difficulty breathing

Treatment

One method that you can try at home involves seting up a separate enclsure for the reptile; include an under tank heater and paper towels as substrate. Using a dropper, give the reptile a few drops of either mineral oil, olive oil, or vegetable oil, daily. Give the reptile warm soaks at least once a day; do not let the water get any hotter than the reptile's normal basking temperatures. Try geting as much fluids in the reptile as you can without too much force. Try giving the reptile diluted Gatorade by using a dropper. Do not feed solids yet, try different baby foods, depending on the reptile. If a leopard gecko, give turkey and chicken baby foods. If a bearded dragon try chicken, squash, sweet potatoes. Add water to the baby food when yoy present it to the reptile as well as calcium and vitamins. Using this method, may take several days to get the impaction moving, but do NOT let it go more than 10 days.

The next option really isn't an option. You SHOULD take your pet to a vet. Hopefully, you know, or have found, a good reptile veterinarian in the area. The vet will try to flush the impaction out by giving enemas.

In Conclusion

Do not put reptiles under 1 year on loose substrates.

Feed size-appropriate foods.

Make sure the temperatures in the enclosure are not to low or too high.

Keep a bowl of calcium in the aquarium at all times.

Keep fresh water in the enclosure.

For More Information

Impaction in Bearded Dragons



Disclaimer: I am not a practiced veterinarian, and all information posted on this site comes from my experience and knowledge, or that of others I have talked to. For any medical problems that you notice with your reptiles, I recommend making an appointment with a reputable reptile veterinarian as soon as you can.