Bearded Dragon Vomiting

hI all. New beardie that I’ve made several posts about.
Tank: 20 long (have a 75 almost setup for his upgrade)
Info: basking 105-110
Cool spot: about 80
On paper towels currently, but was on repticarpet for about a week before that. I’ve only had him for just under a month, he’s maybe 4-5 inches, around 25 grams, and estimated to be 10-12 weeks old. He poops regularly, about 1-2 times a day. He eats 20-30 small crickets daily, and eats a rotation of collard, mustard, and dandelion greens, I think I may have thrown some romaine in there last week as I was low on other stuff. He’s got UVB with the zoo med reptI sun 10.0 bulb, and he’s been to the vet for an exam and also needed a tail amputation which happened about 2 weeks ago and he was on pain meds for 5 days, but is healing great. He’s usually active, basks (was holding his mouth open while basking recently?) always eats great, and has clean water available at all times. This morning he wasn’t coming out of his hide like he normally does and ate his breakfast (25 ish calcium dusted crickets) but wasn’t quite as enthusiastic as he normally is, he pooped twice today, and did what I think is vomit, I can’t tell for sure as I didn’t watch it happen. When I scooped it up to bring it into the vet for a fecal because I noticed it looked weird, I realized it was completely undigested crickets, looked like a mucous covered piles of crickets basically (no pics, was more focused on getting it in for testing) I brought in that and a poop from about 4 hours earlier and I’m waiting on results. Any advice?? Nothing has changed in his environment or feeding routine, he’s eaten some mustard greens since and has come out and walked around a bit. No crickets for now, I’ve just been hand feeding him bits of greens dipped in water to make sure he doesn’t get dehydrated from (maybe) vomiting. Here’s some photos from about 10 minutes ago when he was out after eating a few bites of greens, yes the tail looks kinda funky at the end, he needs his stitches out in about another week-10 more days.

 

Hes a cute little guy. I just got my daughter one last month too.

From what I understand it was probably the lettuce that did it . If it doesn't happen again I wouldnt worry

 

Hes a cute little guy. I just got my daughter one last month too.

From what I understand it was probably the lettuce that did it . If it doesn't happen again I wouldnt worry

Why would lettuce have caused vomiting? The main reason why I hear not to feed romaine is because it lacks nutritional value, I mostly just used it as a sort of “filler” with the other greens in his salad, definitely not a staple. The other greens I feed were what was recommended to me on here and at the vet. He had the lettuce last week I believe, not completely sure, may have been early this week… but if you think the lettuce would have caused vomiting, that would means it’s still in his system after almost a week… that’s very concerning to me! Fingers crossed that fecals come back negative and whatever the vomit looking stuff was doesn’t contain anything weird, if anything changes, he’ll definitely be going in for another checkup. Would you mind posting a pic of your beardie, I’d like to see one to compare, I think my guy looks fine and the vet had no concerns when he was there (aside from the tail) but I always like to double check everything.

 

I was told lettuce also has too much water in it and can cause diarrhea and vomiting.

 

I was told lettuce also has too much water in it and can cause diarrhea and vomiting.

Oh okay, the diarrhea makes sense to me, not so much the vomiting though, thanks for the info, I will look into it. He pooped twice today and neither stool looked runny. He’s been out for a bit, was even on his basking platform just now, so I suppose that’s a good sign.

 

Reptiles vomit undigested food whenever A. They don’t have access to proper heating and lighting (which you have so that’s not the issue) or B. It ate too much at one time and wasn’t able to digest it all.

Maybe try fasting for a day or two and give him time to digest and pass everything he’s already got in his stomach, but I’m sure the vet will have answers for you. All of this may have to do with his tail amputation.

The greens your feeding has nothing to do with the diarrhea, diarrhea can be from stress, dirty water, over eating, bad food, etc. But not from eating greens; it wouldn’t be apart of their diet if it caused diarrhea. Iceberg and romaine lettuce would probably cause diarrhea, but you don’t even feed that.

 

Reptiles vomit undigested food whenever A. They don’t have access to proper heating and lighting (which you have so that’s not the issue) or B. It ate too much at one time and wasn’t able to digest it all.

Maybe try fasting for a day or two and give him time to digest and pass everything he’s already got in his stomach, but I’m sure the vet will have answers for you. All of this may have to do with his tail amputation.

The greens your feeding has nothing to do with the diarrhea, diarrhea can be from stress, dirty water, over eating, bad food, etc. But not from eating greens; it wouldn’t be apart of their diet if it caused diarrhea. Iceberg and romaine lettuce would probably cause diarrhea, but you don’t even feed that.

They said they threw some romaine in as they where low in other veggies that's why I brought it up.

 

They said they threw some romaine in as they where low in other veggies that's why I brought it up.

Oh! Either way, I don’t see feeding romaine once or twice causing diarrhea. It may have, but with the other issues this little dude has I want to guess it’s a combination of stress and over eating

 

Oh! Either way, I don’t see feeding romaine once or twice causing diarrhea. It may have, but with the other issues this little dude has I want to guess it’s a combination of stress and over eating

I only used the romaine once, was maybe half a teaspoon once it was all cut up, it wasn’t on its own, it was mixed with some dandelion greens, I just used it to kinda bulk up his salad as I was low on other stuff, won’t use it anymore as I don’t want issues, I’ve never used iceberg though, I don’t even eat iceberg lettuce haha. I did feed him in the afternoon the day before it happened instead of the normal morning feeding, it was maybe 3 ish and his lights go out around 8, not sure if that’s what I did it. Is the 20-30 crickets a day too much? When I took him for his checkup I was only doing 20 and the vet said it’s okay, but I could give him as many as he’ll eat in about 5 minutes (yes I would literally set a timer for 5 minutes for his feedings ) after a few feedings I got an idea of what he’d eat in that time, which is somewhere between 20 and 30 so I’ve just been feeding that. If he was impacted, he wouldn’t be pooping at all, correct? I’m not super worried about that being the issue, because he pooped twice yesterday, but I just wanna be sure.

 

I only used the romaine once, was maybe half a teaspoon once it was all cut up, it wasn’t on its own, it was mixed with some dandelion greens, I just used it to kinda bulk up his salad as I was low on other stuff, won’t use it anymore as I don’t want issues, I’ve never used iceberg though, I don’t even eat iceberg lettuce haha. I did feed him in the afternoon the day before it happened instead of the normal morning feeding, it was maybe 3 ish and his lights go out around 8, not sure if that’s what I did it. Is the 20-30 crickets a day too much? When I took him for his checkup I was only doing 20 and the vet said it’s okay, but I could give him as many as he’ll eat in about 5 minutes (yes I would literally set a timer for 5 minutes for his feedings ) after a few feedings I got an idea of what he’d eat in that time, which is somewhere between 20 and 30 so I’ve just been feeding that. If he was impacted, he wouldn’t be pooping at all, correct? I’m not super worried about that being the issue, because he pooped twice yesterday, but I just wanna be sure.

I'm no expert but it doesn't sound like too much. Mine is about 3 months too (guessing by his size) and eats 20 - 30 silkworms a day. And I chuck in 3 or 4 crickets for him to chase around for a bit of exercise as we hand feed him the silkworms.

 

I'm no expert but it doesn't sound like too much. Mine is about 3 months too (guessing by his size) and eats 20 - 30 silkworms a day. And I chuck in 3 or 4 crickets for him to chase around for a bit of exercise as we hand feed him the silkworms.

Okay, thanks. Maybe he just didn’t like eating later in the day? Also I’ve got his 75 gallon almost setup, just have to cut the tile, would it be bad for me to get him in there on I don’t know, maybe sometime between Monday and Wednesday? Considering the vomit May be due to stress, I don’t want to worsen that, but I feel like the 75 gallon is a more appropriate habitat as I can create a better heat gradient in something larger, and he’ll also have more space and a larger basking area. I’m gonna skip crickets today and just give some greens soaked in water to make sure he stays hydrated, all I have now is mustard greens, so I will give a small amount of those.

Also I think I will switch to Dubia roaches after this. Those can be fed as the staple protein instead of crickets, right? I just feel like it’s a better food source and I may consider breeding these guys, so I know exactly where the food is coming from.

He’s awake and basking already, which he was NOT doing yesterday morning. As long as the fecal comes back negative, I’m gonna go ahead and blame it on myself feeding him in the afternoon instead of the morning. He did have a good 4 hours to bask following his meal, but I just can’t see any other reason as to why this would happen, and he’d be pretty much back into his normal routine the day after.

He did a healthy looking poop this morning! So no concerns of Impaction and no problems with anything related to diarrhea, also it doesn’t look like he’s dyhydrated either just based on the urates that came out with it. I think he’s gonna be fine as long as there are no parasites

 

HI Sorry to hear about the issues your beardie has been facing. Great news on your last post!

Okay, so I know little to nothing about beardies in particular and that includes their diet. However, having a juvie crestie has taught be a thing or two about feeder insects. Dubias are a good staple, or so I've been told. I detest roaches and they are illegal to buy or sell in my state, so, crickets it is. Thing is, they are part of a rotation of 3 different insects and insects are ALWAYS dusted with calcium and half the time with a multivitamin. Do beardies also need calcI dust? Idk but I kinda think so and it's certainly worth looking into. My own rotation for a 10 gram lizard is probably 70% crickets, 25% Phoenix worms (aka black soldier fly larva), and 5% waxworms. And on that note, here's a really great article on the particulars of insect feeding. Yes, it's geared towards cresties, but the analysis on feeder insect nutritional value is still very informative. Hope this helps!

Feeder Insects: Nutrition Facts on Insects for Reptiles | moonvalleyreptiles.com

 

HI Sorry to hear about the issues your beardie has been facing. Great news on your last post!

Okay, so I know little to nothing about beardies in particular and that includes their diet. However, having a juvie crestie has taught be a thing or two about feeder insects. Dubias are a good staple, or so I've been told. I detest roaches and they are illegal to buy or sell in my state, so, crickets it is. Thing is, they are part of a rotation of 3 different insects and insects are ALWAYS dusted with calcium and half the time with a multivitamin. Do beardies also need calcI dust? Idk but I kinda think so and it's certainly worth looking into. My own rotation for a 10 gram lizard is probably 70% crickets, 25% Phoenix worms (aka black soldier fly larva), and 5% waxworms. And on that note, here's a really great article on the particulars of insect feeding. Yes, it's geared towards cresties, but the analysis on feeder insect nutritional value is still very informative. Hope this helps!

Feeder Insects: Nutrition Facts on Insects for Reptiles | moonvalleyreptiles.com

I dust all his feeders with zoo med calcium powder, no D3 because that’s all I could find, but I will make sure the next bottle has D3 in it. I have no issues with any insects, in fact, I prefer roaches over crickets LOL. Dubias are fine to have here, all reptile stores around me sell them. I’ll have to take a look at that article, thanks. Another quick question. This morning he was opening his mouth and puffing up his beard, looked like he was gonna vomit again, but stopped. I did some research and apparently it’s a normal thing? Kinda like stretching. He’s fine still, basking, active, and mad that he hasn’t been fed yet. Should I be concerned about the beard puffing or is it indeed perfectly normal? I’m taking my tile to get cut now and I wanna get him into the 75 gallon ASAP.

Oh! Either way, I don’t see feeding romaine once or twice causing diarrhea. It may have, but with the other issues this little dude has I want to guess it’s a combination of stress and over eating

I'm no expert but it doesn't sound like too much. Mine is about 3 months too (guessing by his size) and eats 20 - 30 silkworms a day. And I chuck in 3 or 4 crickets for him to chase around for a bit of exercise as we hand feed him the silkworms.

Okay, so the weird cricket blob may not have been vomit after all… this morning he had a healthy poop and just now (about 2 hours after eating) his poop is a brown blob filled with undigested greens… he had a few bites of greens last night, he pooped this morning, so I’m not sure if those would still be in his system. Here’s a pic… I’m not sure how everything is moving through him so fast.

Well… the fecal came back negative, so there are no signs of parasites in the samples. He’s acting totally normal today aside from the weird poop, I guess I’m gonna just assume that maybe he had an upset stomach or maybe mustard greens don’t agree with him? I’ve fed them before without issue, but never as the only thing in his salad. His 75 gallon is all setup and ready to go, so I want to move him in there tomorrow. Bad idea? Or would this be okay.

 

I moved him to the 75 gallon today and he’s been doing well. He hasn’t pooped yet today, but I fed him a small meal (18 small crickets) and he ate them all. He’s been out to bask a bit, but mostly hiding, probably just the new environment.