Reptile Impaction
87What is Impaction?
Impaction is a condition in which the digestive tract is blocked by a solid or a semi-solid mass. If it is not treated it can become fatal.
Leopard Gecko Impaction
Causes of Impaction
Impaction can be caused 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, in which the rule of thumb for feeding is that the feeder rodent be no larger than the largest part of the snake).
Feeders that are too large can get stuck in the digestive tract, causing the blockage. Feeder insects that have a hard Chitin outer-shell can, also cause impaction. You should only feed these type of feeders to larger reptiles, never babies or juveniles.
Low temperatures can cause inadequate digestion, one more reason to make sure you have proper temperatures. If the reptile requires belly heat versus air heat, make sure that you include an under tank heater as a part of the husbandry. Make sure that the basking sites of diurnal reptiles are appropriate temperatures, as well.
One other cause of impaction is dehydration; always provide your reptiles with fresh water.
Loose Substrates
Impaction caused by loose substrates develop overtime, so the symptoms are more gradual. Most of the time it will go unseen until it is too late.
Calci-Sand, Vita-Sand, and other calcium based sand is a BIGno-no. 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. Calc-Sand clumps together when it is wet. Imagine what it will do inside a reptile... Clump... When wet, it doesn't dissolve 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
- Bark.
Corn cob, Crushed walnut shells, gravel, cat litter, pebbles, and any other pellet-type substrates should not be used in a reptile's enclosure either, as they, too, can cause impaction if ingested.
The safest substrate that you can use is tile, slate, reptile carpet, and paper towels.
Symptoms of Impaction
The first symptom that you may notice is that the fecal matter may contain loose substrates. For example, it may be covered in sand, but you know that the reptile did not kick sand onto the fecal matter becuase you cannot find any evidence of holes in the substrate.
Mild Symptoms include:
- Constipation
- Straining to excrete fecal matter
Moderate-Severe symptoms include:
- Slight leg trembles
- Regurgitation
- Slight bumps along spinal area
- Paralysis
- Lack of appetite
- Lethargy
- A blue-bruised area on the abdomen
- Difficulty breathing
Note: 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.
Reptile Substrates
Treating Impaction
If you are able to catch impaction early on, you can set up the reptile in a different enclosure, or reformat the current one. Include an undertank heater to help acheive appropriate temperatures. Use paper towels as the substrate, as they are disposible and easy to clean; using paper towels, also, insures that the reptile will not be able to ingest any more loose substrates.
If the reptile is showing mild symptoms, you will want to first set it up in an enclosure free of loose substrates, and follow the below method. If you're reptile is showing more moderate-severe symptoms, you want to take the reptile to a vet, ASAP.
Now what you want to do with the reptile, itself, is to purchase a small dropper, in order to administer a few drops of either mineral oil, olive oil, or vegetable oil, daily. Give the reptiel warm soaks at least once a day, as well. Make sure to not let the water get hotter than the reptiles normal basking temperatures.
You want to try to get as much fluids in the reptile as you can without too much force. Try giving the reptile diluted Gatorade or pedialyte by using a dropper.
Do not give the reptile any solids, yet. Try providing the reptile different baby foods. Bearded dragons and omnivorous reptiles can eat fruit or vegetable baby foods, and insectivores can be provided chicken and turkey baby foods. Make sure to add supplements to the baby food. You may have to use a dropper to feed the reptile the baby food, but see if it will eat it on its own, first.
This method may take several days to get the impaction moving through the reptile's body, but DO NOT let it go more than 10 days.
The next option really isn't an option. You should take your reptile 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 the reptile enemas. NEVER try this on your own!
Preventing Impaction
If you want to prevent impaction before it has a chance to impact your reptile you need to, first, start the reptile on a solid surface. NOT loose substrates. And, make extreme care to not house reptiles under one year on loose substrates.
Feed size appropriate foods. Make sure that crickets aren't too big for the reptile, and chop fruits and veggies up to a smaller size.
Make sure the temperatures in the enclosure are not to low or too high. Using a digital thermometer with a probe, you can accurately determine the temperatures in the enclosure. Fluker's manufactures a digital thermometer with a probe that not only measures temperature but humidity, which can be very important in creating the proper enclosure for you reptile.
Keep a bowl of calcium in the aquarium at all times.
Keep fresh water in the enclosure.
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.
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Comments
HI. I WROTE TO YOU EARLIER AND ASKED ABOUT MY GECKO. NO NEED, SHE DIED WHEN I FINISHED WRITING. SHE DIED OF IMPACTION. HOW SAD. HER NAME WAS TAYLOR, SHE WAS ONLY ABOUT 2 MONTHS OLD. :(
I'm so sorry for your loss. Just remember to never house leopard geckos on said. At 3 weeks old, you may consider parasites, not impaction. The blue dot you mentioned in the other post is probably just the liver, not an impaction. I notice it on all hatchlings.
We have had our female leopard gecko for over a month now. She is housed in a 10 gallon aquarium with an under tank heater, reptile carpet, a few large rocks for basking on and a hide. Within the hide we keep a light covering of moss. The tank is around 90 degrees on the side where we keep the hide. The hide sits above the under tank heater and under the heat lamp. The cool side of the tank is right around the 75 degree mark. We feed her a diet of appropriate size cricket that are dusted 2-3 times per week with calcium. She has been eating 3 per day right around 8pm and has been very active when they were placed in the tank. She has shed 3 times in a month or so and she has been good with my 10 year old daughter handling her. By all accounts, she has been doing very well, eating well, active, tail looks good, good bowel movents, all good until 4 days ago. When we fed her she did not get excited and chase down the crickets. We left the crickets in the tank for about an hour and she still did not eat. Each day we change the water, clean the tank and continue to try to feed. It is now 4 days since she has eaten and we are becoming somewhat concerned. We have read that she may be showing some sort of hibernation symptoms but I don't see how this could happen so quickly. Not exactly sure what is going on and I am looking for a little advice. I am thinking that impaction could not have occured as there isn't any sand or chips, etc in the tank. Every time we watch her eat and she doesn't eat the moss. Should we be worried at this point or do we just keep monitoring her for a few more days before searching for a reptile vet?
Planet89- It sounds like you're doing everything right. I would consider the brumation/hibernation. I have a few leopard geckos that the change in weather does not effect one bit, but at the same time, I have one or two that will slow their activity level and eat less And, their temps are the same. It is a possibility that she is feeling the cooling weather outside. But, it could be something. Is she drinking fine? Lack of drinking may indicate parasites. Where did you get her? Many pet store reptiles have parasites or other underlying health concerns.
I would keep an eye on her, watch her for another week or so. If you see any signs of her loosing weight in her tail, then you should definately seek a reptile vet. It's hard to pinpoint what may be wrong with her, but a reptile vet is always your best bet for a proper diagnosis.
I've never worried about sand as a substrate before, until you mentioned that even calcium sand is a big no no. Now I'm worried. I have two leopard geckos, one is two years old, always kept on the calcium sand, the other a year old - although he's been kept on kitchen roll paper for quite some while due to losing his tail. I've never had any problems so far, but I'm terrified now that I may end up having problems. So I just wanted to clarify this:
The calcium sand I use is the type you put in a little dish for them to lick at themselves, but it says it can also be used as a substrate. And so I use it as such, as I'm never too sure if they take it themselves, so having it as a substrate ensures that they will digest even a tiny bit when diving at the crickets! Is this sand still bad to use? (You mentioned that even if manufacturers say so, it's not true). But since this one is the one made for eating, is it alright to use it as a substrate? Or can it still cause impaction?
Moon-Hunter: No. Never ever ever put calcium sand in a dish for them to lick. It should never be used as substrate either. It's the absolute worst substrate for reptiles. Because it does have calcium in it, it intices them to lick it, but when wet calcium sand clumps. In a reptiles body, it will clump, gettign stuck in the intestines of the digestive system.
It's not made for eating! It clumps! Have you ever gotten it wet? The water sits for a bit before the sand clumps together. It WILL do this in a reptile's body. It's worse than regular playsand. Remember that just because they are desert reptiels, that doesn't mean that desert means the natural habitat was sand. Most of the desert is actually rock, on exception of like the Sahara.
I just went to the website of the company that sells the stuff I normally get, Zoo-med. I just wanted to see what they wrote about the sand I usually get, and now that I look at it, it doesn't say anywhere about it being a sand, other than in it's name "Vita-sand". It says it's a vitamin fortified calcium carbonate substrate. So I dunno.... http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/EntryDetail.php? here's the link, check it out and see what you make of it. I know a reptile breeder and herptologist who's used this stuff for years, and has never had any problems with it, but maybe he's just been lucky for over 20years. I wouldn't want to risk it if you still say no - I love my two too much!
Vita-Sand is a similar product as Calci-Sand. A manufacturer isn't going to tell you that their product has the portential to kill your animal. I know what you're talking about and ANY calcium cabonate sand is bad.
I am using Zoo Meds fur bark substrate for my first ever 6 month old leopard gecko. Is this ok to use or should i switch to papertowel so something else until he gets older. I have been reading lots about this imipaction and do not want my little guy to have any issues. Also, if i do switch to papertowel or something else would it be ok to use the fur bark once he gets older?!
Nope. You need to remove it ASAP and replace with paper towels, stale tiles, rollout shelf liner, or reptile carpet. Nope. You should never use loose substrates. I'm not sure why you would even use bark to begin with, as leopard geckos are desert not jungle reptiles. Crickets can hide under the bark, which makes feeding harder; it can rasie humidity, which can cause respiratory concerns. Even as an adult, you risk impaction with any loose substrate.
I have a few questions. I am a new Leopard Gecko owner, and have had my baby Leopard Gecko for four days. Before getting one, I did a ton of research, including on your leopard gecko pages, which I found very informative. I got him from Petco, because in our small-ish town we don't usually have any reptile expos, small pet shops, or leopard gecko breeders. At Petco, they were housed on what appeared to be a type of sand (Which I know is not good). He seems to be doing wonderful, but because I am a new owner, I still have some questions. First of all, I noticed a blue-ish dot on his stomach almost directly in the middle, just slightly off. I had read above that you notice it on all hatchlings, but I am not sure of how old he is. Is it still normal? Also, on his upper side of his stomach there is a small blue-ish area and I was a little concerned. Should I be? It is about the size of a small pea, or smaller. He is very sleepy in the day (normal), and very active at night. He is eating crickets happily, and a few mini mealworms. He has gone to the bathroom about 4 or 5 times since I got him, so everything seems normal. The one thing I haven't noticed is him drinking water, although I have only had him a few days. I have seen him go in the water dish, and stare into it, but I haven't seen him drink any, which I read could be parasites. Please let me know if any of these things could be a problem. Am I being too worried? I just want my little critter to be happy and healthy. Also, when you say "roll out shelf liner" what exactly do you mean by that? We bought him some of that Non- Slip liner that has holes in it and I was wondering if that would be okay. Right now he is housed on paper towels. Sorry for such a long comment!!!! Thanks!!
The blue dot is typically going to be the liver. He probably drinks at night, since they are nocturnal reptiles. No I wouldn't use the grip liner. Shelf liner is just that, it's a liner that rolls out onto a shelf typically to cover it; it's similar to a rollout tile. It's not a grip liner. I'd stick with paper towels. Definitly don't use the grip pad that you purchased.
Hi again whitney i just got a 20gal long tank and i bought a 8watt under tank heater for it. Would that be enought heat it is only like 72F on the side the under tank heqter is on? If not could i put a lighting fixture on top of the tank to produce somewhat a little more heat on the hot side of the tank. And i was just wondering i have 2 females in there right now one is a SHTCTB and one is a bell albino should i seperate them becuase the SHTCTB i haven't reallty been seeing her eat ,her tail is a little skinny. Should i house her by herself to get her to eat a little bit more.
Thank you,
If the temperature of the surface of the tank, where the geckos lay down is only 72F and you're housing leopard geckos, then no that is not sufficient. You need the temperatures to be 90F or right around there. I would separate them just in case. The Bell could be bullying the SHTCTB. I would house them separately for a while so that you can see if the tang starts eating and plumping up; if so then wait until the tang is at full weight and then try to introduce them together. You may still have problems, and may have to permanently house them seperate, but you won't know that until you get the tang at full weight so that they are at even playing fields, so to speak.
Are you sure they're both females?
Ya i am pretty sure none of them has the male pores showing up. And could i put a lighting fixture on top to add a little more heat?
Could i still put an lighting fixture on top??
hey i am getting another leopard gecko on thursday for my birthday and it is going to be a baby SHTCTB hatchling and i was wondering what would be the best thing to feed it??
The light fixture may add a little heat but lighting typically heats up the air, and your geckos need the belly heat. You can try it, but it's not going to raise your temps 20 degrees. I'd get a better UTH; try ZooMed. You feed hatchlings the same thing your feed adults but smaller version. Buy small crickets and small mealworms. Also make sure that you have the baby separated from the larger geckos.
Hi. I have a new bearded dragon. My 9 year old daughter fed him meal worms that were much too large for him. He is showing signs of an impaction (lethargic, no appetite, labored breathing). He even shows some paralysis in both front and back at times but not at others. Today is the first sign that I have noticed the behavior, but with such severe signs I fear it has been going on for some time now. We have only had him for a week and he is just a baby. So far I have given him two warm soaks and managed to get some olive oil in him. My kids will be sick if he dies and there are no reptile vets in my area. Is there anything I can do? Please help.
Another thing is that I have never been able to get him to eat veggies. I chop up romain lettuce and it just sits there.
Oh sry i was mistaken the 8watt underank heater gives a temp of a around 87F i was talking about the heat of the air in the tank i used this temperature laser and it's like a red dote that you flash on something and is very accurate and told me the ground temperature of 87F on the hot side and in the 70's on the cold side. My UTH is the EXO-Terra brand.
So i would be able to feed the baby hatchling gecko small crickets and small mealworms. But i am hearing alot of stuff about mealworms may be hard to digest for little ones is that true?
Bill with young BD's it can be hard to get them on veggies unless the breeder hasstarted them on them at birth. At such severe stages, a vet is probably your only option. Make sure that the BD is on paper towels and continue the warm soaks twice a day.
Daren, the exo-terra brand is ok, but Zoomed has a much better UTH. As for the hatchling, small crickets and mealworms is fine. Sometimes you may encounter a gecko that may have problems digesting the exoskeleton, but I feed hatchlings regular sized mealworms, and have never had a problem. Right now though, you will have a problem getting a hold of mealworms, as there is a nationwide shortage.
working
URGENT101 says:
6 months ago
HELP ME! WILL MY BABY LEOPARD GECKO DIE OF IMPACTION?