I'm a snake owner, and havent looked into lizards too much so i've never heard of this before. I'm interested in chinese water dragons and a friend of mine turned me on to beardies as well... i've seen people talking about their lizards being impacted and i have no idea what that is. thanks for your help
It's basically when their guts get blocked up. It can be anything from a food item that was too big, too much sand being licked up or swallowing the wrong thing (bark chips etc). Sometimes you can bathe the lizard and help their digestive system along by gently rubbing their tummies and they can then pass the object that was causing the impaction. I expect others can explain it much simpler than me, but that's the basic gist.
ohh thanks =] is this limited to certin kinds of lizards or can any of them be affected by it? also, how can you tell when this happens?
I don't think it's limited, all can suffer. Some are more vulnerable to it though. The most common sign is nothing being passed, along with not eating, losing weight, lethargy. Unfortunately in the case of my WD he had to be put down, the piece of bark was too big to be passed and he was too small to have an op.
I think almost any reptile or animal can become impacted (including humans) but some, due to the substrates common to their habitat, are more prone to it. herps that are "hand" fed are less prone to munch some substrate when they feed than herps who "hunt" their food. Just be very careful to research the proper substrate for CWD and make sure your food sources are properly sized. You can order food via the internet in various sizes from several sites if it is not locally available.
