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Bearded Dragon Poisoning by Lightening Bug

22 11:43:17

Question
Is there anything I can do to expedite getting the phosphorous poison from a lightening bug out of my Bearded Dragon's system before it poisons him to death? My Bearded Dragon ate a lightening bug that we weren't able to get out of his cage quicker than he could catch it himself. It entered though the top screen. This happened approximately 3 hours ago and I have called every emergency vet within a 2 hour radius of our home and no one has a reptile vet on duty today. So far he remains as active as he normally is, he is eating and drinking normally since, he has had one normal poop and his color is good. I am human medically trained so I am willing to do what it takes to try to save him until I can get him to a reptile vet on Monday if it isn't to late.

Crosby is a male bearded dragon. He was purchased from a pet store. Currently 14 months old. 15" long from head to tip of tail. weight N/A. Lives in a 40 gallon tank. Tile bottom with heat mat under 1/3 of floor and Spot / flood lights on top. Wattage for day lamp is 150. Red night lamp. UVB lamp. Zoo Med bulbs (?), Humidity is 25-30%, Temperature 90 degrees. Last shed was one week ago without difficulty. No other animals living in the same terrarium. He eats well; crickets calcium gut loaded twice a day approximately 10-15. He also eats Soft Bearded Dragon diced food from the pet store (I'm not sure of the brand) and fresh, organic fruits and veggies from our garden or store bought. These include strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, squash, zucchini, carrots, collard greens, red peppers. He eats our own yard grown dandy lions which are not treated with chemicals or pesticides. He is fed 2-3 times daily. They seem to be his favorite food along with crickets. The crickets are live from Fluckers via mail order. He defecated as normal at approximately 1400 hours. Since eating the lightening bug he has eaten crickets and dandy lions, drank water and pooped. Fresh water is always in his cage. He is awake during the day and always active. Sleeps at night. He has a very set routine. So far since this accident his routine has not changed. So far we have not used a vet. He does not take any dietary supplements.
Any advise you can offer would be wonderful. Thank you so much for your time.

Answer
What was the outcome? Did the Beardie die or no?

What was the outcome here? Did he die?

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You REALLY need a vet. IMMEDIATELY. A single fire fly is enough to be fatal. The chances are that he will be dead by tomorrow. If he is going to die he will be dead well before Mon. I just had another case a couple of weeks ago. That dragon died after being fed only one.

I suggest you contact me and stay in touch on my facebook page at
http://facebook.com/reptilerescue
for updates on his progression.

Barring a vet this is going to require you getting a lot of stuff that is really a much bigger waste of his time than just finding a vet ANY VET who can deal with ingestion of a toxic insect.

He would need a gastric lavage and/or ipecac (can't speak to effectiveness) and/or activated carbon via gastrostomy tube. The INSECT needs to come out if at all possible. The longer it sits there and he is digesting it, the worse he is going to progress and once this starts happening you had already be having his treatment underway or you are behind the curve.

I don't care what vet you find. His life is most assuredly over if SOME VET doesn't perform lavage on him TONIGHT.