A 5 month old bearded dragon has a bloody mass

Question
I have a two 4-5 month old bearded dragons I got at a pet store in October of 2010. they have been good, and haven't grown much, we feed them crickets every once in a while. This week we have been feeding them crickets morning and night , each BCD eat about 4-5 crickets at a time. Now today, I picked up one of the BD and it has a ball of soft gooey blood color ball in its rectum. I have them in a 60 gallon tank, with a uvb and a hot spot. it usually is about 80-100 degrees inside. What have I done wrong?

Answer
Hi Olimpia,

It sounds like a prolapse which is a situation that really should be seen by a vet as soon as possible. If the prolapsed tissue is ball shaped it is more likely to be cloacal tissue (the last part of the digestive tract) rather then one of the hemipenes.

There are a few things you can do in the meantime that can reduce the damage and increase his chances of survival. The tissue needs to be kept clean, moist and un-injured. Remove the substrate and anything else that can stick to or injure the exposed tissue and keep him on newspaper or paper towel. Saline (for contact lenses) is best for rinsing the tissue but water will do if that is all you have. There is an old farming trick for prolapses that can help reduce the swelling. It works by soaking the tissue in a super-saturated sugar and water solution (as much sugar as will dissolve in the water). This will gently draw out some of the water from the tissue through osmosis and can sometimes help the tissue retract back into the body.
The tissue needs to be kept moist to keep it from becoming necrotic (dead). Applying a water based lubricant like KY is best but vaseline, antibiotic ointment or even cooking oil will do.

Prolapses have a number of potential causes including calcium deficiency. Pinworm infections are very common with bearded dragons and large flare-ups of this parasite have been found to cause prolapses in beardeds.  I should mention that pinworms are very species specific and bearded dragon pinworms are not infectious to humans. Your vet will be able to give you an idea of the possible cause after he/she has determined what type of tissue is involved. Good luck.