Twigg IMPACTION***MUST READ***

So last week I noticed that twigg wasn't eating as normal, and then on the july 30th a day before I was to leave out of town she looks very bloated in the belly. She also would sqeek or almost growl when I picked her up and touched her mid section. Her belly looked fine to me it was light colored as usual but with a small teal dot in the middle, which to me was just a darker piece of belly organ. But seeing the bloated belly and the obvious discomfort she was in I gave her a drop of oil and soaked her. I also seperated her from the 40 gallon as I can't tell if she is pooping or not. Next morning another drop of oil and soak. Got home from work that day and there was finally poop in there. So i felt confident that things were moving, so I put her back into her normal viv so as to not keep stressing her in the tub. Weekend went fine came home all Leos were good.

But Twigg was still not eating and her belly still looked bloated, she also was still making noises when held. So I seperated her again on monday night drop of oil and soak, tuesday morning drip of oil and soak, with a repeat on tuesday night as there still was NO poop. I got up this am and immediately checked Twigg and found this.......

I have removed ALL sphagnum moss from moist hides!!!! For those who are skeptical of your Leo's eating something like moss from their hides, well I got a very rude awakening!!! I do NOT free feed so my mealies aren't in a bowl or on the cage floor I tong feed each leo so as to know how much everyone is eating so why did Twigg eat the moss???? No CLUE!! But Im not taking that chance again!!!

I am so very thankful for all of you on this forum, cause without you i would not have noticed the warning signs and known what to do. I started to beat myself up over this, but why do that Im doing everything right, so instead Im posting it on here so others can learn too!!! Im just very glad Twigg passed this on her own!!!

*****Here is my question that sore on Twiggs bum...should I do a little neosprin? Twigg is going to remain in the quarntine tub till she eats and poops normally. Clean papertowel and such, but do you think some NEO would help it heal??*****

OMG i would have freak out seeing that...so Glad she pass it on her Own....as far as her Bum.. i would take her to vet unless someone on here has been thou this before that can help you and Twigg ... Good Luck and glad she is doing better...

ahh! I'm removing my moss as soon as i get home!

OMG!! That's why we don't use any type of moss in our hides anymore. The same thing happened to one of ours. Now we keep vermiculite in all of ours and just mist and stir it daily to ensure that it stays moist in there.

It's good to hear that yours got it all out though and that it didn't hurt her seriously!!

Did you take a picture of the small teal dot?

Ouch! Poor baby Twigg A very small amount of neosporin would be good since there's some redness from irritation. It doesn't look like any infection but that would help it heal up faster. I know you change your paper towel a lot so there's no danger of it attracting bacteria. I saw one of mine violently regurge a piece of moss, so now it's just in layboxes. Regular humid hides get paper towel.

OMG guys I tell you I really thought I was taking every precaution to limit impaction issues. I cried after it was all done this AM!!! I really do feel very lucky to still have my twigg!

Sorry no I did not take a picture of the teal spot...but literally it was pencil tip size round in the center of the belly.

@Laney Thanks Im gonna do the Neo! And yes keeping the towels changed and clean! Im sure it just Leo Hemmroids from trying to rub that moss out of her bum bum!

Im still alittle nervous about if she has any internal damage or issues, I'll feel a lot better once she eats and poops normal!!!

I just want as many ppl as possible to learn from this!!!

Yikes.. I'm taking moss out of my raptor's tank tonight. She likes to sleep with it, but I don't want to see her go through this.

Pinky81 said:

OMG guys I tell you I really thought I was taking every precaution to limit impaction issues. I cried after it was all done this AM!!! I really do feel very lucky to still have my twigg!

Sorry no I did not take a picture of the teal spot...but literally it was pencil tip size round in the center of the belly.

@Laney Thanks Im gonna do the Neo! And yes keeping the towels changed and clean! Im sure it just Leo Hemmroids from trying to rub that moss out of her bum bum!

Im still alittle nervous about if she has any internal damage or issues, I'll feel a lot better once she eats and poops normal!!!

I just want as many ppl as possible to learn from this!!!

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Mel, I don't think this was impaction but constipation. It does move out, just more slowly from that end. Keep an eye on those hemorrhoids :main_robin:

All will be well again soon

One thing you can do is a lukewarm sugarwater soak. Some folks say saltwater, but saltwater can sting...The idea is you have a hypertonic solution which causes the tissue cells to get slightly smaller as they give up water through osmosis. It's sort of an astringent effect. I would say you could dab some neosporin on as suggested after the soak.

I actually had this exact same thing happen with my leos and moss. I switched to cocofiber, and haven't had issues since...Some of them still eat it and pass it, but without complications. I think they sometimes eat moist hide substrate when they're after water...or maybe it's like pica in humans, trying to get some mineral they're craving. My last guess is that every once in a while, they have an instinctive urge for "fiber"...kind of like a periodic cleanout. (But this last one is a pretty wild conjecture of a guess.)

lillith said:

One thing you can do is a lukewarm sugarwater soak. Some folks say saltwater, but saltwater can sting...The idea is you have a hypertonic solution which causes the tissue cells to get slightly smaller as they give up water through osmosis. It's sort of an astringent effect. I would say you could dab some neosporin on as suggested after the soak.

I actually had this exact same thing happen with my leos and moss. I switched to cocofiber, and haven't had issues since...Some of them still eat it and pass it, but without complications. I think they sometimes eat moist hide substrate when they're after water...or maybe it's like pica in humans, trying to get some mineral they're craving. My last guess is that every once in a while, they have an instinctive urge for "fiber"...kind of like a periodic cleanout. (But this last one is a pretty wild conjecture of a guess.)

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Lillith you crack me up! Its very interesting that so many seem to have had the same experiences yet you don't see warnings for the moist hide substrate. Or maybe I just didn't pay attention, I'll have to check. But to me impaction or constipation I NEVER wanna go through this again.

Pinky81 said:

Its very interesting that so many seem to have had the same experiences yet you don't see warnings for the moist hide substrate.

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That is indeed strange. I've never read anywhere, from any caresheet or forum posts, where people warn about using moss in the moist hide due to impaction problems. I'm glad this thread came about because seriously, I've tried so hard to eliminate impaction problems for my leopard geckos. But why moss wasn't warned I don't know, it sure look to be a big issue to me. This thread has me immediately freaked out about one of my leopard geckos that like to sleep on moss and dig her head inside it.

Tonight, moss out, papertowels in

By the way, if people still use moss for their layboxes, have you guys not experienced any impaction issues from the moss in layboxes?

Well, some geckos will eat whatever substrate you put in there...I had vermiculite for a time, and some of them ate that, and I read warnings about that in the breeding section, since it was one of my gravid girls eating it the first year I bred. I switched to moss, and I don't know if you've ever seen a dog that ate strings along with whatever cloth they were chewing on, but it was kind of like that...dragging her butt all over until the one string snagged on a log and dislodged. (did I gross everyone out yet?) I was surprised because I thought moss was very safe, it usually is, unless you have the sort of gecko that eats it. I figured my gecko was an aberrant fluke. It kinda freaked me out. Between that and the mold issues I was having with mold developing in lay medium that first year, I switched to cocofiber. Nothing is perfect, but I like cocofiber because it's more natural looking, they can dig in it, and it passes right through. In my experience, anyhow.

I have never used or even seen cocofiber. what is it about it that makes it so easy to pass? And thats exactly what Twigg was doing..only I became the thing that "snagged" the moss, cause you could tell she was getting tired from trying to get that out all night.

As for my lay box I used vermiculite and yes I did notice vermic. in her poop but I just figured it was the little bit she was probably licking off her face after a good dig session.

Well this whole thing has been one hell of a learning experience let me tell ya!

I am removing my moss right now |:

Cocofiber has small particulates compared to vermiculite and moss, and I think that if it's hydrated, it passes through kind of like psyllium seed husk (metamucil is made from that) does for us. I would think you could have a risk for problems if it was not hydrated.

It's basically ground up coconut husk, you can find it under lots of names. Ecoearth, cocofiber, coir, etc.

Maybe someone else could weigh in on this, too? I'm not sure why it passes easily, but it seems to work better for me than other laybox substrates.

lillith said:

Cocofiber has small particulates compared to vermiculite and moss, and I think that if it's hydrated, it passes through kind of like psyllium seed husk (metamucil is made from that) does for us. I would think you could have a risk for problems if it was not hydrated.

It's basically ground up coconut husk, you can find it under lots of names. Ecoearth, cocofiber, coir, etc.

Maybe someone else could weigh in on this, too? I'm not sure why it passes easily, but it seems to work better for me than other laybox substrates.

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Yes please other pipe in what are your thoughts on this kida situation...???