Juvenile bearded accidentally ate sick dubias and she's now sick!

[Alishancoleman]

Please help me, I've had my beardie since October, we are assuming she is about 8-9 months old now and has been growing great since we got her with no issues. Yesterday I accidentally fed her dubias that had mold in their container and we're not very active. I didn't think about their activity at first, assuming they were just too cold, but then after feeding her and her eating all that I gave (about 20 medium size) I realized their substrate was covered in mold!!!! It was nearly the same color as the substrate and not easy to see in our poor lighting so please don't come for me on that, accidents happen. But now my girl is sick with a black puffed out beard what do I need to do please help. I will contact a vet also btw, I just know that can take a while to get in and I want outside advice as well.
Thank you.

 

[Sadie]

Please help me, I've had my beardie since October, we are assuming she is about 8-9 months old now and has been growing great since we got her with no issues. Yesterday I accidentally fed her dubias that had mold in their container and we're not very active. I didn't think about their activity at first, assuming they were just too cold, but then after feeding her and her eating all that I gave (about 20 medium size) I realized their substrate was covered in mold!!!! It was nearly the same color as the substrate and not easy to see in our poor lighting so please don't come for me on that, accidents happen. But now my girl is sick with a black puffed out beard what do I need to do please help. I will contact a vet also btw, I just know that can take a while to get in and I want outside advice as well.
Thank you.

Not sure on this one I will get some more help --- the only thing I can think of she has an upset stomach let me see that we can give her to help -- make sure her basking temps are good and 95-100 taken w/ a digital probe thermometer and they are surface basking temps - along w/ a good UVB no coils please --

 

[Alishancoleman]

Not sure on this one I will get some more help --- the only thing I can think of she has an upset stomach let me see that we can give her to help -- make sure her basking temps are good and 95-100 taken w/ a digital probe thermometer and they are surface basking temps - along w/ a good UVB no coils please --

She has an excellent set up, I worked really hard (and spent a good chunk of money) to make it that way, so I'm confident that will help her be comfortable through this. I'm breading my own dubias but they aren't ready yet so in the meantime I have to order them online so there is also no guarantee with health on those.... I know the mold was likely my fault with their storage getting too humid and I feel awful this happened but thank you so much for looking into it a bit.

 

[Sadie]

She has an excellent set up, I worked really hard (and spent a good chunk of money) to make it that way, so I'm confident that will help her be comfortable through this. I'm breading my own dubias but they aren't ready yet so in the meantime I have to order them online so there is also no guarantee with health on those.... I know the mold was likely my fault with their storage getting too humid and I feel awful this happened but thank you so much for looking into it a bit.

Here is one reply I have gotten

Hopefully the mold was not ingested directly, or if it was, not much was ingested. Since it happened yesterday, I'm not sure that treating it like a toxin and offering activated charcoal would be helpful. I would probably consult a vet if a lot of mold was ingested directly, but offer plenty of water to try and help flush the system. A little bit may not be harmful though and may have just caused some discomfort. If it was just eating some unhealthy roaches, I'd think that would be more unpleasant than harmful in a one off situation like this. I'd certainly move the roaches into a clean environment with fresh food and not feed any more off for a little while.

 

[Sadie]

Here is one reply I have gotten

Hopefully the mold was not ingested directly, or if it was, not much was ingested. Since it happened yesterday, I'm not sure that treating it like a toxin and offering activated charcoal would be helpful. I would probably consult a vet if a lot of mold was ingested directly, but offer plenty of water to try and help flush the system. A little bit may not be harmful though and may have just caused some discomfort. If it was just eating some unhealthy roaches, I'd think that would be more unpleasant than harmful in a one off situation like this. I'd certainly move the roaches into a clean environment with fresh food and not feed any more off for a little while.

Here is another reply
Yeah I don't think it will be any different than if we ate a tiny piece of bread with mold on it, it might give a slight tummy upset but not much more. It would be very rare for a human or animal to get very ill from eating a bit of moldy food.

 

[Alishancoleman]

Here is one reply I have gotten

Hopefully the mold was not ingested directly, or if it was, not much was ingested. Since it happened yesterday, I'm not sure that treating it like a toxin and offering activated charcoal would be helpful. I would probably consult a vet if a lot of mold was ingested directly, but offer plenty of water to try and help flush the system. A little bit may not be harmful though and may have just caused some discomfort. If it was just eating some unhealthy roaches, I'd think that would be more unpleasant than harmful in a one off situation like this. I'd certainly move the roaches into a clean environment with fresh food and not feed any more off for a little while.

So about an hour has past and her beard isn't puffed out anymore and it's a lot lighter, still darker than usual but not so black like it was this morning. She's basking now and acting normal so I do hope it was just an upset tummy this morning and she is fine. Thank you for the advice.

 

[Alishancoleman]

Here is another reply
Yeah I don't think it will be any different than if we ate a tiny piece of bread with mold on it, it might give a slight tummy upset but not much more. It would be very rare for a human or animal to get very ill from eating a bit of moldy food.

Am I allowed to post a picture of her poop? She just had a bm and it is VERY abnormal... Never seen or heard of anything like it. It is very chunky and discolored with pieces of undigested food.... She did have some cut up apples yesterday too but she has never had a problem with those in the past either.

 

[Sadie]

Am I allowed to post a picture of her poop? She just had a bm and it is VERY abnormal... Never seen or heard of anything like it. It is very chunky and discolored with pieces of undigested food.... She did have some cut up apples yesterday too but she has never had a problem with those in the past either.

Yes please post -- I am thinking its the dubias shes pooped out undigested which probably gave her the upset stomach -- and if she has pooped them out that would be why shes feeling better -- watch her poops the next few days see if they go back to normal - has she had a problem w/ undigested insects in the past ?

 

[Alishancoleman]

Yes please post -- I am thinking its the dubias shes pooped out undigested which probably gave her the upset stomach -- and if she has pooped them out that would be why shes feeling better -- watch her poops the next few days see if they go back to normal - has she had a problem w/ undigested insects in the past ?

She has not had problems like this is the past, the only undigested insect parts that I've seen has been maybe an antenna very rarely. And that was mostly when she was getting crickets as a baby. The part in the top right is definitely the apples. I think the rest is the roaches.

 

[Sadie]

View attachment 31778

She has not had problems like this is the past, the only undigested insect parts that I've seen has been maybe an antenna very rarely. And that was mostly when she was getting crickets as a baby. The part in the top right is definitely the apples. I think the rest is the roaches.

Yes I agree just watch it and don't give her anymore of those roaches- I would clean out the tank and get new ones - her poop should straighten out here w/ fresh insects

 

[Alishancoleman]

Yes I agree just watch it and don't give her anymore of those roaches- I would clean out the tank and get new ones - her poop should straighten out here w/ fresh insects

Thank you! I will try to keep this post updated just cause when I'm trying to read about people experiences and then it just leaves off on a cliff hanger I hate it! So I'm going to update probably every day until it either gets better or I get a diagnosis.

 

[Sadie]

Thank you! I will try to keep this post updated just cause when I'm trying to read about people experiences and then it just leaves off on a cliff hanger I hate it! So I'm going to update probably every day until it either gets better or I get a diagnosis.

She should be ok - but yes keep me posted

 

[Alishancoleman]

Update:
She pooped again today and it was better than yesterday but still had a few undigested parts in it and was a lighter color again. She has been acting completely normal and has energy and very friendly still her beard is still the same color as yesterday.
I contacted the vet and they said they couldn't get her in until Monday so I'm going to monitor her over the weekend and call them Monday again if she isn't better.
Her basking spot was too cold yesterday and also over the night before i think it got a bit too cold. I adjusted the temp so now it is at about 100 degrees, which I think will help.
Yesterday I didn't give her any live food, figuring it would be more gentle on her tummy and gave her some salad greens, carrots, and her pellet food and she ate all the veggies!
She got new dubias today and is eating them like normal along with her veggies again.
Im hoping the temp change is going to solve the problem. I'm also going to look and see if her uvb needs changing. It's 3 months old now so it might be time.

 

[Sadie]

Update:
She pooped again today and it was better than yesterday but still had a few undigested parts in it and was a lighter color again. She has been acting completely normal and has energy and very friendly still her beard is still the same color as yesterday.
I contacted the vet and they said they couldn't get her in until Monday so I'm going to monitor her over the weekend and call them Monday again if she isn't better.
Her basking spot was too cold yesterday and also over the night before i think it got a bit too cold. I adjusted the temp so now it is at about 100 degrees, which I think will help.
Yesterday I didn't give her any live food, figuring it would be more gentle on her tummy and gave her some salad greens, carrots, and her pellet food and she ate all the veggies!
She got new dubias today and is eating them like normal along with her veggies again.
Im hoping the temp change is going to solve the problem. I'm also going to look and see if her uvb needs changing. It's 3 months old now so it might be time.

If it's a T 5 or T 8 they are different experation dates - T 5 one year I recommend a month prior to T 8 6 months I recommend 5 months- it's good she's eating and back to normal - post a pic of her please

 

[Alishancoleman]

Here she is! She is doing much better today. You can see her beard is still a little dark, which isn't normal for her but I think she's doing much better and I'm not really concerned anymore.
Yesterday she measured in at 14.5 inches long but I haven't weighed her. I'm really proud of all her growth since she was just a tiny baby!

 

[Sadie]

View attachment 31791
Here she is! She is doing much better today. You can see her beard is still a little dark, which isn't normal for her but I think she's doing much better and I'm not really concerned anymore.
Yesterday she measured in at 14.5 inches long but I haven't weighed her. I'm really proud of all her growth since she was just a tiny baby!

She looks good make sure your UVB is correctly placed and distanced

 

[Alishancoleman]

View attachment 31791
Here she is! She is doing much better today. You can see her beard is still a little dark, which isn't normal for her but I think she's doing much better and I'm not really concerned anymore.
Yesterday she measured in at 14.5 inches long but I haven't weighed her. I'm really proud of all her growth since she was just a tiny baby!

This was the day we brought her home. We don't know how old she was cause we got her from pet smart... :/ But guessed about 2 months and this was October 3rd.

 

[Nathan Vanderslice]

She should be ok - but yes keep me posted

Hope your beardie stays well. It may be too late now, but if you want to possibly help others who may be using the dubias for pet food, you may want to contact the place you got them from and give them a heads up about the mold. If they are responsible places they will appreciate you doing this to hopefully prevent another animal from getting sick or possibly even dying.