We had a panic situation last night when Michael found undigested Super Meal Worms in "Beardie's" cage. We had just traded the carpet in the lizard cage for rabbit pellets. The reptile specialists say it's safe to use since it is digestible. You don't want to use wood shavings or corn cob bedding.
But anyway, I was panicking thinking the rabbit pellets had caused a bowel impaction in our Bearded Dragon. Well, after doing some research, and using some common sense, we were able to figure out what had happened.
Her heat bulb had burned out, and it caused the temperature to drop to around 80 degrees. I didn't think anything of it, since we had been having over 100 degree days and our house was really warm. Well, apparently, Beardie wasn't able to maintain her body temperature, and so she wasn't able to digest the food properly. So this is what we did and it saved the day!
I made a nice warm bath for her in the bathtub. You don't want to make it hot, because it can burn the sensitive skin on her belly. And we let her stay in there about 15 minutes until she felt warm. Then we installed the heat lamp and put her back in her cage. And wow! Did she perk up!
She ate lettuce that night, and the next day, there was not regurgitated food, and she acted and ate normally the two days!
For your own reptile or lizard care, make sure the heat lamps are always on and you are maintaining a good temperature. You want the lamp on one end of the aquarium so they can get in and out of the heat so they regulate their body temperature.
Hope this helps you in keeping your pet lizard safe!
