Phoenix is a two year old central bearded dragon. Initially thought to be male, it wasn’t until Phoenix visited Lort Smith that her carers were informed that she was in fact a female.

Phoenix’s family have had her for about six months and willingly took her into their care when her previous family had no time to invest in her.

“She was kept outside in a tank. I think the kids got bored of her,” shares Carly, Phoenix’s new carer.

Originally Phoenix was welcomed into the family as a pet for Carly’s son. However Carly admits she has become very fond of Phoenix herself.

“Phoenix loves to be tickled under her chin and snuggling up under our chin – which is not very comfortable for us,” laughs Carly.

Carly noticed that Phoenix was sleeping more than normal, she was not her usual self and she was vomiting what Carly thought was blood!

Phoenix was brought to Lort Smith during COVID-19 so Carly experienced our contactless consult process whereby a vet nurse came to collect Phoenix from the car and the vet phoned Carly to discuss the case.

Dr Tristan is an Unusual Pets and Wildlife Veterinarian and is well-known and much-loved by the exotic animal community especially. He carried out an ultrasound on Phoenix and could see that something was stuck in her intestines and required surgery.

The operation was performed without a hitch. It turned out that Phoenix wasn’t vomiting blood, but instead, blueberry juice! Dr Tristan found four whole blueberries inside of Phoenix. He removed one from the incision area, two more were manipulated back out the mouth and a fourth was crushed and milked out with gut contents via the colon.

Phoenix recovered overnight in a humidicrib in Lort Smith’s intensive care unit before going home to a much relieved Carly.

A diet of crickets, meal worms and lots of green veggies is what Phoenix usually eats. However, blueberries, like all sugary fruit are okay as an occasional treat.

“Phoenix is now fully recovered and back to her usual self. She is very loving and active, and has a cute personality,” shares Carly.

Asked what advice she was given about feeding blueberries to Phoenix in the future, “Cut them up!”

Carly was very impressed with the way Phoenix was looked after by Lort Smith and said the COVID-19 contactless consult process ran very smoothly.