Beard got stuck!

[donprec]

Something happened to Precious yesterday morning that I thought was really weird. The lights had just gone on so she was basking and warming up...flattening out and puffing her beard in and out. While she was puffing her beard out, it got stuck! You know the hardened border of the beard, what is it anyway, is it bone? It seemed like she was trying to swallow hard to get it to go back down. She was also starting to get a little panicked.
I stood there not sure what to do, was thinking about trying to either rub it upwards or just go straight to the emergency vet but fortunately, she was able to get it to go back down again.
If it did stay stuck, would it have started to choke her? Would I have had time to take her to the vet about 20 mins away? Has that happened with yours before?

 

[PatsyB]

That's so weird, I've never heard of that before. Glad she was able to get it down. I wonder if it was something like when people get lock jaw and can't close their mouths?

 

[donprec]

That could be it, strange isn't it?! The thing that had me most nervous is that by the way she acted, trying to swallow, it must've been right at her throat. Maybe the poor thing almost felt like she was choking. That's why I was scared to touch it myself, afraid I would do damage or make it worse than it was.
She got this scared look in her eyes and then she sort of braced herself and kept swallowing. The whole thing was probably no more than a minute but it felt longer in the moment.