Shedding and poop post

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This is Nick's poop after almost a week of barely eating. He eats 3-5 crickets when he normally eats 10+. Dubia is about 3-5 as well when he normally gobbles up 20. He won't even touch the BSFL I got him. His veggies are barely touched after a day and he normally does a pretty good job of chomping on those. I've never seen it like this and there's barely any urate. He won't drink in his baths anymore and won't drink out of a water dish. He stays in his hide all day and only comes out once or twice a day. I know shedding makes dragons crazy but he's making me crazy lol
 

Mechling

Member
Hello there.
How old is your beardie?
My best guess is that he could possibly be brumating, causing his sleepiness and lack of appetite.
Do you have any photos of him?
Make sure he stays hydrated by dripping water on his nose.

Best wishes
 

traildrifterphalanx

Sub-Adult Member
Greetings!

Mechling did bring up a few good questions so I do want to reiterate those.

***How old is your dragon?
Based on the photos and um.. sample... I'd guess young, especially since you stated they are also shedding (not that adults cannot.) If they are under a year old the likelihood of brumating is rather low, but not impossible.

***How are the temperatures?
How hot is the basking spot/gradient/cool side of tank? With that, what are you using to take the temp?

***What UVB are you using?
Do you have compact, rod, is it above screen, inside tank, etc.

The substrate appears to be the sand mat, which should be perfectly fine.

Photos of the dragon would help, too!
Just want to run through your set-up incase any of the husbandry might be causing the lack of appetite. Could easily be due to shedding - some dragons seem to take it pretty rough while others are not affected.
 

traildrifterphalanx

Sub-Adult Member
I also did want to note that while eating BSFL my baby dragon had very similar looking poos. Very encased and cocoon'd looking. I know you stated yours hasn't been touching them, but diet could be affecting the appearance.
 

Tmrhodes1121

Member
Original Poster
traildrifterphalanx":aciqkoqz said:
Greetings!

Mechling did bring up a few good questions so I do want to reiterate those.

***How old is your dragon?
Based on the photos and um.. sample... I'd guess young, especially since you stated they are also shedding (not that adults cannot.) If they are under a year old the likelihood of brumating is rather low, but not impossible.

***How are the temperatures?
How hot is the basking spot/gradient/cool side of tank? With that, what are you using to take the temp?

***What UVB are you using?
Do you have compact, rod, is it above screen, inside tank, etc.

The substrate appears to be the sand mat, which should be perfectly fine.

Photos of the dragon would help, too!
Just want to run through your set-up incase any of the husbandry might be causing the lack of appetite. Could easily be due to shedding - some dragons seem to take it pretty rough while others are not affected.


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Sorry I was at work. He's around 4-6 months I'm assuming from size(we got him at petco bc there are no local breeders here) he's about 12-14" long from snout to tail. Basking side is around 90-100, cool side is 70-80, humidity is less than 30%. Lights are reptisun 10 tube, and idk what the basking light is but he's in a 30 gallon tank right now while I'm setting up his bigger one. The lights are 6-8 inches away from his basking spot on top of a screen. And yes substrate is sand mat. We're working on getting tile for the bigger tank. He was doing fine and now he just looks miserable. This shed is really bad. He's shed 3 times since I got him a month ago and this is the first time I've worried about him.
 

traildrifterphalanx

Sub-Adult Member
What a cutie :eek:

The setup looks good, basking temp could be a little higher, near 105-110 while this young. My only concern is what are you using to get the temps? I ask because I see that little gauge in the background of a photo and those can be quite inaccurate (mine was off by about 20 degrees) but I leave mine in the enclosure because my adult loves hugging it while sleeping...

The shed could really be stressing him out, especially if this is the 3rd within a month, it sounds like he's hitting a growth spurt and his appetite might have been set back due to this.

For now I wouldn't be too concerned. Though his poo looks weird it could easily be due to the diet (or lack of) while he's going through this shed.
You could always give him a gentle toothbrush scrub in a warm bath to try and loosen up his shed - I'm sure it's very itchy. My youngest bit his own toe trying to get the shed off it was driving him insane and now he may or may not lose that toe, so 3rd shed within a month could easily be enough to knock his appetite off track
 

Tmrhodes1121

Member
Original Poster
traildrifterphalanx":14l4jxbr said:
What a cutie :eek:

The setup looks good, basking temp could be a little higher, near 105-110 while this young. My only concern is what are you using to get the temps? I ask because I see that little gauge in the background of a photo and those can be quite inaccurate (mine was off by about 20 degrees) but I leave mine in the enclosure because my adult loves hugging it while sleeping...

The shed could really be stressing him out, especially if this is the 3rd within a month, it sounds like he's hitting a growth spurt and his appetite might have been set back due to this.

For now I wouldn't be too concerned. Though his poo looks weird it could easily be due to the diet (or lack of) while he's going through this shed.
You could always give him a gentle toothbrush scrub in a warm bath to try and loosen up his shed - I'm sure it's very itchy. My youngest bit his own toe trying to get the shed off it was driving him insane and now he may or may not lose that toe, so 3rd shed within a month could easily be enough to knock his appetite off track


Today when I got home, the shed was coming off his back FINALLY. After I got him in the bath, it just came right off and he looked like he felt much better. He got up on my vanity and stared at himself in the mirror awhile and his stress marks finally faded. He also finally drank water from the bath. He ate pretty well afterward too. He seems to be ok now, he got up on his rock and started basking like normal instead of hiding in his cave. He hasn't pooped since he ate but he seems much more with it.
 

diamc

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
That's good that he ate & also shed.

Unfortunately, as traildrifter said, the round gauge (dial) thermometers are VERY inaccurate. The only 2 ways to get good readings are with either a temperture gun or a digital probe thermometer. Accurate temps are crucial for beardies, especially a young one and will affect their appetite, pooping, behavior and total health. If you need links to good thermometers, please let us know.
 

Tmrhodes1121

Member
Original Poster
diamc":2ld24p6q said:
That's good that he ate & also shed.

Unfortunately, as traildrifter said, the round gauge (dial) thermometers are VERY inaccurate. The only 2 ways to get good readings are with either a temperture gun or a digital probe thermometer. Accurate temps are crucial for beardies, especially a young one and will affect their appetite, pooping, behavior and total health. If you need links to good thermometers, please let us know.

I'm getting one tomorrow, I just had to wait for my paycheck. Thanks though. He seems warm enough and isn't cold at all. As I said, he wasn't like this before he started this shed.
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

That's great he shed & did eat some, too.
It can definitely cause a lot of different behaviors.
Which thermometer are you getting? He sure is a little cutie pie, also. :D
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie
 

Tmrhodes1121

Member
Original Poster
Drache613":3r8rmy7g said:
Hello,

That's great he shed & did eat some, too.
It can definitely cause a lot of different behaviors.
Which thermometer are you getting? He sure is a little cutie pie, also. :D
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie



He attacked the 5 medium crickets I put in his tank this morning and then ate about 10 BSFL. I'm getting one from petco, it's like $30 or something. Idk what it is but I have a friend who has beardies and that's what she uses as well as a few guys in the store who have beardies as well. They also gave me a link for one online but I'm just gunna get the one in the store. He seems much more with it today than he has the past week.
 

traildrifterphalanx

Sub-Adult Member
Glad to hear it!

I use a laser temp gun I got off of Amazon for like $14. Super accurate and easy cat toy on the side!

My gauge I had was reading my adults basking spot as 90 when it was 105 and a pulp thermometer I was using for my baby read it as 95 when it was 120!! Holy cats! Luckily his basking spot is a gradient and he picked out his own temp around 110.. glad I don't have a crispy dragon.

Just shows how off some options can be
 

Tmrhodes1121

Member
Original Poster
And we're back to sick. This was his poop today.
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It's really watery like white and is that like a blood clot? I'm really worried. He's been alert and active all day and I have him a bath as well. He went really hard on the crickets I dropped in but his stress marks have been really dark all day. I think I'm going to take him to the vet tomorrow.
 

Tmrhodes1121

Member
Original Poster
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UPDATE:

Vet went over husbandry with us and found no issues on that end. Because she has to send out for defenitive answers on testing for parasites, we're going to go ahead and treat him for coccidia as all signs point to this being the issue. I'm bringing in a stool sample to get tested later(had to work this morning). He was very willing to be handled by the vet and was very happy to be out and about, if a bit cold. That's a picture of him up there being warmed up bc he was like a little popsicle. Meds are being shipped to us over night. Will post an update after he finishes his first round.
 
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