Possibly impacted?

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Hi all, my bearded dragon is a rescue, his name is Frank and he's about 2/5 years old & ive had him since he was 8 months. Right now it's winter time & three of my other beardies are all brumating, apart from Frank, however he has been sleeping for 1-2 days then waking up for salad by himself etc. He is trained to defecate in the bathtub and will NOT poo in his tank, and was going to the bathroom every 3 days, as I generally bath him twice a week. I was feeding him bugs (locusts) every other day until a week had passed having bathed him twice but he didn't poo. I have called my exotic vet and they told me to bath him 3x a day every day for 30 mins until he poops but this sounds like too much to me, so I have just been bathing him once a day for 15-20 mins. It has now been TWO weeks since he last pooped and it's starting to worry me. I've tried olive oil, unsweetened prune juice, canned pumpkin, blueberries and a small slice of cucumber for hydration, but he still has not pooped. He hasn't been straining at all and he still walks around as normal. I thought because it's the colder months, perhaps his metabolism has slowed a bit. He's on tiles, his basking bulb is exo terra 150w and uva tube is reptisun 10.0 which both are changed out every 6 months. Should I be worried?? Is there anything else I can try to get things going?
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
The Reptisun is a coil or a tube? apart from what your doing it sounds good--- how big were the locust you fed him ? They were not too big for him I am hoping! And yes his metabolism has slowed ---
Karrie
 

Anonydragoj

Member
Original Poster
KarrieRee":3kifo03s said:
The Reptisun is a coil or a tube? apart from what your doing it sounds good--- how big were the locust you fed him ? They were not too big for him I am hoping! And yes his metabolism has slowed ---
Karrie
Hi, the reptisun is a tube, I know coil bulbs are incredibly bad. The locusts were medium sized, so approx 18-20mm
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Does your fixture for the UVB have a reflector? If it does not and its mounted on the back wall I suggest you get it in a fixture w/ reflector and off the back wall directly over head --- what bulb is it a T 5 or a T 8?
Karrie
 

Anonydragoj

Member
Original Poster
KarrieRee":oqidykcm said:
Does your fixture for the UVB have a reflector? If it does not and its mounted on the back wall I suggest you get it in a fixture w/ reflector and off the back wall directly over head --- what bulb is it a T 5 or a T 8?
Karrie
It does not have a reflector, but there are branches/wooded pieces in his enclosure so he can get within the range of it constantly, & it's a T8
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Ok so the distance should be 6-8 inches for a T 8-- I still recommend getting a reflector so the rays are projected downward toward him --- this is possibly a reason for not pooping --- but other health issues go along w/ that of not getting enough UVB -- its going to benefit him in the long run
Karie
 

Anonydragoj

Member
Original Poster
KarrieRee":16gno6ib said:
Ok so the distance should be 6-8 inches for a T 8-- I still recommend getting a reflector so the rays are projected downward toward him --- this is possibly a reason for not pooping --- but other health issues go along w/ that of not getting enough UVB -- its going to benefit him in the long run
Karie
I doubt he's not getting enough UVB as he's always been incredibly healthy, but I will look into getting one of those for all of my tanks, thank you :)
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
All those things you are feeding will come out -- just give him time and when he does go its going to be an explosive one :lol: --- get your UVB situated and see what happens
Karrie
 

Brucebreeder

New member
Can I ask why u use tile instead of sand? In their natural behaviour it's their instinct to dig, and to strip them from that is rather upsetting. I know sand has a lot of negative comments, but being general here, the only issue with it is using it for baby beardies, or feeding them in the tank, otherwise there's no risk. Dragons arent dumb and wouldn't randomly lick sand or take a chunk of it. I keep and breed beardies and have done for almost 15 years and kept all on sand, had no issues whatsoever. Don't really understand why u would strip their natural behaviour from them...
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
I was told tile was a good substrate as it is very easy to clean and easier to keep sanitized - sand harbors bacteria along w/ impaction issues - you can always provide a dig box in the tank - coccidia is very hard to get rid of and if sand was being used as a substrate you would end up having to take it out anyway and use something else like paper towels in this case where as the tile is so much easier to clean and get rid of the parasite
Karrie
 

Brucebreeder

New member
KarrieRee":2qygj028 said:
I was told tile was a good substrate as it is very easy to clean and easier to keep sanitized - sand harbors bacteria along w/ impaction issues - you can always provide a dig box in the tank - coccidia is very hard to get rid of and if sand was being used as a substrate you would end up having to take it out anyway and use something else like paper towels in this case where as the tile is so much easier to clean and get rid of the parasite
Karrie

Ok I understand regarding easier to clean perhaps, but thats for human POV, how about the dragons POV? Ive never dealt with impaction as I do not feed my dragons their bugs inside their enclosures so they are not inclined to lick it. Surely having tiles restricts them from digging altogether though, even if you add a digbox, whats the difference between a small digging spot & the entire floor covered?
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
It is up to the owner I guess - my piece of mind would be knowing that the dragon isnt eating it and having to deal w/ impaction issues or other issues - and its easier to add a dig box or add strips of paper towels or strips of fleece for them to dig and bury themselves in of which that is what I do w/ mine -- its in their hides and they go in and dig and cover themselves up w/ it --
Karrie
 
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