Lower Back popping with movement?

I was holding my two year old while I was cleaning his cage and noticed something that every time he moved a body part below his rib cage I would hear popping (kinda like a transformer action figure moving limbs but how a chiropractor cracking bones sounds) and I don’t know what was causing it or if it has stopped. I have him soaking right now to see if that was an issue or not. This is the first time this has ever happened to him.

How's he doing now ? Any more noises ?

He still has the popping noises whenever he moves his lower body but he passed some large stools today and yesterday after his warm bath, they weren’t individual pieces but one big chunk, kinda like a minature KitKat. Here’s a picture of him from a Twitter account I made for him. (https://twitter.com/bearded_stevie/status/992051876060385280?s=21)

Are you sure it's not his nails clicking n something or another random noise ? I don't know what it could be.....what type of uvb light do you use ad does he get regular calcium supplementation ?

He has the reptisun 10.0 UVB 13 watt and he’s right underneath it when he’s basking.I dust his dubias and give him sweet potatoes, carrots, red bell peppers, butternut squash, mustard greens, and apples. He just did it again while I was holding him and it seems like it only happens when he moves his back to the left or right and then moves in that direction. It kinda sounds like two discs rubbing against each other now that I think about it.

Update- I discovered another symptom when I gave him his food this afternoon. I noticed he was trying to poop and could only have a liquid movement and he did it again about 10-15 minutes ago. The only actual poop he took was about the size of 3 baby dubia roaches. The back popping looks like it’s effecting him, but I don’t know what that could be, I saved the sample and I’ll try to take him to the vet tomorrow or Friday. Does anyone have an idea what this could be in the meantime though?

When was the last time he had a normal b.m ? And is there any chance at all that he ate something that he can't pass ? Does he free roam and possibly ate something from the floor ? Fake plants in his tank, etc ?

He doesn’t have any plants in his cage. He mostly sits on his two elevated rock steppers for basking purposes, even though he does have a mountain hide, log hide, and a step hide. The last time he passed a bowel movement was Tuesday, but it’s normal for him to go a couple of days without going and lay a big one... what he did yesterday, that’s not normal for him at all. When I do hold him with or without his other friend from across the hall I keep a close eye on them to make sure they don’t eat anything they’re not supposed too. I should’ve recorded what he was doing about 2 months ago though... we have one of those vacuum cleaners that is made for getting dog pee out of the floor and of course the dog peed so she was doing that and I was feeding the animals. I took him out about 30 minutes later thinking she was done but she came back with an empty bucket so he ran towards her before I could grab him and just started staring at the bubbles going from the carpet to the bucket inside the cleaner. About 5 minutes later he wanted the nozzle and I was just looking at him like noooo. Until I finally grabbed him and put him back in the cage when he attempted something.

I think it's time to have a reptile vet examine him and take some xrays to determine what is behind these issues and perhaps come up with a treatment plan.

There are other issues that need resolving too . A 13W compact UVB is NOT ADEQUATE.

We need much more information about his history , diet, and husbandry to do more than make wild guesses (that will not help him and may actually make this worse).

He (Stevie) doesn’t have a medical history other than the wellness checkup I got for him the day I bought him... I looked him over at the store with the dragon buying guide but I wanted to be sure since I just lost a dragon a month earlier due to renal failure. His friend Sparky is a different story. She’s had dewormer, two months of antibiotic shots daily to reduce swelling in her foot, had to get an impaction flushed out because she hadn’t gone in nearly two weeks. She also had the wellness exam.

I feed them Apples, (occasionally 1-2 days per week) Red Bell Pepper, (occasionally 1-2 days per week) Mustard Greens, (daily 2-3 days per week) Dubia Roaches, (1 day per week) Butternut Squash, (daily 2-3 days per week) Carrots (occasionally 1-2 days per week) Cucumbers, (occasionally 1-2 days per week) Strawberries/Blueberries, (once a month as a treat) and finally I feed them Sweet Potatoes (once every week or two) I saw the T5HO was being suggested to someone else in the other forum but I strayed away from that because of the price. Is that what I need because I’ll buy it if that’s the case.

ObsessedwithBeardies":1stwa2dd said:

He (Stevie) doesn’t have a medical history other than the wellness checkup I got for him the day I bought him... I looked him over at the store with the dragon buying guide but I wanted to be sure since I just lost a dragon a month earlier due to renal failure. His friend Sparky is a different story. She’s had dewormer, two months of antibiotic shots daily to reduce swelling in her foot, had to get an impaction flushed out because she hadn’t gone in nearly two weeks. She also had the wellness exam.

I feed them Apples, (occasionally 1-2 days per week) Red Bell Pepper, (occasionally 1-2 days per week) Mustard Greens, (daily 2-3 days per week) Dubia Roaches, (1 day per week) Butternut Squash, (daily 2-3 days per week) Carrots (occasionally 1-2 days per week) Cucumbers, (occasionally 1-2 days per week) Strawberries/Blueberries, (once a month as a treat) and finally I feed them Sweet Potatoes (once every week or two) I saw the T5HO was being suggested to someone else in the other forum but I strayed away from that because of the price. Is that what I need because I’ll buy it if that’s the case.

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Definitely needs a better UV source.... Arcadia T5HO 12%UVB tubes are about the best around and will help him , the 13W compact is not going to be sufficient , he would have to wear it and the dome it's in for a hat to get enough UVA & UVB , more information here : viewtopic.php?f=34&t=235611

The diet needs tweeking too . Recommend you work towards the diet and feeding schedule shown here:
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=236074

I strongly suspect you dragon has MBD and needs a vet to assess his bone density. There are going to be other health issues too.

Thank you for that link, this diet is easier to follow compared to picking and choosing from Beautiful Dragons’ foods that are healthy chart. What foods would be considered Vit/Min & Calcium? I figured out how to temporarily fix his humidity from 90% to 65% by cracking open the lid of his cage since it has barely any humidity going through the screen and until I get the dehumidifiers I ordered tomorrow, I’m planning on keeping him in my room next to my dehumidifier so he’s at a humidity close to his normal range since the high humidity seems to be what was causing his liquidity stool because he’s had solid stool since.

ObsessedwithBeardies":8qnlkwza said:

Thank you for that link, this diet is easier to follow compared to picking and choosing from Beautiful Dragons’ foods that are healthy chart.
What foods would be considered Vit/Min & Calcium?
<<< high calcium greens are what I choose from.
I figured out how to temporarily fix his humidity from 90% to 65% by cracking open the lid of his cage since it has barely any humidity going through the screen and until I get the dehumidifiers I ordered tomorrow,
90% RH is high , but I know folks who live in the far north of Queensland , NT (Darwin , Groote Is) and far north of WA (Broome, Kununarra) where in the wet season it's always oppressively humid and hot and their pet beardies do fine.
I rarely see RH under 65% in my airconditioned home (in coastal northern NSW) in summer. Never had an issue I can link to this RH.
I’m planning on keeping him in my room next to my dehumidifier so he’s at a humidity close to his normal range since the high humidity seems to be what was causing his liquidity stool because he’s had solid stool since.
I doubt that …. the watery stools will be due either to GIT parasites , or his diet (the greens and veg and some very high water content insects do it too ( hyperhydration )) .

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Are you going to get a reptile vet appointment to get him assessed ?

Yeah I called my vet’s clinic and he is out of the office today so he will look at him Monday.

So, as quickly as his symptoms started, they’ve practically gone away. I haven’t heard any popping whenever he moves his lower back to a certain degree then moves or moves his back with his lower legs and he’s not having any more liquidity bowel movements since I cracked the lid to his cage more and the humidity dropped from 90% to 55%.

I did receive the 2 pack bundle of de-humidifiers from Eva-Dry (Model E333) but they were a waste of $33 or $34 since they removed absolutely nothing in terms of humidity and I can even look at the unit to back that up... So I wouldn’t recommend buying those.