Rescued Beardie: Diarrhea and Not Eating Greens

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mackenziedell

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I rescued Otis (my new beardie) three days ago. He is about a year old, but the previous owner is unsure of his exact age. His previous owner knew very little about bearded dragons and Otis was not receiving proper care. The previous owner:
- fed kale, spinach and lettuce exclusively and irregularly, sometimes going multiple days without providing fresh greens
- fed crickets exclusively, and was not provided enough or on a regular basis (again, going days between feedings)
- never dusted food with calcium or multivitamin
- did not provide a UVB light and the basking bulb was a red reptile light
- never bathed the beardie or disinfected the cage
He has seemingly perfect eye sight and full range of motion in all limbs (a miracle, honestly!) and seems completely chill despite very rarely being handled before. However, I think his growth was stunted because he is currently in a 40 gal from previous owner ( 48"x18"x18" on the way!), and he has more room than expected to run around.

His current care:
- provided a medley of either mustard, collard, turnip, or dandelion greens twice daily. Has eaten bell pepper when I offered it as a treat, and acorn squash when I hand feed him. :roll:
- fed crickets and/or phoenix worms once a day dusted with calcium and/or multivitamin (will be feeding Dubia once they arrive in the mail)
- basking temps are between 95-100 F taken with a temp gun (using a white reptile basking bulb provided by previous owner, unsure of brand)
- UVB is the Zoo Med ReptiSun 10.0 UVB T5 HO Lamp
- I've been trying to let him adjust, but I will be bathing him tomorrow

I'm giving all this info because about 2 days after I brought him home his stool became runny and more frequent. His poop is not as firm as it was when I first rescued him - it is now runny and does not hold its shape. There is both feces and urine, and they both are softer than normal. I will attach a picture to this thread if needed as soon as I can get a pic of fresh stool (and figure out how to upload it :D ). He is otherwise acting normally: basking and roaming around, not lethargic. I read that beardies can get diarrhea due to stress, which would make sense since he has been moved to a new environment (though, he was housed in a preschool before and had small children constantly around him/shaking the table his cage was on so he's probably a pretty resilient little dude). I'm thinking it could also be him adjusting to the new variety in his diet.

I'm hoping the diarrhea stops within a few days as he becomes more comfortable or one of you helpful beardie experts can help me figure out the issue. If it persists I will be taking him to the vet to test for parasites and such.

Also, any tips for getting picky lizards to eat their greens? I don't want to stress him out by forcing greens on him but I'm scared he's not getting enough nutrients. He eats a piece or two and then is not interested. I've also considered that he needs to get used to being offered daily greens and grow his appetite to fit the amount that he should have, but I'm not sure if that's how it works with reptiles :lol: . I'm going to order bee pollen to sprinkle on the greens because I've read that pollen can entice them to eat?

Please let me know if anything I'm doing is wrong/can be improved. I've been reading about bearded dragons for almost a year before I rescued Otis, but owning one is a lot different than just reading about them! I just want him to be happy and healthy. :love5:

And thank you to anyone who made it all the way through this monster post! :notworthy: :wave:
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hi there,

The loose stools could simply be from the change in diets and the relocation stress. I'd give him a few weeks to settle in and get accustomed to the new diet. They should firm up.
If after a month or so they are still really loose, you might want to get a fecal check done to check for parasites.

Everything sounds good to me! It might just take him some time to figure out the greens.
It's a great sign that hes active and basking! :)

I would only dust with the multi once or twice a week though.

-Brandon
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
You might want to get some super worms and put on top of his greens - he will see the movement and go for it--- also you could use butter worms as a enticement or small BSFL --- they can all be ordered from http://www.dubiaroaches.com --- go sparingly tho and offer different days -- you can try that and see if it works -- you dont want him to become addicted to the worms etc.............. and they can be addicting -- here is a website for nutrition --http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
Karrie
 
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