Stool & pooping issues. Do I need a vet?

Status
Not open for further replies.

galaxxzy

Member
My bearded dragon has been having some abnormalities in his pooping in the last 2 months. I had him on sand for about 3 months before last month, when I put some reptile carpet as I was concerned about impaction. This was a concern because he wasn’t pooping or eating at all. When I put in the carpet last month he started to poop again and in the last few days he has started to eat. But the problem is that he has blood in his poops. The last one he did was BAD. Really bad. He had a string of blood hanging out of his vent, and blood was all over the rock that he had pooped on. The stool is also very jelly like and the urate is rock hard.

I know that I worry a lot about him, and the things I worry about are often just normal, but I like to come here and ask just to be safe. Do I need a vet? I don’t have a lot of money, so I don’t want to go unless I absolutely need to.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
What is the UVB your using and what are his basking temps? How are you taking the basking temps? NO stick ons and NO coils!!!!!!!!!!!!! What are you feeding him? I need the brand and bulb of the UVB and where it is placed--- we need to clear lighting before we go further
Karrie
 

galaxxzy

Member
Original Poster
KarrieRee":37iiekwh said:
What is the UVB your using and what are his basking temps? How are you taking the basking temps? NO stick ons and NO coils!!!!!!!!!!!!! What are you feeding him? I need the brand and bulb of the UVB and where it is placed--- we need to clear lighting before we go further
Karrie

I am using a 12.0 ZooMed 18” long UVB/A strip with a reflector. His basking temp is 96 and humidity is usually around 25-30%. Both of those are taken with a ZooMed Digital thermometer/humidity gauge. The UV is placed closer to the cold side, but for the most part it’s in the middle of the enclosure.

I feed him as many superworms as he takes (around 8 ) pretty much every other day and offer him kale, turnip greens and carrots every day. He isn’t always very peckish though, he prefers hanging out on his hammock most of the day!
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Humidity is fine as long as its not over 70% ---- where is the T 8? Next poop post a pic of it please and he is possibly dehydrated --- either set him in a bath to see if he will drink or drop water on his nose and see if he will drink --- are you feeding salads? I would try bumping his basking temp up a little - see if you can get a temp gradient going---------- a good piece of decor something like this works good
https://www.petsmart.com/reptile/habitats-and-decor/habitat-decor/thrive-driftwood-reptile-decor-54734.html?cgid=500116 I use two of them in my tanks and have the long stick laying down so they can sit in between it and the fat trunk they lay on --
The hard white urate is telling me hes dehydrated --- if hes eating salads every day rinse them before serving -- where is the hammock - under the UVB or basking light? The hammocks do not give accurate temps -- please take a solid piece of decor and place it under the basking light leave for 10 minutes then get the temp
Karrie
 

galaxxzy

Member
Original Poster
KarrieRee":1eg4ux3l said:
Humidity is fine as long as its not over 70% ---- where is the T 8? Next poop post a pic of it please and he is possibly dehydrated --- either set him in a bath to see if he will drink or drop water on his nose and see if he will drink --- are you feeding salads? I would try bumping his basking temp up a little - see if you can get a temp gradient going---------- a good piece of decor something like this works good
https://www.petsmart.com/reptile/habitats-and-decor/habitat-decor/thrive-driftwood-reptile-decor-54734.html?cgid=500116 I use two of them in my tanks and have the long stick laying down so they can sit in between it and the fat trunk they lay on --
The hard white urate is telling me hes dehydrated --- if hes eating salads every day rinse them before serving -- what are you feeding him?
Karrie

He loves drinking water from the bath, he loves it when I spray it on him as well. He has anywhere from 5-10 sprays of water everyday on him and I spray his food, he doesn’t eat it immediately though, so the water just evaporates. Attached is an image of my setup, he has the long hammock for if he wants to bask between heat and uv, just uv, or if he wants to cool down a bit. He never really uses it though, since he usually sits on the corner of the triangular hammock (closest to the front) for some reason. He is a lazy lizard.

105973-9254301921.jpg
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4

galaxxzy

Member
Original Poster
KarrieRee":18kol114 said:
The UVB has no reflector?????????? It needs a reflector ASAP or you need to get it off the back wall and place directly over him w/ it being 4-6 inches from him -- this would be a reason for the hard urate since hes hydrated---- please fix this ASAP as he basically is getting no UVB you can order a reflector from here www.http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/miscellaneous-accessories/arcadia-flourescent-lamp-reflectors-new-hot/ with the hard urate that could of been a cause for the blood
Karrie

I told you that I have a reflector. Its just aluminium foil behind the UV.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Ok sorry well I would get a piece of basking decor directly underneath or close to him but try and get it so its not eye level 6-8 inches from him - you dont want the rays shining in his eyes - we recommend the UVB be directly over them so its shining down on them like the sun would -- I would cut back on the super worms and give him a staple of dubia roaches - the super worms should be fed as a treat and not that many at a time - this too might be causing the hard urate --
Karrie
 

galaxxzy

Member
Original Poster
KarrieRee":2tllb2dk said:
Ok sorry well I would get a piece of basking decor directly underneath or close to him but try and get it so its not eye level 6-8 inches from him - you dont want the rays shining in his eyes - we recommend the UVB be directly over them so its shining down on them like the sun would -- I would cut back on the super worms and give him a staple of dubia roaches - the super worms should be fed as a treat and not that many at a time - this too might be causing the hard urate --
Karrie

There has never been any dietary changes. This is why the sudden change has confused me. He was eating superworms long before this happened. This is the same with his lighting. Nothing at all has changed ever since he was a baby, so I have no idea why he has started doing this now.

That aside, the reason I made this topic was to find out if I should seek veterinary attention for his pooping issues. The string of blood from his vent that has appeared twice worries me, as well as any blood in general. I can’t tell if he is just lazy or lethargic, as he won’t move without me moving him. Knowing what one of those he is would help me make a decision easier, but since I can’t find that out, I can only go off of the obvious issues.

Questions:

What is the string of blood and why does it appear?

Vet or no vet?
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
I am going to flag your post to AHBD and Tracie and see what they recommend - they may want pics of the poop if you can post some that would be good --- I am going to give you a website for reptile vets so you can find one if you dont have one www.arav.org --- alot of times people post that there is blood in the stool and its something that the dragon has eaten like red peppers making it look like blood -- we try to rule out lighting first w/ the lethargic behavior not moving first to see if that is the cause -- I still would reposition your UVB -- Tracie is on at nite and AHBD on and off during the day -- I am hoping they are on here sometime today since it being a holiday
Karrie
 

galaxxzy

Member
Original Poster
KarrieRee":2sxk6glg said:
I am going to flag your post to AHBD and Tracie and see what they recommend - they may want pics of the poop if you can post some that would be good --- I am going to give you a website for reptile vets so you can find one if you dont have one http://www.arav.org --- alot of times people post that there is blood in the stool and its something that the dragon has eaten like red peppers making it look like blood -- we try to rule out lighting first w/ the lethargic behavior not moving first to see if that is the cause -- I still would reposition your UVB -- Tracie is on at nite and AHBD on and off during the day -- I am hoping they are on here sometime today since it being a holiday
Karrie

Okay. I’ll post pics next time he has one. Unfortunately, there are no vets registered with the ARAV even within 50 miles of me, so I checked another website and there is two that are close to me. One of them is actually highly recommended but it is 44 minutes away (other takes 25) so would that be too long of a trip for him? I’ll try and move the UV today. Thanks for your help!
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
No the car ride should be fine -- put him in a small pet carrier if you have one or in a small plastic tote - make sure you take along dish towels or something you can clean up w/ if he decides to poop along the way -- I would call the highly recommended vet and ask questions about the experience w/ bearded dragons - just so you know what your going into -- they may want a fecal brought w/ you -- if so try and get one from him the day before if possible and refrigerate it in a plastic ziploc bag -- do not let them do any ENEMAS!!!!!!!!!!!! If hes pooping there should be no need for that anyway --
Karrie
 

galaxxzy

Member
Original Poster
KarrieRee":1fg996pn said:
No the car ride should be fine -- put him in a small pet carrier if you have one or in a small plastic tote - make sure you take along dish towels or something you can clean up w/ if he decides to poop along the way -- I would call the highly recommended vet and ask questions about the experience w/ bearded dragons - just so you know what your going into -- they may want a fecal brought w/ you -- if so try and get one from him the day before if possible and refrigerate it in a plastic ziploc bag -- do not let them do any ENEMAS!!!!!!!!!!!! If hes pooping there should be no need for that anyway --
Karrie

Okay. I will give them a call later to ask about pricing and stuff. Thanks
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Hi there, I agree that you should have a vet check him out. Get bloodwork done and possibly an Xray which will cost you somewhere in the hundreds most likely. Hopefully nothing serious going on, I wish you + your dragon the best ! As Karrie said, you'll want a vet that's experienced with lizards and has good reviews.
 

galaxxzy

Member
Original Poster
AHBD":2j990t7j said:
Hi there, I agree that you should have a vet check him out. Get bloodwork done and possibly an Xray which will cost you somewhere in the hundreds most likely. Hopefully nothing serious going on, I wish you + your dragon the best ! As Karrie said, you'll want a vet that's experienced with lizards and has good reviews.

Sadly I am not able to afford those things, and I’d do them if I could! I’d be looking at the moment just for a checkup and fecal sample. I don’t think I would need an xray though, I’m sure its not impaction or anything bone related. I will wait until his next poop though and go from there. I have yet to call the vets and will update you when I do. Before I call them though, what do you recommend asking them?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Members online

No members online now.

Latest resources

Latest posts

Latest profile posts

What is a quick way to warm up a cold beardie? His heating element went out overnight and now he's very cold.
Pearl Girl wrote on moorelori1966's profile.
i feel so sad reading your about me 😢
Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank
Taking my beardie for a walk

Forum statistics

Threads
155,854
Messages
1,255,182
Members
75,936
Latest member
KarmaChild99
Top Bottom