Diarrhea for MONTHS, but not parasites...help plzzzz

Hello,

So my bearded dragon, Mo, has had diarrhea for months! Probably since May. I have tried absolutely everything. Obviously my first step was to take her to the exotics vet to be tested for parasites. Everything came back perfect! The vet said she had beneficial parasites and nothing looked abnormal. The vet went over my tank setup, temps, substrate, etc. and everything is perfect there. She suggested I change up her diet to see if its something she's eating. So, I did. No changes. So then I thought maybe she was stressed with her tank being by the window (birds, planes, sunrays making it too hot?). We moved her and she had one solid poop in literally months. I thought I had solved it! But no, back to diarrhea However, it was diarrhea everyday, but since moving her it has been every two to three days. So maybe that did have something to do with it?

She's eating normally and has a healthy chub going on. I'd also say shes pretty active but shes in her fall time groove so she has been sleeping more. Head is always up and shes bright colored when she is out and about.

I told the vet there were no changes and she said maybe she just has a gut imbalance and suggested antibiotics with a probiotic. Has anyone else had this problem? Is this a good idea to treat her with antibiotics even though her tests were negative?

First thing we need to go over diet UVB lighting and basking temps--
Diet what is she eating? Lots of fruits?
UVB brand and bulb and where in the tank is it? top of screen or inside the tank? coil or tube?
Basking temps and how are you taking them? NO stick ons
Karrie

I would hold off on antibiotics if possible. Probiotics can be administered if you want to give that a try. It may still be a diet issue, but I'm not sure. Is everything else normal? Does she have a good appetite, weight is stable/increasing, activity level is good? If so, she may just be like my guy and have messy poops. That in itself isn't bad if everything else checks out.

Hello,

I agree, if there aren't any worms or parasites in levels that are causing this, automatically
medicating usually does more harm than good. I think probiotics might be a good idea. You
could get either non dairy acidophiliz, non dairy soy yogurt (organic), or bromelain powder or
liquid.

Tracie

Hi all,

Thanks for replying!

Everything with her tank is perfect, as I mentioned I went over this with the exotics vet. She has a beardie herself and is rated highly so I do trust her opinion. Ive done tons of research too and definitely bought the best of the best. Its not the temps, I have a raytek laser point temp gun so its 100% accurate. Substrate is tile.

Her appetite is strong. I did actually add a probiotic and bee pollen to her diet already. Its been about one month of taking probiotics. Unfortunately, there was no improvement. I feed her a variety of veggies, fruits and bugs:

dandelions and collard are her staple
mustard greens, arugula and bok choy are occasionally mixed in to mix it up
yellow squash, butternut squash, peas, green beans, zucchini, skinned cucumber
fruit once a week or for treats (usually strawberries, blueberries, apple)
3-5 dubia roaches every other day (gutloaded with the same veggies I feed her), a few mealworms occasionally to entice her to eat salad
calcium dust food three times a week and multivitamin once a week.

I've cut out each food item over the months to see if she is allergic to anything and nothing changed.

I'm almost wondering if I should take a fecal sample in one more time. Maybe it was a false-negative? They discussed xray but I defnitely cannot afford that unless its absolutely necessary. Since she is still active and has a healthy appetite I think Im going to hold out on this for now.

I also moved back in March and had to switch where I buy her dubias. I get them on dubiaroaches.com now. But they are rated very highly so I would hate to think its this!

It sounds like she has a nice variety in her diet. If she's active and has a good appetite, she may just be like my guy and have loose poop. After several vet visits, never did get to the bottom of it. It has been that way for years now and I've seen no other symptoms. I just keep offering hydrating foods like squash to replenish the lost water. At this point I equate it to IBS or something like that. It helps to train them to poop on a somewhat regular schedule in an area that is easy to clean up (vinyl floor in my case). You can develop that with repetition/routine over time to an extent.

Mine had the same issue. Diarrhea for months. Loose and watery. Finally went to Vet and after fecal exam, they didn’t find enough bacteria to be concerned. But the timing of the poop sample and the fact that i froze it may have contributed to a false negative result. Vet gave me antibiotics and probiotics with it. The dose is every three days. He got his first dose yesterday and is already more “grumpy”. Now I’m wondering if I should just stop the antibiotics and cont with the probiotics. Any suggestions would be truly appreciated.
*Note: he is still having diarrhea. Had one today.
Airyi.