Black beard, diarrhea, vomiting, unable to keep head up

Hello, all.
Last night, Neptune had diarrhea in my lap whilst sleeping. I knew this wasn't normal, but I chalked it up to him eating too much yesterday. However, today, he has a black beard. He's barely keeping himself up. I held him for a while, and his overall color brightened, however, his black beard did not. He has pooped in his tank a few times, and you can see undigested superworms. He also vomited (I believe - I didn't see it happen, but it was where his head has been all day, so I'm assuming that's what it is).

He weighs 108 grams and is small for his age, but I've been told he is still healthy. Here are some photos. Some contain poop and vomit.


















His diet consists of mostly crickets and bell peppers. Yesterday was the first day I've fed him superworms in a while. Due to the cold weather, crickets can't be shipped here, so I had to get them from the pet store.


Edit: fixed photos

Poor guy, he's looking miserable. If you have to feed him supers, try to get the smaller ones and be sure he stays in the tank with the heat rather than out on your lap. Feed him early enough to have at least 4 hours in the tank with the heat. He needs hours of good heat to digest those.

See if you can find crickets elsewhere in the meantime, and if you can only get supers that are larger, cut them up before. You might also see if you can get Repashy grub pie, lots of dragons like it. Keep him hydrated and in his tank, he should bounce back in a few days.

I've found that black soldier fly larvae ship well even in cooler conditions. I just got a shipment in while it was single digits outside (it was about 50 in the insulated box). They will be a better option (easier to digest) than supers if the crickets aren't available.

CooperDragon":ggfdu8uk said:

I've found that black soldier fly larvae ship well even in cooler conditions. I just got a shipment in while it was single digits outside (it was about 50 in the insulated box). They will be a better option (easier to digest) than supers if the crickets aren't available.

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Thank you! Those are the same as phoenix worms, correct?

Also, this is most likely just due to the superworms?

Yeah Phoenix Worms, Repti Worms, Calci Worms are all brand names for black soldier fly larvae. It's common for them to go overboard on supers and wind up being sick afterward. It's possibly a symptom of another problem but based on what I've seen in the past it's just overeating and should be OK after a bit. The supers can be tough to digest, especially in large quantities. I don't usually offer more than a few at a time and only as an occasional treat.

Poor thing, he definitely looks like he is not feeling well at all. If you have any probiotics on hand like Benebac gel for birds & reptiles, that would probably help his stomach to feel better. You can also give a fruit flavored SOY yogurt.

Since he has been vomiting & had diarrhea also, be sure to keep him well hydrated, offer him drinks of water on his nose & encourage him to lick it off if you can. He does look a little dehydrated in the pictures.

Please make sure he has at least 2 hrs right under the lights to digest any food at all times.

Be sure to keep us updated on him, hope he starts feeling better very soon.

Thank you for the help, everyone! He's feeling much better!

That's really good news, glad to hear it.