ComicBookMama
Sub-Adult Member
I'm going to be taking Figment into the vet for another fecal test... for quite some time now, his stools have been considerably more liquid than I'm comfortable with, and it seems to tie in with me trying to get him to eat more salad and veggies. The good news is that he IS eating more salad and veggies... but the bad news is that his stools have been ugly. The other day he excreted a huge amount of green liquid, with just a few clumps of fecal matter and a blob of urates. I e-mailed my vet and she said to bring him in.
I'm trying to figure out the possible cause, since my gut doubts it's parasitic. I do give him his meal in the late afternoon - between 4 and 6 - and his light doesn't go off until 10, so I've been thinking that's plenty of time for him to bask and digest. But what I'm noticing is that after eating, he doesn't always go to his basking spot; he'll hang out in the cooler areas of the tank. Could this be affecting his digestion, and causing liquid stools? Or should I feed in the morning? Right now, since I'm working from home, I could do this easily. Come next school year, when mornings are so crazy trying to get off to work and get my son off to school, notsomuch easy.
He's also been eating less of his insects lately. I've been offering 10 1" dubia, or 10 supers, after he finishes with his salad (he doesn't eat all his salad, but he does walk away from it when he's finished with it). Lately, he's not going after the bugs with the vigor he used to. Last night, in fact, he wouldn't eat any of his dubias... but he did eat them when he got up this morning, and this morning he WAS basking in his hot zone.
I'm not desperately scared that something may be wrong; he's still generally alert and normally active (or as active as a beardie gets), and he seems content. Maybe he's just changing over to being more of a veggie eater, and his digestion is shifting. But I'd love to know if anyone else has had similar experiences, or has any ideas on what could be causing his digestion issues.
I'm trying to figure out the possible cause, since my gut doubts it's parasitic. I do give him his meal in the late afternoon - between 4 and 6 - and his light doesn't go off until 10, so I've been thinking that's plenty of time for him to bask and digest. But what I'm noticing is that after eating, he doesn't always go to his basking spot; he'll hang out in the cooler areas of the tank. Could this be affecting his digestion, and causing liquid stools? Or should I feed in the morning? Right now, since I'm working from home, I could do this easily. Come next school year, when mornings are so crazy trying to get off to work and get my son off to school, notsomuch easy.
He's also been eating less of his insects lately. I've been offering 10 1" dubia, or 10 supers, after he finishes with his salad (he doesn't eat all his salad, but he does walk away from it when he's finished with it). Lately, he's not going after the bugs with the vigor he used to. Last night, in fact, he wouldn't eat any of his dubias... but he did eat them when he got up this morning, and this morning he WAS basking in his hot zone.
I'm not desperately scared that something may be wrong; he's still generally alert and normally active (or as active as a beardie gets), and he seems content. Maybe he's just changing over to being more of a veggie eater, and his digestion is shifting. But I'd love to know if anyone else has had similar experiences, or has any ideas on what could be causing his digestion issues.