Nikkideefit
Member
Hi friends!! I am a relatively new Beardie owner, as Kava (my beardie) is my first reptile. We got him back in March 23, 2021. We bought him at Petsmart (in retrospect I know, but we love him now anyway) and they told us he was about 8-12 weeks old. He was around 5 inches at the time.
He was pooping almost daily in the first months, shedding different parts of his body around once a week. Around august he started to slow down with his shedding & pooping. He started pooping once a week and shedding went down to once a month. If that. He still eats his crickets, salad daily. I give him 3 feedings a day with crickets, usually he eats 10-20 in each sitting. I give him calcium once a day 5x a week on his crickets. And the other 2 days I do the calcium with d3. I do a multi vitamin supplement on his crickets the same day as the d3 so also twice a week. I leave a water dish out too that I refresh the water daily. I add the reptisafe to it. His salads usually consistent of a mix of collard/turnip/mustard greens and some times a bit of squash, carrot, broccoli, or orange bell pepper. Rarely a raspberry piece as a treat.
His poops are usually normal looking. He did have coccidia that he was treated for months back and they said that he had pinworms too but the level was fine and didn’t need to be treated. Some days the urate part of his poop has been looking very thick and hard and discolored. I thought possibly too much calcium? Other times the poop looks normal. Others diarrhea. BecUse it’s only happening like once a week now. I give him baths too about 2-3 times a week. And he is about 13 inches long to date. Which I’m not sure if he’s a little small?
Right now he’s in a 40 gallon tank I will upgrade to 75 or larger soon. He has a mega ray 160 watt at 18 inches from his basking spot. It gets to about 105. I don’t have a screen over where the basking light is but over the rest of tank. The cool side is about 77 degrees F. The humidity is around 45 which I know is a bit high but even with dehumidifier it’s not getting much lower. With the winter coming it should lower though.
Any thoughts on why his shedding and pooping has slowed down or if this is normal? Or any recommendations to tank/lightning/feeding are welcome. I’m trying my best & new so help is appreciated!
He was pooping almost daily in the first months, shedding different parts of his body around once a week. Around august he started to slow down with his shedding & pooping. He started pooping once a week and shedding went down to once a month. If that. He still eats his crickets, salad daily. I give him 3 feedings a day with crickets, usually he eats 10-20 in each sitting. I give him calcium once a day 5x a week on his crickets. And the other 2 days I do the calcium with d3. I do a multi vitamin supplement on his crickets the same day as the d3 so also twice a week. I leave a water dish out too that I refresh the water daily. I add the reptisafe to it. His salads usually consistent of a mix of collard/turnip/mustard greens and some times a bit of squash, carrot, broccoli, or orange bell pepper. Rarely a raspberry piece as a treat.
His poops are usually normal looking. He did have coccidia that he was treated for months back and they said that he had pinworms too but the level was fine and didn’t need to be treated. Some days the urate part of his poop has been looking very thick and hard and discolored. I thought possibly too much calcium? Other times the poop looks normal. Others diarrhea. BecUse it’s only happening like once a week now. I give him baths too about 2-3 times a week. And he is about 13 inches long to date. Which I’m not sure if he’s a little small?
Right now he’s in a 40 gallon tank I will upgrade to 75 or larger soon. He has a mega ray 160 watt at 18 inches from his basking spot. It gets to about 105. I don’t have a screen over where the basking light is but over the rest of tank. The cool side is about 77 degrees F. The humidity is around 45 which I know is a bit high but even with dehumidifier it’s not getting much lower. With the winter coming it should lower though.
Any thoughts on why his shedding and pooping has slowed down or if this is normal? Or any recommendations to tank/lightning/feeding are welcome. I’m trying my best & new so help is appreciated!