1 week in-between poops.

[Charmonkey]

Hey guys, I have a question regarding stool movements.

My Beardie Dumpling has only been passing his stools about 1 week apart. (Give or take a few days) He's about 1 Year and 2 months old. Is there any reason for this?
He has correct temps, (About 110 f), correct UV bulb etc, gets fed 5 times per week, small amount crickets or locust dusted with Multi Vits 3 times and Calcium 2 times, and of course dusted veg everyday.

What could be causing this? Below are 2 photos of him, and one of his weekly stool movement.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Many thanks,
-Charlie & Dumpling the Berdie.

 

[daner923]

Hi there! Well, first off, a sub-adult to adult beardie could poop less frequently. How often are you bathing him? You should be offering crickets every day, dusted with calcium + D3 4 times a week and a multivitamin just once a week. Do not also dust the veggies - too much calcium could make the urate hard, creating a sort of impaction or blockage. I would also suggest ditching that green sand immediately - it is not good for him at all, and could be further impacting him. A solid substrate is preferable - paper towel for now, and then you can choose between that and slate tile, reptile carpet, or non-adhesive shelf liner.

 

[Charmonkey]

Hey thanks for your reply.

I have heard that when your beardie is over a year old, you should be dusting with more Multi Vits then calcium. Is this true? And yes, I will be hoping to get slate later on in the future, however, I have very little money to spend at the moment (Collage.) I often only bathe him once a week for about 15 mins to make sure he drinks a bit of water.

-C

 

[daner923]

I would bathe him every 2-3 days for 15 or more minutes. A well hydrated dragon will almost never drink. They just absorb water through their vents. That will help him poo more often. If I don't give my dragon Max a bath every day or two, he gets very hard urates. Furthmore, he HATES pooping in his tank. If he does, he will get as far away as possible, turn himself very dark with stress marks, and sit and wait for me to come clean it up. Then he lightens up the instant I get the poop out. Now he mostly just waits to go in the tub (which is fine by me - easier to clean). :lol:

Anyways, once a beardie reaches one year old, you should cut it back to 4x a week calcium and 1x a week multivitamin. At 1.5 years old, it should be 3x a week calcium and 1x a week multivitamin. For now, take out the sand and put down paper towel. Slate tile (actually, slate-style ceramic tile is what I have) costs about $15 to get enough for a full 40 gallon breeder - it's really not very expensive!

 

[Charmonkey]

Ah, I didn't realise it cost that much. Do you just stick it in there or do you use some type of adhesive to hold it it place?

-C

 

[daner923]

Nope, just stick it in. If it doesn't all fit flat on the bottom, you might need to bet a little bit creative (my tank has a one tile tall step in it).