I've looked around for this, and found some useful things, but not quite what I'm looking for.
I just adopted my friend's 3 year old beardie, Butters, today, because she admitted that she hasn't been taking very good care of him/her (it's a girl, but she's always called him a boy because she used to think he was a boy, so she still does, and everyone else does.)
She told me two of his main issues. One is he rarely poops. I think she said he poops like one every two weeks or so, typically. He actually pooped twice today, they looked like good ones, too. I don't know how often adult bearded dragons are supposed to poop, but this seems a little too sparse. I also have a five month bearded dragon named Atreyu, who I've had for two months. Atreyu eats most of his fruits and vegetables, about 16 large crickets a day, gets a bath every 2-3 days, and poops usually every day. He seems very healthy, from what I can tell, but I'm still planning to take him to a vet. So, I'm used to having poop to clean up every day, and Butters apparently doesn't poop often, which has always concerned her.
The other issue, which I think contributes to the poop issue, is that he hates eating his fruits and vegetables. Most of the time, he'll eat a few bites of Romaine lettuce and some zucchini while she's gone, and then she has to hand feed him grapes, and he doesn't take them, she has to open his mouth and put them in. This doesn't seem good, because he's not interested in his food, she's not giving him a good variety, she doesn't give him a very nutritious staple green, and he rarely gets much fruit because he doesn't like the kind she gives him.
As for now, my plan is to bathe him as often as I bathe Atreyu (every 2-3 days), give a wider variety of foods, going between Collard and Mustard for staple greens, and giving him mashed banana through a syringe once a week (the girl at the pet store I trust told me to give Atreyu more fruits when his poop was dry, and she suggested a bit of banana for poop problems. I gave it to him once, and his poop was perfect.) to see if it will help him poop better.
She also believes he has a bone issue, because his back legs seem week and he moves slowly most of the time (he definitely can move fast, he jumps and climbs in his cage pretty quickly, he just usually doesn't move his back legs very slowly), but I'm asking the vet about that. Her calcium has phosphorus, and I was told that that can be bad for beardies because of the calcium to phosphorus ratio they need for their bones. That could be effecting it, so I'm going to try using my calcium powder that just has Calcium and D3. I want to get the one that doesn't have D3 when I can. When I first got it, I didn't see that it had anything other than calcium.
So, my question is: Does anyone have suggestions on how to improve his eating habits and help him poop? Perhaps some foods that are helpful with poop?
Also, while I'm here, I guess I'll ask if anyone has any tips for training? I've been told you can train bearded dragons (and most lizards) to respond to their name like other pets, which would be cool. But I don't know how true this is, and if anyone has managed it, could you drop me some tips? For now, I'm going to continue trying to research it, but I'm not finding much.
And here's the information thing that I'm supposed to post:
How old is your dragon?
3 years old.
How long have you had your dragon?
About 8 hours.
How long is your dragon?
Barely over a foot.
What is the sex of your dragon?
Female.
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?
16 inches tall
28 inches long
12 inches wide
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?
Newspaper, and a small towel on the heated side for him to lay on and sleep on (it's what the previous owner did, and he seems to like it.)
Do you use UVB lights?
Yes.
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb?
Coil.
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?
ExoTera Repti Glo 2.0 UVB
How old is your UVB bulb?
About five months. I will replace it soon.
How close can your dragon get to the UVB?
About 16 inches away. He will be able to get closer once I provide more things to climb on.
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? Is it a white or colored bulb?
Yes.
What are the basking temps?
About 95 F (My temps might not be quite accurate, since I have a stick on Exo Terra thermometer)
What is the cool side temp?
About 75 F
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun?
Currently a stick on, but I'm hoping to get a temp gun soon.
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps?
The previous owner has one put on the center.
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad?
A heating pad on the hot side.
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific.
She said she feeds him a salad (romaine, zucchini, and hand-fed grapes) every day, and 6-7 large crickets 4 times a week.
I will be changing this greatly. I want to use a staple of mustard or collard, rotating every few weeks, and mixing a variety of zucchini, bell peppers, apples, carrots, cactus pear, banana, and strawberries (Possible others now and then). Not all will be frequent, but those are my usual options, and I try to change them up a bit each day for variety. I may have to hand feed if he doesn't choose to eat it.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)?
I don't know WHEN she fed, but I know she gave him the salad before she left for school most days.
I'll be doing it along with my current schedule for Atreyu, so I will be giving him the crickets at 7 PM on the 4 days a week, assuming that's a good amount for an adult, I'm not sure what is. I have a juvenile. I'm going to double check my book later. And I will make his salad when I get home from school at 3 each day.
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc?
Yes. I only feed crickets, and I keep chunks of apple and Fluker's blue water cubes, so that they don't drown.
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them?
I use a calcium supplement. My mom didn't end up getting vitamin, but I will be getting that soon and alternating.
I use reptical, but I don't know what Mia uses. I use the calcium powder every day on the crickets.
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?
No. He did have two today, which is better than usual. Normally, she says he poops once ever week or two.
Do you bath your dragon? How often?
She bathed him once every week or two, I'm going to bathe him every 2-3 days.
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath?
She misted him with warm water every morning and night, which I will also do. And he will have a water dish, but doesn't now.
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done?
He has once, and they said to keep him warm to try improving his poop frequency, and to give him more fruit. She has barely done this. I don't believe a fecal check has been done. I will be taking both of them for these, hopefully by January.
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?
No. I have two, but they have separate enclosures. I am working on introducing them slowly, since Butters is so much bigger, and I am hoping to have them mate eventually, but I have a long ways to go before that, since Atreyu is not at sexual maturity yet and I know nothing about breeding. I won't even attempt to breed them before I know what I'm doing.
I just adopted my friend's 3 year old beardie, Butters, today, because she admitted that she hasn't been taking very good care of him/her (it's a girl, but she's always called him a boy because she used to think he was a boy, so she still does, and everyone else does.)
She told me two of his main issues. One is he rarely poops. I think she said he poops like one every two weeks or so, typically. He actually pooped twice today, they looked like good ones, too. I don't know how often adult bearded dragons are supposed to poop, but this seems a little too sparse. I also have a five month bearded dragon named Atreyu, who I've had for two months. Atreyu eats most of his fruits and vegetables, about 16 large crickets a day, gets a bath every 2-3 days, and poops usually every day. He seems very healthy, from what I can tell, but I'm still planning to take him to a vet. So, I'm used to having poop to clean up every day, and Butters apparently doesn't poop often, which has always concerned her.
The other issue, which I think contributes to the poop issue, is that he hates eating his fruits and vegetables. Most of the time, he'll eat a few bites of Romaine lettuce and some zucchini while she's gone, and then she has to hand feed him grapes, and he doesn't take them, she has to open his mouth and put them in. This doesn't seem good, because he's not interested in his food, she's not giving him a good variety, she doesn't give him a very nutritious staple green, and he rarely gets much fruit because he doesn't like the kind she gives him.
As for now, my plan is to bathe him as often as I bathe Atreyu (every 2-3 days), give a wider variety of foods, going between Collard and Mustard for staple greens, and giving him mashed banana through a syringe once a week (the girl at the pet store I trust told me to give Atreyu more fruits when his poop was dry, and she suggested a bit of banana for poop problems. I gave it to him once, and his poop was perfect.) to see if it will help him poop better.
She also believes he has a bone issue, because his back legs seem week and he moves slowly most of the time (he definitely can move fast, he jumps and climbs in his cage pretty quickly, he just usually doesn't move his back legs very slowly), but I'm asking the vet about that. Her calcium has phosphorus, and I was told that that can be bad for beardies because of the calcium to phosphorus ratio they need for their bones. That could be effecting it, so I'm going to try using my calcium powder that just has Calcium and D3. I want to get the one that doesn't have D3 when I can. When I first got it, I didn't see that it had anything other than calcium.
So, my question is: Does anyone have suggestions on how to improve his eating habits and help him poop? Perhaps some foods that are helpful with poop?
Also, while I'm here, I guess I'll ask if anyone has any tips for training? I've been told you can train bearded dragons (and most lizards) to respond to their name like other pets, which would be cool. But I don't know how true this is, and if anyone has managed it, could you drop me some tips? For now, I'm going to continue trying to research it, but I'm not finding much.
And here's the information thing that I'm supposed to post:
How old is your dragon?
3 years old.
How long have you had your dragon?
About 8 hours.
How long is your dragon?
Barely over a foot.
What is the sex of your dragon?
Female.
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?
16 inches tall
28 inches long
12 inches wide
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?
Newspaper, and a small towel on the heated side for him to lay on and sleep on (it's what the previous owner did, and he seems to like it.)
Do you use UVB lights?
Yes.
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb?
Coil.
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?
ExoTera Repti Glo 2.0 UVB
How old is your UVB bulb?
About five months. I will replace it soon.
How close can your dragon get to the UVB?
About 16 inches away. He will be able to get closer once I provide more things to climb on.
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? Is it a white or colored bulb?
Yes.
What are the basking temps?
About 95 F (My temps might not be quite accurate, since I have a stick on Exo Terra thermometer)
What is the cool side temp?
About 75 F
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun?
Currently a stick on, but I'm hoping to get a temp gun soon.
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps?
The previous owner has one put on the center.
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad?
A heating pad on the hot side.
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific.
She said she feeds him a salad (romaine, zucchini, and hand-fed grapes) every day, and 6-7 large crickets 4 times a week.
I will be changing this greatly. I want to use a staple of mustard or collard, rotating every few weeks, and mixing a variety of zucchini, bell peppers, apples, carrots, cactus pear, banana, and strawberries (Possible others now and then). Not all will be frequent, but those are my usual options, and I try to change them up a bit each day for variety. I may have to hand feed if he doesn't choose to eat it.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)?
I don't know WHEN she fed, but I know she gave him the salad before she left for school most days.
I'll be doing it along with my current schedule for Atreyu, so I will be giving him the crickets at 7 PM on the 4 days a week, assuming that's a good amount for an adult, I'm not sure what is. I have a juvenile. I'm going to double check my book later. And I will make his salad when I get home from school at 3 each day.
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc?
Yes. I only feed crickets, and I keep chunks of apple and Fluker's blue water cubes, so that they don't drown.
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them?
I use a calcium supplement. My mom didn't end up getting vitamin, but I will be getting that soon and alternating.
I use reptical, but I don't know what Mia uses. I use the calcium powder every day on the crickets.
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?
No. He did have two today, which is better than usual. Normally, she says he poops once ever week or two.
Do you bath your dragon? How often?
She bathed him once every week or two, I'm going to bathe him every 2-3 days.
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath?
She misted him with warm water every morning and night, which I will also do. And he will have a water dish, but doesn't now.
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done?
He has once, and they said to keep him warm to try improving his poop frequency, and to give him more fruit. She has barely done this. I don't believe a fecal check has been done. I will be taking both of them for these, hopefully by January.
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?
No. I have two, but they have separate enclosures. I am working on introducing them slowly, since Butters is so much bigger, and I am hoping to have them mate eventually, but I have a long ways to go before that, since Atreyu is not at sexual maturity yet and I know nothing about breeding. I won't even attempt to breed them before I know what I'm doing.