Bearded dragon black beards when poop and probably hard urate

[Toadleagend]

Hello, my bearded dragon sometimes black beards when she poops. This time it happened again. Her beard is still dark after it. I’m not sure if she will poop again, but it looks like she will. Her previous two poops before this one were fine but watery. She acted normal before them. Almost two weeks ago she had a similar situation. She had a black beard and pooped twice. shes Had black beards before with the poops. It normally returns to normal after she poops. This time it hasn’t yet. She doesn’t want her greens. She will eat crickets. She wanted her greens this morning. Her beard went bright after she pooped. But, returned dark within 5 minutes. The urate seemed very hard. And dry. Her poop was a bit formed. And lots of water. I have tried lowering the calcium. The only thing I can think of is that I might put too much calcium on. She has a tube uvb bulb. It was recently changed. I’ve made two diet changes between this poop and the last poop. I put on orange cube cricket food. And gave her a very small amount of sweet potato. I’m very confused what is happening. I feel like if it was the amount of calcium it would have been fixed by now. Can anyone help me figure out what is causing this?

UPDATE: she pooped again. So far she still doesn’t want greens and her beard is still dark. This poop looked fine. But, seemed like a pain to get out. A lot of wiggling.I’m not sure why her beard is still dark? It looks darker than before.
Now her eyes keeps closing and seem semi-closed too. Kinda tired looking.

UPDATE 2: her beard seems to have gotten better. I’m not sure how permanent that is. She still doesn’t want her greens. The hard urates seems to happen when she has two poops in a row. Like all of the calcium goes to the first poop. Making it too much. I would not know how to fix that. Does anyone know if there is a liquid calcium with d3? I have one without d3. But, I cannot find one with it. Maybe that would help?

Update 3: the beard isn’t as bad as before yet. But, it isn’t the brightest right now either. I was thinking maybe if there is now liquid d3. Give all liquid calcium. And then, for her vitamins. One day of herptivite. And another day of Reptivite with d3. Im not sure if that would work. I just looked at the calcium instructions. Based on them, I think I could have been dusting it too much. It seems i should be giving about 1/8 tsp a day on the greens. If I also give it on her crickets. I feel like my light dusting probably ended up being more than that. So, maybe i should try fixing that.

UPDATE 4: she pooped a third time. This was just a really watery urate. No poop. There might be poop soon to come. But, not as far as I know at the moment.

UPDATE 5: her beard is a bit brighter again. Right now it is good. But, sometimes it is brown. She wanted a green. So hopefully she is feeling a bit better. I also saw multivitamins can also cause hard urates. Is two times a week a good amount? Or is that too much?

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How old is your girl?
Most of the time, excess vitamins can cause harder urates or discolored urates. If you are using a
liquid calcium & a powdered calcium that could be too much depending on how often you are giving
it.
The Herptivite & Reptivite both have calcium I believe. Please check the labels on both of them to see
if they have calcium added.
We normally recommend calcium 3 times a week for adults & 5 or so times for babies & juveniles. As
long as you are using good UVB lighting, she shouldn't really need much in the way of D3.
Her beard darkness can indicate stress or discomfort but as long as it isn't a permanent color on her
beard hopefully it's just a passing thing for her.
Another thing I noticed is that you started using the orange cricket gel food which I believe has calcium
in it. That can cause discoloration in the stools or urates too.

Let us know how she is doing.
Tracie

 

[Toadleagend]

Hello,

How old is your girl?
Most of the time, excess vitamins can cause harder urates or discolored urates. If you are using a
liquid calcium & a powdered calcium that could be too much depending on how often you are giving
it.
The Herptivite & Reptivite both have calcium I believe. Please check the labels on both of them to see
if they have calcium added.
We normally recommend calcium 3 times a week for adults & 5 or so times for babies & juveniles. As
long as you are using good UVB lighting, she shouldn't really need much in the way of D3.
Her beard darkness can indicate stress or discomfort but as long as it isn't a permanent color on her
beard hopefully it's just a passing thing for her.
Another thing I noticed is that you started using the orange cricket gel food which I believe has calcium
in it. That can cause discoloration in the stools or urates too.

Let us know how she is doing.
Tracie

Hello, she is 5 years old. I give the calcium every other day. So, 3-4 times a week. And rotate between the liquid and the powdered calcium. Yes, the vitamins do have calcium added. Should I stop using the cricket food then? Also, should I give the vitamins with the powdered calcium, so it isn’t too much? This morning she was eating her greens. Her beard was better too. Thank you very much!

 

[Toadleagend]

Hello,

How old is your girl?
Most of the time, excess vitamins can cause harder urates or discolored urates. If you are using a
liquid calcium & a powdered calcium that could be too much depending on how often you are giving
it.
The Herptivite & Reptivite both have calcium I believe. Please check the labels on both of them to see
if they have calcium added.
We normally recommend calcium 3 times a week for adults & 5 or so times for babies & juveniles. As
long as you are using good UVB lighting, she shouldn't really need much in the way of D3.
Her beard darkness can indicate stress or discomfort but as long as it isn't a permanent color on her
beard hopefully it's just a passing thing for her.
Another thing I noticed is that you started using the orange cricket gel food which I believe has calcium
in it. That can cause discoloration in the stools or urates too.

Let us know how she is doing.
Tracie

Does this look like it would be good? Or am i still giving too much of anything?

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

You can do a light dusting of the Herptivite twice weekly, that should be fine. There is not any D3
in the Herptivite correct? I don't recall any in there.
The liquid calcium, are you giving an entire 1/2 teaspoon? Which liquid calcium are you giving, what
brand is it? You may be giving too much of that, I can try to dose it for you if you have a label for me
to look at.
Too much calcium will definitely cause harder urates, so we can work on getting the liquid dosed. As
far as the powdered calcium, simply do a light dusting, once, on the day you do give it.
The cricket gel cubes might be overkill yes. So, for now, you can feed them greens, sweet potatoes,
carrots, etc but keep them cleaned out so nothing gets moldy. You can get some organic non gmo
chicken laying crumbles for dry feed. It is very nutritious for them. You can use a wet sponge for
moisture. Get a plastic container & cut a sponge to fit the container & keep it wet. Make sure there
aren't any gaps to avoid drowning incidences for them.

Tracie

 

[Toadleagend]

Hello,

You can do a light dusting of the Herptivite twice weekly, that should be fine. There is not any D3
in the Herptivite correct? I don't recall any in there.
The liquid calcium, are you giving an entire 1/2 teaspoon? Which liquid calcium are you giving, what
brand is it? You may be giving too much of that, I can try to dose it for you if you have a label for me
to look at.
Too much calcium will definitely cause harder urates, so we can work on getting the liquid dosed. As
far as the powdered calcium, simply do a light dusting, once, on the day you do give it.
The cricket gel cubes might be overkill yes. So, for now, you can feed them greens, sweet potatoes,
carrots, etc but keep them cleaned out so nothing gets moldy. You can get some organic non gmo
chicken laying crumbles for dry feed. It is very nutritious for them. You can use a wet sponge for
moisture. Get a plastic container & cut a sponge to fit the container & keep it wet. Make sure there
aren't any gaps to avoid drowning incidences for them.

Tracie

Hello, thank you for helping me. There is no d3 in herptivite. For the liquid calcium, I dunk the crickets in it. But, it really doesn’t make a dent in the dosage, so I pour the rest on her greens. I replace her greens throughout the day because they get all dry and crinkly. And I’m not sure whether to also replace the calcium. Would I replace it if she didn’t eat any of those greens? If she ate some do I not replace the calcium? Or do I replace what she hasn’t eaten? And yes I give the entire half teaspoon. I’m giving Flukers liquid calcium. For the powdered calcium, if I give it on 7 crickets, would that count as a light dusting once? Or should I also give it on her greens. I also have the same question for the powdered calcium about whether I replace the calcium when I replace her greens. Also, would a 1/8 tsp end up being a light dusting. Or what measurement would that look like? Or what does a light dusting look like? Do any of these pictures look like light dustings? I drew on a picture of her greens because she won’t get any powdered calcium in a while. Because I feel like sometimes when I do light dustings. I do too much.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

As for the calcium dusting, it depends on whether or not she eats any of the greens. If she doesn't,
then you can dust some more. Or, dusting the crickets is fine, if she eats them all. That should be
sufficient for that.
The liquid calcium is quite strong at a 6% solution. I think we need to dose that, because giving the
entire amount is a bit much. What is your dragon's weight, & I'll get an exact amount for her weight
that she needs.
The Herptivite will be fine, you can continue to give that. It has beta carotene in it which wont become
toxic.
How is she doing today?

Tracie

 

[Toadleagend]

Hello,

As for the calcium dusting, it depends on whether or not she eats any of the greens. If she doesn't,
then you can dust some more. Or, dusting the crickets is fine, if she eats them all. That should be
sufficient for that.
The liquid calcium is quite strong at a 6% solution. I think we need to dose that, because giving the
entire amount is a bit much. What is your dragon's weight, & I'll get an exact amount for her weight
that she needs.
The Herptivite will be fine, you can continue to give that. It has beta carotene in it which wont become
toxic.
How is she doing today?

Tracie

Hello, today I believe she is doing good. She already ate some of her greens. She is quite mad I weighed her now though. Her weight is 352 grams. I weighed her in a container with a kitchen scale. And to clarify, for the powdered calcium. Dusting 7 crickets would be enough calcium for her? I wouldn’t have to put any more on her greens? Also, thank you very much!!!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

That's good to hear she is eating her greens, hopefully
she will continue to do so!
Just to ensure you are using enough calcium, just get
a good pinch of the powder & use that to dust the crickets. If you do that 4-5 times weekly it should be
sufficient calcium intake. You shouldn't need to dust
the greens if you get plenty of the dust on the crickets.
You are welcome, keep us posted on your girl.

Tracie

 

[Toadleagend]

Hello,

That's good to hear she is eating her greens, hopefully
she will continue to do so!
Just to ensure you are using enough calcium, just get
a good pinch of the powder & use that to dust the crickets. If you do that 4-5 times weekly it should be
sufficient calcium intake. You shouldn't need to dust
the greens if you get plenty of the dust on the crickets.
You are welcome, keep us posted on your girl.

Tracie

Hello, so it would be good to dust the crickets 4 times a week? And the crickets should have a thorough coating of calcium, is that correct? Does this look like a good amount on the crickets? Also, do I still do d3 once a week? And I would do calcium without d3 the other days.Thank you very much!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

It's kind of hard to determine there, but just enough to be somewhat whitish. She doesn't need D3 daily
but once weekly is fine, since you are using a good UVB light.
Use your judgement but a small pinch on those days used on the crickets is good. Be sure you are going
to use the cricket if you coat it because calcium left on a cricket if not eaten will probably die because it
can't breathe very well.

Tracie

 

[Toadleagend]

Hello,

It's kind of hard to determine there, but just enough to be somewhat whitish. She doesn't need D3 daily
but once weekly is fine, since you are using a good UVB light.
Use your judgement but a small pinch on those days used on the crickets is good. Be sure you are going
to use the cricket if you coat it because calcium left on a cricket if not eaten will probably die because it
can't breathe very well.

Tracie

Ok, thank you very much!!! If you don’t mind, could you tell me if any of these are good? If you can tell better. I tried to take less blurry pictures. I’m leaning towards the first picture.

 

[Toadleagend]

Ok, thank you very much!!! If you don’t mind, could you tell me if any of these are good? If you can tell better. I tried to take less blurry pictures. I’m leaning towards the first picture.

She pooped twice today so far. One was small with a liquidy urate and no poop. This one she had a bright beard for as she pooped. The other was a hard urate again. But, it hasn’t been very long and I feel like I was still messing up the calcium amount earlier in the week. so hopefully it will get fixed soon. She did want greens before she pooped, but she also had a black beard. The beard went bright when she had a cricket too.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Really either picture is fine. Just moderation is usually the best. Probably the first picture, if you feed
her 7-10 crickets that should be plenty for the feeding. Poor cricket!
She was black bearding after she ate her greens, but lightened up after she had a cricket? She is very
moody! LOL
Keep working with her, hopefully she will get back to normal soon.

Tracie

 

[Toadleagend]

Hello,

Really either picture is fine. Just moderation is usually the best. Probably the first picture, if you feed
her 7-10 crickets that should be plenty for the feeding. Poor cricket!
She was black bearding after she ate her greens, but lightened up after she had a cricket? She is very
moody! LOL
Keep working with her, hopefully she will get back to normal soon.

Tracie

Ok, thank you very much!!! She was black bearding from the hard urate. She lightened up slightly with a green. And her beard went completely bright when she had a cricket.