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?

 

[Toadleagend]

Hello,

You can certainly give a bath from time to time, & try to get her to swim around more, for exercise. That can help to get things moving through.
How many times, weekly, are you giving calcium? I
think the frequency is fine. Perhaps cut back on vitamins, they might be too much if given too often.
I am not sure why she would be having trouble with
going to the bathroom, if she isn't impacted.

Tracie

I’m giving calcium 4 times weekly. 7 crickets with calcium. I give vitamins twice a week. Should I cut back on them? Should I do 3-4 times a week of calcium instead of 4? I also can lower the amount of calcium slightly more. I have a a couple more ideas on how to do that. Sometimes I also think I mess up when shaking the calcium on the crickets. I don't know if I do it too heavy. I’ll make sure the crickets look grey and not white after they are dusted. Maybe I need to put less calcium in with them before I shake it. she pooped this morning. It was a tiny poop. The urate was wet and moist. Sometimes I feel like she try’s to avoid going to the bathroom when I’m around. I’m wondering if that was the case. Then, the moment passed her. Im not sure if that’s possible. Thank you very much!!!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Since your dragon is an adult, you can cut the vitamins to 1 time weekly since it also has calcium in it.
You can decrease the calcium to 3 times per week, that should be sufficient for her. The amount of
powder you are putting on the crickets seems to be fine though. A good coating is fine, 3 times per
week. If she is eating greens, too then she is getting natural calcium through the food. What type of
feeds/gutloads are you feeding the crickets?
The urate looks better there. I think she is improving now.

Tracie

 

[Toadleagend]

Hello,

Since your dragon is an adult, you can cut the vitamins to 1 time weekly since it also has calcium in it.
You can decrease the calcium to 3 times per week, that should be sufficient for her. The amount of
powder you are putting on the crickets seems to be fine though. A good coating is fine, 3 times per
week. If she is eating greens, too then she is getting natural calcium through the food. What type of
feeds/gutloads are you feeding the crickets?
The urate looks better there. I think she is improving now.

Tracie

Ok, thank you very much!!! I feed my crickets mustard greens. Is this a good coating? She pooped again. This poop had a very wet urate. Watery poop too. I gave her butternut squash on her greens to encourage her to eat them a couple days ago. I’m not anymore. So, I think she got extra water from that.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Yes, that coating on the crickets looks fine. The mustard greens are a good source of calcium so the
crickets are getting good nutrition. The butternut squash is a good staple also so you can use that for
her somewhat often.
You can get some organic chicken laying mash for some dry feed for the crickets to supplement them.

Tracie

 

[Toadleagend]

Hello,

Yes, that coating on the crickets looks fine. The mustard greens are a good source of calcium so the
crickets are getting good nutrition. The butternut squash is a good staple also so you can use that for
her somewhat often.
You can get some organic chicken laying mash for some dry feed for the crickets to supplement them.

Tracie

Ok, thank you very much!!!

 

[Toadleagend]

Today she pooped. It was wet and moist again. There was one part that was a little more solid. But, I believe it was still moist. It was easy to squish. The poop was watery. Maybe the extra hydration is still in her? She ate her greens before and had a bright beard too!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

No problem at all, she is doing great now. Keeping her hydrated is a good thing! I'm glad to hear
she is eating her greens regularly, also. They do tend to hold hydration pretty well.

Tracie

 

[Toadleagend]

Hello,

No problem at all, she is doing great now. Keeping her hydrated is a good thing! I'm glad to hear
she is eating her greens regularly, also. They do tend to hold hydration pretty well.

Tracie

Ok, thank you very much!!!

 

[Toadleagend]

Today she pooped. At first she had just a tiny bit of water come out. But, a little while later she had an actual poop. It was watery. There was a lot of urate. The urate was difficult to feel because of where it was in the poop. It felt moist. It also looked wet. When I felt it I’m not sure if it also felt a bit grainy. But, it still felt very moist and squishable. She was eating her greens. Her beard was bright for the most part. Maybe a bit brown. At some points before she popped.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

It can be normal for their urates to have a bit of the
grainy texture at some points. Overall if it is softer
& there is a good amount of fluids involved, there
is no reason for concern. She seems to be doing
a lot better, no black beard now1

Tracie

 

[Toadleagend]

Hello,

It can be normal for their urates to have a bit of the
grainy texture at some points. Overall if it is softer
& there is a good amount of fluids involved, there
is no reason for concern. She seems to be doing
a lot better, no black beard now1

Tracie

Ok, thank you very much!!!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

You are very welcome.
Be sure to keep us updated if there are any changes with her.

Tracie