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,

I posted/updated on your other thread also. I'm happy
she is doing much better now, eating her greens &
crickets also.
Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie

 

[Toadleagend]

Hello,

I posted/updated on your other thread also. I'm happy
she is doing much better now, eating her greens &
crickets also.
Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie

Thank you!!! She enjoyed some crickets this morning!!!

 

[Toadleagend]

Hello, if you don’t mind, can you help me identify is this poop had a hard urate. I’m not sure. She did it real early in the morning, so i couldn’t see if she wanted any food. Also, her beard was dark while she pooped. And went a bit brighter after. Her beard sometimes gets dark in the morning until I give her food. But, I’m not sure if that was the reason it was dark. Because like I said it seemed to go a lot brighter afterwards. It wasn’t pitch black. The urate was a bit firm feeling at first. But, quite easy to squish. After that nothing was hard. But, it felt a little bit dry. It retained the squished shape. But, I don’t think if you press it together again it would be able to stick easily. It was a little crumbly while still retaining shape. It was still mostly malleable. The poop looked more formed than usual. A lot of watery poop around it too. Do you know if this is a hard urate? I’m mainly not sure because the urate felt a little drier than the last two.

 

[Toadleagend]

Hello, if you don’t mind, can you help me identify is this poop had a hard urate. I’m not sure. She did it real early in the morning, so i couldn’t see if she wanted any food. Also, her beard was dark while she pooped. And went a bit brighter after. Her beard sometimes gets dark in the morning until I give her food. But, I’m not sure if that was the reason it was dark. Because like I said it seemed to go a lot brighter afterwards. It wasn’t pitch black. The urate was a bit firm feeling at first. But, quite easy to squish. After that nothing was hard. But, it felt a little bit dry. It retained the squished shape. But, I don’t think if you press it together again it would be able to stick easily. It was a little crumbly while still retaining shape. It was still mostly malleable. The poop looked more formed than usual. A lot of watery poop around it too. Do you know if this is a hard urate? I’m mainly not sure because the urate felt a little drier than the last two.

Hello, someone said the urate looked fine. So hopefully it continues to be good. I have trouble telling if they are hard or not sometimes. Sorry.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

You will want the urates to have some type of consistency & not be just a watery mess. If they
are hard, chalky or really grainy then more oral hydration is needed. It can be hard to determine
whether they are just right but just use your judgement on the consistency.

Tracie

 

[Toadleagend]

Hello,

You will want the urates to have some type of consistency & not be just a watery mess. If they
are hard, chalky or really grainy then more oral hydration is needed. It can be hard to determine
whether they are just right but just use your judgement on the consistency.

Tracie

Hello, I’m not sure if it was hard or chalky. It felt a little powdery and drier. But, I could still feel some moisture It was also a little hard to squish at first. I didn’t Actually touch the urate. I felt it with a paper towel. I’m not sure if this prevented me from feeling any moisture. I thought I felt a little bit of moisture. But, the urate also felt a little powdery. Someone also said it looked moist. So, I’m still not sure whether it was bad. I’m leaning towards it was ok. And that I should pay more attention to the next poop. She eats a lot of greens and I’ve been giving the baby food mixture for the 1-2 weeks. So, I’m not sure how to give her more Oral hydration. Should I give her some greens sprayed with water? The last time I tried to use a dropper she almost ate it. She also had a very large pool of watery poop with this poop. But, the urate was drier than the last poop which I thought was weird. Could she still need time after I fixed her calcium? Or has it been too long now? Maybe next time I should feel it without a paper towel, so I don’t get as confused. Thank you very much!!

 

[Toadleagend]

Hello, today her urate was good. Very moist. The poop itself was watery. But, maybe that’s still from the 1-2 weeks of the baby food mixture. I gave her extra oral hydration yesterday. I’m not sure if that had anything to do with it being good. So, I’m not sure if I should continue to give her extra oral hydration or not. She ate her greens and had a nice beard too.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

She definitely gets plenty of fluids, which is good. I think she is doing fine. It takes time for the body
to adjust when you change supplementation, etc.
As long as she is eating well, just provide fresh greens, but you don't need to spray them down with
water so much to overhydrate her.

Tracie

 

[Toadleagend]

Hello,

She definitely gets plenty of fluids, which is good. I think she is doing fine. It takes time for the body
to adjust when you change supplementation, etc.
As long as she is eating well, just provide fresh greens, but you don't need to spray them down with
water so much to overhydrate her.

Tracie

Ok, thank you very much!!!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Let us know how things are going. I hope she continues to improve for you.

Tracie

 

[Toadleagend]

Hello,

Let us know how things are going. I hope she continues to improve for you.

Tracie

Thank you, I will! She got real excited for her crickets today!

 

[Toadleagend]

Thank you, I will! She got real excited for her crickets today!

Later today, she had a bit of a darker beard for a small amount of time. It went bright after she ate a green. She ran to grab a green and I thought she was going to poop because of how she put her butt down on the ground for a second. But, she didn’t. It is normally how she starts to poop, but I suppose she could have just sat like that too.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

That's great she went to eat some greens & she also ate some crickets, too. She looks really alert
there so hopefully she continues to improve for you. A lot of them turn their beard dark for various
reason but it looks like she is fine. Maybe just wanting attention?

Tracie

 

[Toadleagend]

Hello,

That's great she went to eat some greens & she also ate some crickets, too. She looks really alert
there so hopefully she continues to improve for you. A lot of them turn their beard dark for various
reason but it looks like she is fine. Maybe just wanting attention?

Tracie

Ok, thank you very much!
She pooped today. I think the urate was not good. It wasn’t hard. It broke in my hand before I could grab it. But, I believe it was dry, powdery, and grainy feeling. The poop itself was watery. I don’t think her beard was dark. I only saw it when she was finishing up. It was maybe a little dark on the sides. But, not black. She ate her greens after she pooped too.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Just monitor the amount of calcium intake to be sure you don't give too much which can cause the harder, & more chalky urates on average.
Have you started her on probiotics & kept her on them for awhile to try & get the system normalized some?

Tracie