Bearded dragon help

[RachhFloynter]

My bearded dragons stink! I have 2 and everyday their poo smells, and they walk through it because they don't just poo in one spot they poo all throughout their tank And when I'm not home during the day obviously I cannot clean up the poo before they manage to walk in it and I just don't know what to do. I really need some help because I'm sick of being able to smell their poo coming from the tank.

 

[lillylizard]

this may help. as soon as you wake them up put them in a bath and they will poop in the bath and not in the tank.

 

[Phoenix17June2009]

you may also want to run a fecal test on them... of course beardies eat "odd" things but a strong scent in stool could also be a sign of pinworms and or coccidia... :silent:

 

[lillylizard]

Also the type of food you feed them will change the smell too.

 

[w0554096]

I seccond getting a fecal done. I mean, poo is poo, but beardies poo doesn't usually smell that bad. However when they've got parasites, it's astounding the smells that come out of them.
When I got my two dragons and one of the pooped for the first time, I couldn't even believe the smell. The two other dragons that I had owned before never smelled like that, and I didn't know about parasites at the time.

I got a fecal done on both of them, and then treated them with Reptaid for coccidia. Best money ever spent, I can't imagine living with that smell everyday. :shock:

 

[RachhFloynter]

Well I give them rocket nearly everyday or every second day and it smells after I give them that. Maybe I should stop giving them rocket and see how it goes? Where I live we don't have any reptile vets. Can I go to just a Normal one? Thankyou for your help

 

[RachhFloynter]

Also! Do they have any other symptoms of having parasites?

 

[w0554096]

Smelly runny poop is the main sympton that almost all dragons will show. Some will be somewhat lathargic, or not eating much, not gaining weight etc.
Try not feeding the rocket and see how that goes.
You can always get a fecal kit and send it out in the mail instead of a vet trip, they're pretty cheap. I'd check with your local vet and see if they're equiped to do a fecal test. You shouldn't need to bring the beardie in if they are, just the poop sample.

 

[RachhFloynter]

Thankyou.

Can they die from parasites etc ?
How long can they have it before they do?
They seem to be lively, glass dancing, they eating etc its just their smelly poo

 

[w0554096]

I'm sure that they can die die from parasites if they were bad enough. Eventually it would prevent the dragon from absorbing the nutritents of their food, however I doubt yours have such a high count.

If you weight your dragons, you can order some Reptaid. It's a herbal supplement that has shown wonderful results on coccidia, along with respiratory infections, mouth rot, appitite boosters, and is very mild.
Here's the website if you'd like to read up on it http://reptaid.com/
There is also a thread on it on this website. It's stickied, so it shouldn't be too hard to find.

I wouldn't reccomend letting your dragons go untreated for any length of time, and it's possible that they do not have parasites and it could be the rocket, however a fecal test will be the only way to find out for sure.
As I've said, you can order a fecal kit online for cheap, under 10 dollars I think, and you can also order the meds online, if you didn't want to do a vet trip. Though if you treat them with medication, you will need to make sure you have the right dosage for their levels of parasites.

 

[RachhFloynter]

Thankyou ! I appreciate it. I've also recently found out that giving them carrot causes them to have really smelly poo & I always give them carrot so I'm gonna try giving them something different to see if that's the problem

 

[w0554096]

This is a great feeding chart:
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html