Beardie has diarrhea; Powersun question.

[tillywally]

Hello,

My 5 month old bearded dragon started having diarrhea when I fed her mealworms for a week in her salad. I didn't know that they are for treat purposes only and fed them to her everyday. She went from to pooping everyday to every other now and now that I stopped feeding them to her, it's becoming a little more solid than before. I've been giving her baths to help with pooping. She hasn't acted any differently and is eating regularly. Should I get a fecal done just to make sure or should I wait and see if it will become more solid? Also my other beardie is on the Powersun light (I just read the discussions in the forum) and I wanted to make sure if these were the correct symptoms of the light being bad:
she does closes her eyes but not for long periods of time and she used to hide during the day from it (when I first got her I thought it was because she wasn't used to her new home) now she doesn't hide until it's bedtime... I'm going to buy another brand tomorrow but I wanted to make sure that this is what the light causes and should I stay away from the UV for a week as well? Any feedback would be great! Thanks!

Ash

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

Hello Ash,

Yes, some of the PowerSun's have been causing health issues with beardies. Closing the eyes and hiding would definitley be signs something could be wrong with the UVB light! Go ahead and stop using the PowerSun. If it is only going to be a week until you get a different UVB, your beardie will be fine without it til then.

As for the mealworms, it would be best to just stay away from them all together(not even as a treat). They have a hard chitin(outer shell) that is very hard for small beardies to digest, which could lead to impaction. This could be reason for your beardie not pooping...I don't think it has anything to do with the diarrhea. Diarrhea can be caused by too much fruit or even lettuce, which is mostly water. If the diarrhea has a strong odor it could possibly be parasites. Taking your beardie in for a fecal sample would be your best bet...to rule out any parasites!

Have you gone over your set ups with anyone on here...too make sure everything is up to par?

Dawn

 

[tillywally]

Hello Dawn,

Thanks for your reply. I will get a fecal done on her as soon as she passes again and get rid of the mealworms. Are waxworms are okay right? I do feed her a lot of salad (everyday) and she does love it. I'll probably cut back on that as well... maybe to every other day?

I haven't! I have a 30 gallon set up for my 5 month old (I'm getting a new tank this weekend at a reptile show). For that tank, I have a Zoo Med 100w basking light and a Reptisun 5.0 tube light on each end. For my 3 month old, I have a 20 gallon (going to move her to the 30) with the Powersun 100w but I just changed that and put a Zoo Med 100w basking light.

Thanks!

Ash