beardie rarely poops very worried! help?!

[dracothebeardie]

Hello everyone! So i have a male beardie named draco and he is a little bit over a year old. To give you guys some background info (since i made a new account) draco lives in a 40 gallon long breeder tank. I use a 100 watt heat lamp on his basking spot which normally gets anywhere from 95-110 temp. Across the whole length of the tank i have a reptisun desert uvb bulb and his cool side remains about 80-85 degrees. His substrate has never been sand and has always been either reptile carpet or paper towels. His diet consists primarily of crickets but also greens such as dandelion,kale occasionally,escarole,spinach greens, collard,mustard greens etc.. and as a treat every now and then some strawberries and or melon.
SOOO for the past few months i have noticed that he has not been pooping regularly. At the moment its been almost a month since he last deficated And im getting very worried. I give him baths every 2 days and when i rub his belly i dont feel a hard bump or anything. He is sleeping only at night and eating normally. He is very active (no signs of lethargy or in-hiding) always basking and generallt very healthym but idk what to do about this problem. Im worried it could be somethin serious. He prolapsed about a year ago because of parasites and i brought him to a vet for proper care and he was given medicine to remove the parasites and i tested the poop a month later and he is clean. Last time he had this problem of not pooping i fed him gerbers stage one squash baby food with a drop of olive oil and it made him go instantly. But i dont want to have to feed him that all the time to make him go. He should be going regularly. Thank you and please if you have ant advice or info all help is greatly appreciated. PLEASE COMMENT

 

[Tonja]

Is your reptisun uvb tube the 5.0 or the 10.0. You need the reptisun 10.0 mounted inside his tank so he can get within 6-8 inches from it. I use heavy duty Velcro and mounted mine in both tanks and never had the light fall or get dislodged. If you are not using the correct uvb for your beardie, it can cause eye problems, lethargy, and digestive problems. It can also stop the proper absorption of calcium and him making d3 which can in turn lead to metabolic bone disease. His problems going potty could be stemming from the wrong UVB.

 

[dracothebeardie]

I have a long reptisun desert 10.0 uvb because i read thats the best one to use. I replace it every 6 months and ive been using the same one for quite some time now and havent had problems with it up until now:/ and draco has branches that allow him to get at least 6 inches from the light source

 

[Tonja]

I would try and up his baths to 3-4 a week for up to 20 mins at a time, make the water a little warmer than normal but not so hot it burns him and see if that helps any. I would message Drache613 and ask her also about it as she is very knowledgeable in beardie health.

 

[dracothebeardie]

Okay i will and thank yoy so much for replying! One more question. Does it matter if my uvb bulb is mounting on top of tank or in tank?? Cuz its currently mounted inside the tank on the glass. I read that if you put the fixture on top and let it sit on the wire netting of the tank then not enough uvb gets to the beardie because of the netting. But now i am considering buying a hood fixture for my uvb because maybe that would help? Im desperate to try anything at this point

 

[Lisaz]

My beardie also rarely poops. In fact, she has gone over a month without pooping. I took her to the vet the first time this happened in October, and she had pinworms. Peep was treated and then retested. The second test came back negative. She continues to poop very rarely. I have tried baby food, a stool softener I received at the vet, olive oil and lots and lots of warm baths with tummy rubs. Nothing helps! Peep tried to brumate, but I woke her every couple days to bathe her. She seems to have finished the attempted brumation and is eating more, but still not pooping regularly. I wonder if it could just be normal for our beardies.