Beardie's poop is slowly becoming liquid

[supras4lyfe]

Over the past couple months my bearded dragons poop has slowly become more liquidy as to the point of yesterday it was mostly whire with a few drops of yellow water. He still eats tons and is very excited to do so, i coat most of the crickets. I feed him only crickets and romain lettuce at the moment. Crickets are fed romaine lettuce in 25 gallon tank. Also i feed the dragon in a seperate container.

I have a 3 hour drive to vet so im wondering if a fecal is necessary at this point of if there are things i can change.Thanks for any advice

How old is your dragon? 5 months(13 inches)
How long have you had your dragon? 5 months
How long is your dragon? 13 inches
What is the sex of your dragon? Male
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in? 55 gallon
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank? calci sand
Do you use UVB lights? yes
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb? florecent
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)? Exo-terra repti-glo 10.b
How old is your UVB bulb? 5months
How close can your dragon get to the UVB? 6inches
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? 100 watts exo terra inrared
What are the basking temps? 105
What is the cool side temp? 80
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun? stick thermometer
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps? top of branch where he lies
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad? no
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific. crickets that were fed potatoe slices, only enough for what they eat so they wont mold, romaine lettuce. Dragon gets only crickets 1/2" and romaine lettuce as staple, sometimes carrots, sweet potatoe, pees,green beans.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)? twice a day, afternoon and evening
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc? with romaine lettuce
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them? t-rex bone aid, t-rex 2:0,I usually dust every second day.
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)? It was everyday now its about 1 or 2 days it varies
Do you bath your dragon? How often? not often
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath? i mist once a week
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon? nope
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done? nope

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Your setup needs just a few changes.
The main reason that his stool is more watery is that you are feeding romaine lettuce, instead of darker greens. Try using mustard or collard greens, instead of romaine. Carrots are ok, but only a few days a week. The peas & green beans & apples a few times per week are fine. For a more comprehensive feeding chart check out beautifuldragons.com & click on the nutritional area.
The substrate, calcisand, is not one I would recommend. It contributes to impactions too often & harbors bacteria as well. I would try non adhesive shelf liner, reptile carpet, or paper towels for now.
The Reptiglo 10 flourescent tube bulb is way too close. Unfortunately it is not the best light, as it does emit low wavelength UVB which is close to UVC. The quality of UVB is not very good either, & there is not enough UVA as well. IF you are going to keep it right now, you are going to need to move it to 10 inches from him, for safety. Also, make sure that your basking light is a bright white light & is placed directly next to the UVB light for eye protection.
I normally recommend the Reptisun 10 flourescent tube bulb, they are the best you can get in the US. If you live in the UK, you can get the Arcadia D3 12% flourescent tube bulb. Actually, it is about time for you to get a new UVB light anyway, they need to be replaced at 6 months so now would be a good time to replace it.
The stick thermometers are not real accurate really. Are you talking about the stick on types? The best thermometers are either the digital probe or a temp gun.
You will need to dust with plain calcium 5 times per week, since he is still growing. Vitamins can be used 2 times per week. The bone aid, is that pure calcium?
I think that if you change the greens staple to mustard or collard greens from the romaine, that you should see a huge improvement in the stools.

Tracie

 

[supras4lyfe]

Ok thanks alot, The boneaid is pure calcium, the other one is calcium with vitamins. I moved the tube light about 11 inches from his basking spot now. The guy at the pet store (he has 5 beardies) told me to buy the infrared light and leave it on all day and all night(but i read dirrerent things) Ive been doing so but my dragon likes to sleep on that side at night and my tank is 48"long both sides are pretty much the same except for temps. Any advice there would help. Ill grab some dark greens in the morning from the store, so i would assume to start feeding crickets the darks as well? Do beardies like to get to hot if they are able to, if i have a stick that goes all the way to the heat lamp will he stay there even if its hurting him? mine likes to get as close as possible sometimes.

Thanks again!
-Dave

 

[Drache613]

Hello Dave,

Great the bone aid is fine then. The calcium with vitamins only needs to be given once a week, or cut down another day of pure calcium & do 2 times per week with the calcium & vitamins. You don't want to overdo it on vitamins & calcium.
The infrared lights are not near bright enough to be used as their basking lights. The best basking lights are either a household lightbulb or a halogen light which I prefer because they are so bright. Do not use any infrared lights at night either as they can see that spectrum & it can disturb their sleeping.
So are you using an infrared light for basking? They should not be allowed to get any closer than 6 inches from the basking light though. You don't want him to suffer a thermal burn.
Yes you can feed the darker greens to your crickets as well, no problem.

Tracie