big poop

[merc]

My dragon does not poop for several days. Then when it does it looks like it has a hard time passing her stool.
Her poop is huge.
I am not sure if this is caused by her not going often enough or does she need a different diet?
She is 2 years old and 16 1/4 " long.
thanks

 

[KairaandTaz08]

Can you give us a bit more information? It will help us to figure out what's going on more quickly.
I would assume that her bowel movements are larger because what goes in must come out eventually . But, what are her temps? How are you measuring them? What does her diet consist of? What brand and type of UVB are you using?
Sorry for all of the questions.
Abi

 

[peera]

And what kind of substrate is she on?

 

[merc]

okey dokey..here is the deal:
Rocky is in a 40 gallon reptile tank with slate tiles for a floor. She has a hammock on the hot side of the tank
and a fake rock (that is also a cave)a little lower than that.
Temps are around 105 on the hammock, 100 on the fake rock. it is 90 on the floor in the center, and 79 on the far right. All temps are measured using probes on wires except the center one, which is measured with a dial type thermometer.
Lighting and heat is provided by a red heat spot light on the left, a sunglo spot light in the center, and a house bulb on the right. I also have a flouresent repti sun 10.0 uvb light. You can see the attached picture for distances and a better understanding of the set up.
Rock is a 2 years old female that is 16.25 inches long and weighs 500 grams.
She eats crickets, meal worms, meal worm larvae, and beetles. She eats kale, collard greens and sometimes little strips of carrots mixed in her salads. We put calcium powder on her crickets 5 days, vitamin powder 1 day and plain 1 day to make up her weekly supplements.
She baths a couple of times each week and is well hydrated. (some of her poops have water like shepeed.

 

[KairaandTaz08]

No mealworms. Switch to superworms (they bite, so I'd cut off their pinchers/smash their heads). My guess is it's the mealworms that are causing this. They have WAY too much chitin and aren't very nutritional. So, please don't give her anymore. They are known to cause impaction, which she might be experiencing a slight case every few days, hence the big poops and irregular bowel movements.
My two aren't adults, but I think the calcium dusting needs to be cut back at her age. Check out this site for nutrition info:
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html
Does she have a tail nip? 16.25" is pretty small for an adult beardie, good weight though. Kaira is just 6 months old and already 16" with a small tail nip, Taz is 4 months old and 15" (though I believe he has some GG in him). It seems like she's a bit small, though.
I recommend getting a ReptiSun 10.0 that stretches the entire length of the cage, also. How old is it? A 40 gallon is the bare minimum for an adult beardie. I have my 6 month old in a 75 gallon, so you may want to upgrade her tank.
Why are you having to use all of those light bulbs for a 40 gallon? The digital thermometers are good (I don't know that brand, but probes are the best ), but I don't understand why you would need 3 bulbs to get her temps correct. Also, move one of the other bulbs to her basking spot. She needs a bright white bulb for basking...I don't recommend red/black/blue bulbs at all.
The dial thermometer really isn't doing much. They just don't give an accurate reading. You can keep it there, I just wouldn't trust it.
Hope that helped...I'd really get rid of the mealworms to start with, though.
Abi

 

[merc]

thanks for trying to help.
Yea, Rocky is on the small side of the dragon's growth length. But she does not have a yail nip and is very active.
She has been on a varied diet of meal worms, supers, horn worms, wax worms and silk worms, crickets, morphed worms that look like little aliens and beetles for the last year. She gets spinich, kale collards, carrots, apples, apple sauce and likes it all.
According to the recommended calcium/supplement charts she gets the recommended 5 -6 times a week dustings. So I really do not want to cut this back yet.
She has never had a problem pooping until the last 2 times. So it is hard to attribute anything in peticular to the extra large feces.
I was just hoping that someone else that may have experienced the same thing could have shared their experience.
thanks

 

[peera]

Sorry I can't help, but I thought I'd let you know spinich is one of those questionable foods that probably aren't good for beardies, so you might want to refrain from giving it to her in the future. And is the applesauce you're giving her organic and sugar free? The tiny amount of pesticides and junk in regular applesauce won't hurt a person, but it builds up in their little systems very quickly.

 

[KairaandTaz08]

thanks for trying to help.
Yea, Rocky is on the small side of the dragon's growth length. But she does not have a yail nip and is very active.
She has been on a varied diet of meal worms, supers, horn worms, wax worms and silk worms, crickets, morphed worms that look like little aliens and beetles for the last year. She gets spinich, kale collards, carrots, apples, apple sauce and likes it all.
According to the recommended calcium/supplement charts she gets the recommended 5 -6 times a week dustings. So I really do not want to cut this back yet.
She has never had a problem pooping until the last 2 times. So it is hard to attribute anything in peticular to the extra large feces.
I was just hoping that someone else that may have experienced the same thing could have shared their experience.
thanks

Oh, I hope you didn't take my post the wrong way. I just have to go over the basics in order to try and help. I do have quite a bit of experience, though. As I said, Kaira has had some digestive problems lately, and although I'm still learning things, I do know a lot about beardies.
We all have our own way of doing things and our own view on things. All I can do is offer my personal advice and experiences (though, I may not have an older beardie, so I guess I shouldn't have shared my experience in this case). Sorry.
I would listen to peera , though, as they sound a bit more experienced with everything...besides the big poop.
Abi

 

[merc]

no no-I did not take it wrong. I really do appreciate your input and suggestions.
Any answers or advice I can give can only come from my personal experience or from what I read.
When I go thru anything with Rocky I ask if others have gone thru the same thing and what they did if anything.
This is the only way we are going to be able to help and learn from each other.
Your response made me double check a few things. So it was definately useful.
KEEP IT UP.
Thanks.

 

[KairaandTaz08]

Oh, I'm so glad to hear that and am so sorry that I got lippy with my last post. I did take it the wrong way in a sense.
I completely understand, we all learn from one another and I haven't experienced everything or read everything out there. I think a lot of times communicating via internet that wording can be chosen to make it sound as if we are being rude. There's no "tone" involved. I think in my case, it may have seemed like I was saying you HAVE to do this or that, which is not what I meant whatsoever. I know that I stated things in a way that sounded like "I knew it all.", which is definitely not the case. I get in a hurry at times, want to help, but don't take the time to make sure that everything I type is coming across as "helpful", so it sounds more so like I'm telling someone what the have to do, can't do, etc.
It truly is the only way we can learn from each other, share experiences, and help one another. I post questions about my two babies a lot. Especially because they have had parasites (Taz still does) and Kaira has had a lot of digestive issues and I should have said that I've gone through this with her too, before everything else.
And there are just those highly debated things...substrate, mealworms I think were a big one here (sorry about that, that’s a personal decision), etc.
I’m glad that some of what I said was useful, but I apologize for responding the way I did. :?
Abi