bowel movement question

[stangbanger]

ok last year both of my beardies would eat a whole bowl of greens daily, and they had a bowel movement daily or every other day - never missed

after they brumated this winter and i moved into a new house, they have both been acting differently.....they dont eat as many greens as they used to, and i switched them off crickets to roaches and supers (they arent getting as many live feeders as they used to since my colony isnt fully established yet)....i provide plenty of greens, but less live feeders

now they eat their greens every 2-3 days, and only get like 10 roaches per week and maybe 10 supers......they only poop by themselves every 2 weeks, but will go sooner if i force them (put them in a bath and fill it up so they have to swim)

both seem in great health, get around just fine, not lethargic, legs all work fine......perfectly happy and healthy dragons

just wondering why they arent eating their greens as much, and why they went from daily bowel movements to every couple week bowel movements


theyre both in 4x2x20" cages, 100-105 basking spot, low 90s hot, and low 80s cool side.....full size house vent on each side of enclosure

the thing is, theyre not losing weight or anything, even though theyre not eating as much....heck, my older one's belly is almost touching the ground....dont have a scale, but last time i had her weighed she was 500g and shes about 18"

roxy - 6yr old, 500g, 18"

tippy - 11mo old, ? grams, 18"

 

[Terrbear903]

Wow I thought my dragon fat! Now that's a happy tummy! I can only speak my humble experience, my dragons went through a phase where I could not get them to eat greens at all. I just kept offering the greens then one day they just started eating their greens again. Maybe they feel like I had greens for months I wabt something different for a while. Then later they think I haven't had greens in a while I think I like him again. Anyway, in all seriousness I think they might be just going through a phase. As for pooping every 2 weeks, it does seem to me a little long. I could be wrong I am no expert but my beardies go at least once a week. I don't know how old your dragons are but my dragons went down to about 97 degrees on the basking spot once they were about a year old. I also think that humidity plays a role with the temperature in where they're comfortable.

 

[stangbanger]

ill try to get something new next time i buy them food.....wish i could get squash this time of year

i know kale isnt a good staple, but maybe ill feed it to them for a week or something to get them something different tasting....and ill start adding some different fruits and stuff again, ive gotten lazy about that and just been giving greens

 

[Terrbear903]

I don't know why but mine have never eaten fruit no matter how hard I tried. For veggie variety I did carrot greens, celery greens, and dandilion greens. Now at first I picked dandelion greens out of my own yard. I don't know if it came from the yard or from the crickets but the next thing my beardie came up with was parasites. So now the only dandelion greens I give them I get from the grocery store! Of course I am very careful to wash the greens extremely well. If I can't buy squash from the grocery store I buy the baby food squash. Also, my bearded dragons like pumpkin from a can. Watch the carrots and the pumpkin or anything like that because it needs to be given sparingly because it can bind calcium. The beautiful dragons website has a lot of information on bearded dragon nutrition and vegetable variety.

 

[Terrbear903]

Oops! I just miss stated. It doesn't bind the calcium. Too much vitamin A can become toxic. Sorry bout that. Anyway the beautiful dragon website has the best nutrition information I've ever read.

 

[stangbanger]

maybe their appetite is just falling off since theyre both healthier? last fall my little one was a baby, and my older one was being nursed back to health