Krypton
Member
My beardie is 6 months old and I've had him for 4 of those months. When I got him, he was really stressed out to the point where he wouldn't open his eyes and was hardly eating. Since then, he has improved greatly. He has gained weight and is growing like a weed - he's currently 14 inches long (he's half beardie/half rankins). He has been eating lots of crickets every day and a little bit of salad and fruit now and then (when he feels like eating it). He is very active once he gets warmed up, poops, and decides he wants to go somewhere. He can run around for hours. And he doesn't get 'stress marks' as much as he used to, usually sports a nice, white belly. So he seems very healthy to me. However, from what I've been reading, his poops aren't normal (or so I'm assuming). I'll do my best to describe his poop so that maybe someone can tell me if, in fact, they might be more normal than I thought (and help me relax a little). *Just a note - he seems comfortable when pooping - no signs of pain or trouble pooping.
When Riley poops, he poops the solid part and then immediately after some liquid comes out with it (watery looking - can be a clear to slightly orange-yellow-beige color). It used to be that just a few drops of this would come out with his poo, but now it's so much that he's got a little puddle around his poop (about the size of a nickel or quarter). The poop itself appears to be a brown color, pretty moist, and solid (in a little 'log'), with the normal white part (although, sometimes this has a little bit of an orangeish tint to it - dunno if it's from the liquid that comes out with it). If he poops in water, the poop easily comes apart and I can see little poop flakes floating around (I would guess this is normal?). There are numerous occasions (but not all the time) where a green 'mucus' or a 'coat' appears on it - sometimes in little sections, like there will be one section on each end, and one in the middle, but I can see brown in-between them. His poop is oftentimes smelly, which I hear can be pretty normal. His cage is in my small bedroom, where I keep the door closed. Sometimes his poop can be so smelly that I can smell it as soon as I open the door to my room or walk over to his cage. When I pick up his poop, I don't seem to see anything unusual in it, such as worms or parasites - any that could be seen with the naked eye anyway.
He does eat green veggies. This might be the cause of the green 'bands' in his poop. As for the puddles, I don't know if maybe he's super-hydrated and he's just getting rid of excess water...since beardies don't really pee? As gross as it is, if this is how his normal poop smells and looks - that's fine with me. I'd rather put up with it and know he's healthy than to fear something is wrong with him!
Any ideas on what might be going on with him (whether normal or not) would be greatly appreciated. He has not had a fecal, but I might end up having to do that if his case seems serious enough. The vet is an hour away and it'd cost about $200 just to have the exam, fecal, and a re-checkup on him. So I'm waiting to see what you all think first.
When Riley poops, he poops the solid part and then immediately after some liquid comes out with it (watery looking - can be a clear to slightly orange-yellow-beige color). It used to be that just a few drops of this would come out with his poo, but now it's so much that he's got a little puddle around his poop (about the size of a nickel or quarter). The poop itself appears to be a brown color, pretty moist, and solid (in a little 'log'), with the normal white part (although, sometimes this has a little bit of an orangeish tint to it - dunno if it's from the liquid that comes out with it). If he poops in water, the poop easily comes apart and I can see little poop flakes floating around (I would guess this is normal?). There are numerous occasions (but not all the time) where a green 'mucus' or a 'coat' appears on it - sometimes in little sections, like there will be one section on each end, and one in the middle, but I can see brown in-between them. His poop is oftentimes smelly, which I hear can be pretty normal. His cage is in my small bedroom, where I keep the door closed. Sometimes his poop can be so smelly that I can smell it as soon as I open the door to my room or walk over to his cage. When I pick up his poop, I don't seem to see anything unusual in it, such as worms or parasites - any that could be seen with the naked eye anyway.
He does eat green veggies. This might be the cause of the green 'bands' in his poop. As for the puddles, I don't know if maybe he's super-hydrated and he's just getting rid of excess water...since beardies don't really pee? As gross as it is, if this is how his normal poop smells and looks - that's fine with me. I'd rather put up with it and know he's healthy than to fear something is wrong with him!
Any ideas on what might be going on with him (whether normal or not) would be greatly appreciated. He has not had a fecal, but I might end up having to do that if his case seems serious enough. The vet is an hour away and it'd cost about $200 just to have the exam, fecal, and a re-checkup on him. So I'm waiting to see what you all think first.
) and seems healthy, so if you guys think his poo sounds normal, I'll just continue putting up with his very stinky poo piles and consider it his normal until I notice something different. Thanks so much! Eventually I want to get him to a vet for routine + fecal exams, but I'd like to do it when he's a little older.
