Diarrhea - looking for some help in determining the cause?

[umbrezon]

Hello all!
I recently adopted my Bearded Dragon on the 28th of November, and I'm looking for some advice in regards to his health. For the first couple of days, his stool was a normal log, but it gradually progressed into completely running, unformed diarrhea. I took him to a vet who said that he had pinworms, and he finished the Panacur today. He is still having runny diarrhea, and I wanted to see if it can take a bit of time for the poops to become normal? He also has had stress marks since I brought him home. The poops have also been generally undigested.

I also wanted to see if it possibly had something to do with his diet or lighting, which I have tried to work on. I found that the bulb he had was too hot and swapped to a 75W, and now his basking temps are 105-108. His cool side is around 75-80. He is in a 40-gallon tank at the moment, which I know isn't ideal, but his new 120-gallon tank should be coming around Christmas. I have a ReptiSun T5 hood (this is all I know... it came with him when I adopted him along with the tank and other lighting).

I am feeding him greens daily, either mustard greens, collard greens, or turnip greens, with some kind of vegetable (squashes, bell pepper, sweet potato, and rotating between them). Dubia roaches 3 times a week and a superworm 1-2 times a week.

Any help would be greatly appreciated - I am worried about him between the stress marks and diarrhea. I can provide pictures as well!

 

[xp29]

The stress marks are normal with new environments, also a lot of the time meds will stress them, not feeling good (the parasites) ect. That should sort itself out. The diarrhea should clear up in a few days, if it doesn't clear up after a week or so maybe collect a sample to drop off at the vet to have it retested.

 

[KarrieRee]

Hello all!
I recently adopted my Bearded Dragon on the 28th of November, and I'm looking for some advice in regards to his health. For the first couple of days, his stool was a normal log, but it gradually progressed into completely running, unformed diarrhea. I took him to a vet who said that he had pinworms, and he finished the Panacur today. He is still having runny diarrhea, and I wanted to see if it can take a bit of time for the poops to become normal? He also has had stress marks since I brought him home. The poops have also been generally undigested.

I also wanted to see if it possibly had something to do with his diet or lighting, which I have tried to work on. I found that the bulb he had was too hot and swapped to a 75W, and now his basking temps are 105-108. His cool side is around 75-80. He is in a 40-gallon tank at the moment, which I know isn't ideal, but his new 120-gallon tank should be coming around Christmas. I have a ReptiSun T5 hood (this is all I know... it came with him when I adopted him along with the tank and other lighting).

I am feeding him greens daily, either mustard greens, collard greens, or turnip greens, with some kind of vegetable (squashes, bell pepper, sweet potato, and rotating between them). Dubia roaches 3 times a week and a superworm 1-2 times a week.

Any help would be greatly appreciated - I am worried about him between the stress marks and diarrhea. I can provide pictures as well!

How old is the dragon? Where is your uvb? Top of screen or inside? The screen determines distance and placement- once this is determined and corrected if needed then the poops should straighten out along w/ time of the meds coming out of his system - the undigested poops meaning the insects ?

 

[umbrezon]

How old is the dragon? Where is your uvb? Top of screen or inside? The screen determines distance and placement- once this is determined and corrected if needed then the poops should straighten out along w/ time of the meds coming out of his system - the undigested poops meaning the insects ?

He is approximately somewhere between 3-4 years old. My UVB is on a screen on the top of a tank - I wasn't sure how to place the UVB inside the screen without it being too bulky in a 40-gallon/worrying about him being able to climb on it. The undigested poops at first had a superworm - now I am just seeing greens that appear undigested or pieces of the vegetables I've given him (I use a potato peeler). The dubia roaches appear to be digested to me and I haven't seen any in his poop so far. It's mostly very runny and unformed, I can provide a photo I took of one the other day that I showed to the vet. His poop today was very very watery/runny.

Thank you both for your responses!

 

[umbrezon]

I'll add on as well that I gave him a couple baths this week so far as I was worried about the diarrhea and that he may be getting dehydrated - but maybe I've possibly overhydrated him and made it worse? He doesn't have a water bowl in the tank right now as the humidity was getting too high with it, but I drip/wash his greens and vegetables.

 

[KarrieRee]

He is approximately somewhere between 3-4 years old. My UVB is on a screen on the top of a tank - I wasn't sure how to place the UVB inside the screen without it being too bulky in a 40-gallon/worrying about him being able to climb on it. The undigested poops at first had a superworm - now I am just seeing greens that appear undigested or pieces of the vegetables I've given him (I use a potato peeler). The dubia roaches appear to be digested to me and I haven't seen any in his poop so far. It's mostly very runny and unformed, I can provide a photo I took of one the other day that I showed to the vet. His poop today was very very watery/runny.

Thank you both for your responses!

Ok I would get the uvb in the tank 12-15 inches directly above the basking decor - his surface basking temps should be 95-100 taken w/ a digital probe thermometer- I would cut the squash out for now see if that firms up to poop- this is the first I have heard of undigested veggies usually it's the insects

 

[umbrezon]

Ok I would get the uvb in the tank 12-15 inches directly above the basking decor - his surface basking temps should be 95-100 taken w/ a digital probe thermometer- I would cut the squash out for now see if that firms up to poop- this is the first I have heard of undigested veggies usually it's the insects

Okay, I'll cut down on the squash for a bit as well! Do you have any recommendations for hanging the UVB inside the tank? I have something that looks like this https://www.amazon.com/DBDPet-Repti...mzn1.fos.006c50ae-5d4c-4777-9bc0-4513d670b6bc so I'm unsure how to go about putting this inside the tank since its so bulky (I have a 36 inch).

 

[KarrieRee]

Okay, I'll cut down on the squash for a bit as well! Do you have any recommendations for hanging the UVB inside the tank? I have something that looks like this https://www.amazon.com/DBDPet-Reptisun-Hood-UV-B-Bulb/dp/B08P2D3GKK/ref=sr_1_8?crid=2H2O5GWDAOD1M&keywords=Zoo+Med+ReptiSun+T5+36+inch&qid=1671157718&sprefix=zoo+med+reptisun+t5+36+inch,aps,87&sr=8-8&ufe=app_do:amzn1.fos.006c50ae-5d4c-4777-9bc0-4513d670b6bc so I'm unsure how to go about putting this inside the tank since its so bulky (I have a 36 inch).

Can you pull the screen forward so it sits along the back unobstructed - take screen off all together - you can try picture wire hangers-or long plastic zip ties-or 3m Velcro fasteners -

 

[hdochow]

i see you mentioned baths and over hydration. dragons only get hydrated by baths if they actually drink from them. too many can cause problems with their scales. we usually only give sir henry baths when he decides to make a mess of himself, either through drinking liquid vitamins/calcium in tart cherry juice, or running through his poop. our max would be once a week, it is usually less than that.

 

[umbrezon]

Can you pull the screen forward so it sits along the back unobstructed - take screen off all together - you can try picture wire hangers-or long plastic zip ties-or 3m Velcro fasteners -

I did this this morning - thank you! We will see if it helps - he had a lot of stress marks this morning on his stomach and beard I'm going to try and stop bothering him for now to see if he needs some space.

i see you mentioned baths and over hydration. dragons only get hydrated by baths if they actually drink from them. too many can cause problems with their scales. we usually only give sir henry baths when he decides to make a mess of himself, either through drinking liquid vitamins/calcium in tart cherry juice, or running through his poop. our max would be once a week, it is usually less than that.

Okay! I'll stop giving so many baths - I'm mostly worried about him getting dehydrated from such runny poops

Again, I appreciate the responses guys! I'm just super worried about him - the stress marks and diarrhea are really concerning for me Here's a photo of his stress marks right now and his tank (I put up the paper along the walls yesterday as he could see his reflection in the sides and I thought maybe that was causing extra stress. I haven't figured out how to hang the hammock with the paper yet).

I'm also traveling for 5 days next week and he has to go with me, so I am super worried that that will make things a lot worse.

 

[KarrieRee]

I did this this morning - thank you! We will see if it helps - he had a lot of stress marks this morning on his stomach and beard I'm going to try and stop bothering him for now to see if he needs some space.

Okay! I'll stop giving so many baths - I'm mostly worried about him getting dehydrated from such runny poops

Again, I appreciate the responses guys! I'm just super worried about him - the stress marks and diarrhea are really concerning for me Here's a photo of his stress marks right now and his tank (I put up the paper along the walls yesterday as he could see his reflection in the sides and I thought maybe that was causing extra stress. I haven't figured out how to hang the hammock with the paper yet).

I'm also traveling for 5 days next week and he has to go with me, so I am super worried that that will make things a lot worse.
View attachment 76096
View attachment 76097 your getting surface basking temps how? I don't see any temp gauges in the tank or a digital probe hygrometer

 

[umbrezon]

I have a temperature gun and the thing on top of the hide box towards the cold side is a temperature/humidity gauge (it is around 80 degrees there and 34% humidity). I move it throughout the day to check the temperatures of parts of the tank/the humidity.

 

[umbrezon]

I should add - I do also have a probe thermometer but I had a hard time using it as it didn't stick to anything and would frequently fall. He would also keep going after the probe like it was a worm or something haha

 

[AHBD]

It's possible that he wasn't fed greens in the past so they might be the source of the runny poo. Can you take a pic next time he poos ?

 

[umbrezon]

Sure! Here's a photo of his poo the other day (I apologize in advance for the grossness).