Digestion

[rafa2k]

I've noticed lately that Zeus is not digesting his food properly. His fecal matter looks more like crushed roaches than anything else. I took him off roaches yesterday and gave him phoenix worms. This morning there were live worms still moving around in his stool. Am I feeding too much? Or is there possibly another issue that I need to take him to the vet for?

I feed him as much as he'll eat in 15mins. As soon as he's too lazy to chase food down, I stop adding new prey or remove it if he goes back to basking.

His basking temp is 107F and cool side is 87F. Using Reptisun 10.0 UVB bulb 36" that is 4 months old. Heat bulb is 100watt zoo med basking bulb that is a month old. He's a rescue so I don't know his exact age but he's roughly 1 yo. Does not eat veggies well at all.

 

[Mirandor]

I don't know about the roaches, but I know with the phoenix worms since they're so small and beardies love them so much, they sometimes eat them so fast that they don't chew so they don't get digested. A remedy to this is to poke holes in the worms so whether they chew them or not, their intestinal digesty juices can still get into them and they'll get digested. You can also try giving them to him only one at a time so he eats them not as fast and it'll make him realize he needs to stop and chew. Hope this helps a bit!

 

[kcarello]

Is he spending time in his basking spot..usually its due to the basking temp not being hot enough, or them not basking.

 

[w0554096]

You could try replacing your UVB bulb. Sometimes they lose their output before that 6 month mark, and sometimes the bulb can be faulty. Also is your bulb mounted inside the tank?
Are you able to get him outsdie for some real sunlight?

Has he had a fecal done recently?

 

[rafa2k]

Zeus' BMs have gone back to normal. He went through a pretty big shed this week so I'm wondering if that had something to do with it. This is the first big shed he's gone through since I've had him. I tried contacting the previous owner to see if it was normal for him but haven't received a reply yet.

To answer your questions though, yes the UVB is mounted inside. He does get natural sunlight every other day but recently it's been gloomy here and raining the past 3 days. Hopefully it will clear up this weekend and he can go out again.

Thanks guys for all your replies.

 

[kcarello]

Glad he is doing better!

 

[rafa2k]

yes Kcarello he is spending most of the time in his basking spot. His BS is 107F throughout the day and 104F in the mornings.

and thanks

 

[w0554096]

Good to hear.