Discolored urate and infrequent pooping?

[Pasakaina]

Lately my beardies haven't been pooping daily. I only see poop about twice to three times a week if I don't bathe them (I've been bathing them every day now that they aren't really pooping on their own). The poop is normal though. It's solid, and it doesn't reak (but I can't say that it doesn't smell bad though! But that's the way poop is). The temps in the tank are fine, with hot side temps at 100-110f and 85-90f on the cool side. The only things that I think could be causing this pooping infrequency are that 1: there's no temp gradient at night (I was worried that if I turned the heat lamps off it would become too cold); and 2: parasites (this is unlikely though because they are showing no other symptoms of parasites and I got a fecal in September and it came out negative for parasites).

As for the discolored urates, I've noticed lately that their urates have become pinkish. I read somewhere that that's a symptom of either too much calcium or too little? I might be wrong, though. I case you're wondering , the beardies get calcium dusting every other day w/ multivitamin and probiotics twice a week, even though for the past few weeks I've been giving them probiotics more often to help with digestion.

 

[Taterbug]

I've got a few questions for you.
How old are your dragons?
What are you feeding and how often? Less food will mean less poops. Sometimes some foods can discolor wastes.
Are the urates hard?
It sounds like they live together, do you have a good way of knowing who is pooping for sure? And who's poop is who's?
What is your UVB and it's age?

Another thing to consider is that they may be dehydrated. Will they take water dripped or spritzed on their noses or do they drink in the bath? Baths alone may not be enough for them.

How cold is your home at night? They can easily go down to 65 or so with no problem. A drop at night can be good for them, but not sure would stop them up. Are you leaving the bulbs on all night?

 

[Pasakaina]

Q #1: My beardies are approximately 1.5 years old.
Q #2: I feed them mealworms every day, about 20-25 for each lizard. I understand that mealworms aren't recommended, but my beardies have been eating them their whole lives with no problems. They get spring mix salad every day, each getting 6-8 salad leaves. They eat blueberries and/or strawberries twice a week or so, with carrots about once a week.
Q #3: It depends. Some days they're hard, others they are softer and kind of fall apart.
Q #4: My beardies don't live together.
Q #5: My UVB bulbs are almost 6 months old, and I'm planning to replace them by April.
Q #6: One of my beardies drinks A LOT during bathes. He can easily drink for 5 minutes without stopping during a bath! The other beardie doesn't usually drink during bathes, even though he seems hydrated enough from the food he eats. As for water spritzed I have found a way to pry their mouths open and spray water into them with a dropper, even though it's a hassle.
Q #7: My home is usually about 74 or so at night.


P.S. I understand that when beardies are the age mine are, they should be getting 80% greens and 20% proteins in their diet. I haven't switched to that yet because I was afraid to interfere with their already frail appetites during brumation, but I'll begin doing the needed diet by April.

 

[Tonja]

Beardies that old should be getting 80% salad/greens and 20% protein. I would cut back on the mealworms or cut them out totally and go with superworms. As babies they need 80% protein and 20% greens. So its flipped at about a year. They need less protein the older they get.

 

[Pasakaina]

Tonja, I'm aware of this. The reason they're still getting 80 percent protein etc is bc the time when I had to switch was in the winter, during brumation season. I figured that I shouldn't change their diet to 80 percent veggies when they where barely eating ANY veggies! I'm planning to switch to their correct diet by April as. I said before.

 

[Taterbug]

It doesn't sound like anything is glaringly wrong, someone else might catch something. You could have another fecal run, but as they get older they slow down and poop less frequently.

The diet switch probably won't go smoothly from one to the other, regardless of when you do it. Do you give salads in the morning and live prey in the afternoon?

 

[Pasakaina]

I give them both salads and mealworms in the evening. But if you are suggesting that I should give them salad in the morning when they're hungrier, that's a good idea! I actually had a similar idea, and I am going to begin doing that very soon.

 

[Pasakaina]

By the way, I have noticed that the discoloring of the urate is slowly going away. I think I just gave them too much calcium one day. But I'm curious still, is it too much calcium that causes pinkish urate, or is it something else entirely?

 

[Pasakaina]

A few days ago the discoloring in the urates seemed to be going away, and that's still true for one of my beardies. The other however, pooped today and his urates where very weird: they where covered in this layer of orangie red dots. :?