We've been down a rough poop-laden road recently with my daughter's dragon. I don't check in with BeardedDragon.org very often, but this site was a wonderful resource when we were in the Dragon Adopting process, and you all are amazing every time I have a question. I'll give you the long story in the next paragraph, and then my actual question in the following paragraph, so if you don't want to read my big long missive, feel free to skip.
When my daughter went off to gymnastics camp for a week this summer, her dragon seemed to be sick. I wasn't sure if he just missed Kathy, or if it was because we were moving his tank around a lot because we were painting her bedroom while she was gone (no, he wasn't in the room while we were painting... thus the moving him around) or what. I was actually afraid that she might come home to a dead dragon, and she would have been DEVISTATED. And yes, temps are good, UVA/UVB, vitamins, feed dubia roaches (no bigger than the space between his eyes), etc. Like I said, I did my research! Anyway, once she got home he did seem to perk up, but he wasn't pooping. I came to this site, watched youtube videos on the proper way to massage his tummy, gave him many baths, etc. We took him to the vet, and she said that she couldn't feel any blockage, and since he seemed, otherwise, to be doing O.K. we opted to take him home and try on our own for a little while longer (she also treated him for parasites, "just in case")... we hand fed him baby-food prunes, more baths, etc. When he still hadn't pooped a week later, I made another appointment, but literally 10 minutes before we needed to leave to go to the vet, he pooped in the bathtub. Hooray! But it only happened that once. So again, when a month went by and he still hadn't pooped, we took him back to the vet (this was about 10 days ago). This time they kept him, x-rayed him, and finally got him to poop by massaging his butt in the bath with a washcloth. So, since then things have been better. We've switched from washed play-sand to "indoor carpeting" (that green stuff they sell in the pet stores), have continued to dress his salad with babyfood prunes, and give lots of baths.
Anyway, since last week, even though he hasn't been pooping every day like he used to, he's been going every few days, which is a huge improvement. Today was the first time that he actually went in his cage instead of in the bathtub since the whole poop-saga started, so we got a better look at it. A good bit of it was dry... white, chalky, crumbly. Now, it was under the heat light, and I have no idea how long it may have sat there (though it wasn't there this morning), but even so, comparing it to his poops of ages past, I'm relatively sure it came out of him looking like that. Any idea what would make it like that? Do we need to call the vet again? Otherwise, he seems fine. Good appetite, fairly active, no stress-bands. I want to just be greatful that he went all on his own... no butt massaging necessary... but this has been so stressful and I just want to make sure we don't go back down this road again!
Thanks, in advance, for your advice!
-Mary
When my daughter went off to gymnastics camp for a week this summer, her dragon seemed to be sick. I wasn't sure if he just missed Kathy, or if it was because we were moving his tank around a lot because we were painting her bedroom while she was gone (no, he wasn't in the room while we were painting... thus the moving him around) or what. I was actually afraid that she might come home to a dead dragon, and she would have been DEVISTATED. And yes, temps are good, UVA/UVB, vitamins, feed dubia roaches (no bigger than the space between his eyes), etc. Like I said, I did my research! Anyway, once she got home he did seem to perk up, but he wasn't pooping. I came to this site, watched youtube videos on the proper way to massage his tummy, gave him many baths, etc. We took him to the vet, and she said that she couldn't feel any blockage, and since he seemed, otherwise, to be doing O.K. we opted to take him home and try on our own for a little while longer (she also treated him for parasites, "just in case")... we hand fed him baby-food prunes, more baths, etc. When he still hadn't pooped a week later, I made another appointment, but literally 10 minutes before we needed to leave to go to the vet, he pooped in the bathtub. Hooray! But it only happened that once. So again, when a month went by and he still hadn't pooped, we took him back to the vet (this was about 10 days ago). This time they kept him, x-rayed him, and finally got him to poop by massaging his butt in the bath with a washcloth. So, since then things have been better. We've switched from washed play-sand to "indoor carpeting" (that green stuff they sell in the pet stores), have continued to dress his salad with babyfood prunes, and give lots of baths.
Anyway, since last week, even though he hasn't been pooping every day like he used to, he's been going every few days, which is a huge improvement. Today was the first time that he actually went in his cage instead of in the bathtub since the whole poop-saga started, so we got a better look at it. A good bit of it was dry... white, chalky, crumbly. Now, it was under the heat light, and I have no idea how long it may have sat there (though it wasn't there this morning), but even so, comparing it to his poops of ages past, I'm relatively sure it came out of him looking like that. Any idea what would make it like that? Do we need to call the vet again? Otherwise, he seems fine. Good appetite, fairly active, no stress-bands. I want to just be greatful that he went all on his own... no butt massaging necessary... but this has been so stressful and I just want to make sure we don't go back down this road again!
Thanks, in advance, for your advice!
-Mary
