Eating but not Pooping Often

[Wolfeden]

My two year old, 16", rescued dragon has gone through a lot of changes in the 4 months that I've had him.
He went from being fed mostly mealworms, in mass quantities on a very irregular basis, no veggies and a possibly faulty MVB to getting a proper diet of mostly greens with super and calci worms and a Reptisun T5 10.0 for UVB and two halogen floods for heat and light.

His temps are around 80° on cool side, 85-95° on warm side with a basking spot that ranges 95-108°.
Temps are taken using an Accurite thermometer w/probe and a Fluke IR temp gun.

Lately he has become pretty inactive spending most of the time in cooler areas of the enclosure, very rarely basks in the hot spot. But the weather has changed drastically (towards winter) here so I think some degree of brumation might be setting in.

But the real question is about his irregular pooping habits.
He eats most days but occasionally will just refuse any type of food. Most days he'll eat mustard, turnip and collard greens, sometimes zucchini squash, apples and grapes. He'll also eat super and calci worms most days.
He can eat like this for weeks without pooping and then one day he'll leave a huge pile of poop with multiple urates.

This last instance he went 3 weeks without pooping and then left the BIG surprise.
It looks normal, multiple well formed feces with white urates, and it doesn't smell all that bad. No undigested food or bugs are visible.

I wonder if he got conditioned to hold onto nutrients longer because he was fed large quantities of mealworms very infrequently or if there is some other reason this dragon doesn't like to go potty.

Any thoughts?

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Your setup sounds fine, the Reptisun T5 HO tube bulb is great. How far away is it from him?
How often do you give calcium for him?

It is a possibility of him having a little bit of GI damage perhaps from improper feedings prior to now. It may take him awhile to get regulated. Though if he is starting to slow down some that could also be some of the explanation as to why he doesn't go to the bathroom as often now. Once their metabolisms start to slow down & they eat less, their system just doesn't process things as quickly.
It doesn't sound like he has worms or parasites if his stools don't really smell very bad. You could consider getting a fecal done on him, but don't think that is the issue. Are his urates soft or hard?
How much oral fluids do you give him?
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

 

[Wolfeden]

Thanks Tracie.

Your setup sounds fine, the Reptisun T5 HO tube bulb is great. How far away is it from him?
How often do you give calcium for him?

The T5 is on top of screen mesh and depending on how tall he stands up (v. lying flat on the basking surfaces) he can get as close as 8-10". But more likely he will be closer to 10-12" away during normal basking and when on the floor he is about 15-16" away. He also has multiple height gradients under the bulb as well as partial and full shaded areas.

He gets calcium dusted food twice a week.

It is a possibility of him having a little bit of GI damage perhaps from improper feedings prior to now. It may take him awhile to get regulated. Though if he is starting to slow down some that could also be some of the explanation as to why he doesn't go to the bathroom as often now. Once their metabolisms start to slow down & they eat less, their system just doesn't process things as quickly.

This is interesting because when we first got him he rarely pooped but then over time he started to poop more regularly, every day to every 2-3 days. That lasted for a short time up until recently, the last 6-7 weeks or so, where he only pooped a few times. And during that time he seems to have started hiding and sleeping a lot. Again, the weather started changing, cooling off, about then.
So maybe a combination of GI issues followed by change of seasons and brumation???

Are his urates soft or hard?
How much oral fluids do you give him?

Typically I would say on the soft side. But on this last huge poop I did notice that one very large urate seemed to be bigger and harder than usual, almost chalky.
As far as water, we really don't stick to any regular schedule. He has a water bowl, never seen him drink from it, and he only gets occasional baths maybe once a week. But he does eat lots of greens and typically we wash them first and leave them moist when feeding.

One other odd behavior is that he will usually only eat when we put the food directly in front of him on the ground or rock surface, both veggies and insects. He doesn't like eating out of the food bowl even when held in front of him and I've never seen him go to the bowl on his own. But we leave it full with greens and super worms just in case.

And...I've started getting smaller supers just in case the larger ones were giving him trouble. Even though he should be big enough to eat large ones, and the fact that he was able to digest all those mealworms in his past.

Thanks again, any additional input from you or others is greatly appreciated.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

After that explanation, it is most likely going to be semi or early brumation behavior. It sounds like he is just slowing his system down. They intuitively do that so it isn't unusual.
Since he just had some harder & larger urates, he doesn't need as much calcium, either as his body wont process it with a slower metabolism.
If he does have any GI issues hopefully they are minimal!
That should be fine to have the T5 on top of the screen, since it is strong. How close would it be if it was mounted underneath of the screen?
If he isn't acting ill, then you could let him go ahead & slow down to brumate if he wants to.
You could get a fecal done on him, just to be sure he doesn't have worms or parasites.

Are his colors good also?
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

 

[Wolfeden]

Thanks for the added information.

If I put the T5 inside the tank it would probably subtract 2-3 inches from my previous numbers. I really think that's a bit too close. And his previous behavior seems to indicate that he gets enough UVB as he only spends short amounts of time under the UVB light and just prefers to bask for brief periods and then seeks out partial shaded areas in the enclosure.

His color and fat stores seem good and normal.

The day of his big poop he got very active and seemed hyper-alert. He was all over the tank and was very responsive to movement outside of the tank. But since then he has gone into his rock cave, not typical for him, and has basically been sleeping or just resting with eyes open.
He didn't eat anything today or yesterday, that really doesn't bother me at this point, but if I catch him out of the cave I will offer food.

I'll watch him and update with any changes.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

That is true, it would end up being too close, since it's the HO light.
How much time does he spend getting UVB, on average?
His behavior sounds normal to me, if he is self regulating under his lights.
If his weight & fat stores look good, not eating here & there wont hurt at all. I am glad to hear he is very active too!
That is interesting, it sounds like he is wanting to sleep a little bit, maybe the start of brumation?

Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

 

[Wolfeden]

Update:
After the big poop my dragon went into his rock cave and stayed there, sleeping most of the time, for five full days.
After that he came out for a while and ate a little, veggies and super worms, two days in a row. Then he went back to a shaded cool corner and slept some more.

At this point he seems to be slightly more active but is still basking infrequently and seems to be seeking out, and staying in, the cooler areas of the tank.

I really think he is in some degree of brumation. The nighttime temps inside my house have dropped to around 70 degrees and we've already had our first snow. Maybe he knows better than me that winter is indeed around the corner.

When he is awake he seems alert and responds to movement, that's outside his enclosure, from across the room.

I'm just going to let him do his thing, continue to give baths, offer food when he's up and monitor his weight.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

That is the classic behavior for brumation. They are somewhat out & about but then will go into their caves to sleep for days, then come out for awhile to bask or get food or water.
He probably wont want to eat much which is fine because if he is maintaining his weight his system is slown down to where it doesn't need food during that time.
They are very intuitive, more than we are!
Just monitor him & check on him often. It sounds like he will be just fine.
Keep us posted on him.

Tracie