Hi there! My partner and I adopted a 5 year old beardie from a coworker who was moving out-of-state and did not want to stress her out with the move. We have had her for about two weeks now and it has been really great so far
We got the entire setup (40 gal "breeder" tank, basking light, UV light, hide, climb, sand substrate) from the coworker as well, but we are going to replace the sand with some slate tile this coming weekend. We also added a ceramic heat emitter, since we keep temperatures around 63F-64F in the house at night.
Everything has been going well and she has a healthy appetite (about 6-10 calcium coated crickets/day, salad made up of dandelion or mustard greens with apple/blueberry/green bean/carrot slices) and we give her baths every other day or so.
:?: However, I have a question. For the first week we had her, she did not have a bowel movement. I got a bit worried and gave her some organic pumpkin puree; this worked and the next day she went to the bathroom. It was a pretty watery poop and I am not really sure what a "normal" dragon poo should look like. A few days passed (as well as a few baths) and she did not poo again...I gave her about a tablespoon of the puree again, and it worked...though it was a bit watery again. Should I wait it out and give her more time to get into the swing of things, or should we be doing more?
Anyway, say hello to Smaug!! We are glad this community is here! It was a great resource when the idea of adopting a dragon was sprung upon us
Welcome to the forum! She looks like she's in very good shape. I'm glad everything is going well so far and it sounds like you're off to a good start. As far as regulating the poops goes, I suggest providing a bath around the same time every day for a while. A warm bath can help things along. They respond well to routine, so using the bath (at least to begin with) can help get her on a somewhat regular schedule. Sometimes their poops can be watery and that isn't an issue, just extra hydrated. If it becomes a regular occurrence, and it smells unusually bad, then it could indicate a problem. In general, they should be pretty well formed with a nice white urate portion. They do vary from instance to instance though.
Welcome to the forum! She looks like she's in very good shape. I'm glad everything is going well so far and it sounds like you're off to a good start. As far as regulating the poops goes, I suggest providing a bath around the same time every day for a while. A warm bath can help things along. They respond well to routine, so using the bath (at least to begin with) can help get her on a somewhat regular schedule. Sometimes their poops can be watery and that isn't an issue, just extra hydrated. If it becomes a regular occurrence, and it smells unusually bad, then it could indicate a problem. In general, they should be pretty well formed with a nice white urate portion. They do vary from instance to instance though.
Lol regulating the poops :lol: That's a great idea and we are definitely going to start the routine baths! Thanks so much for the advice and the warm welcome