For probably the past month, Puff has had diarrhea really bad and wasn't pooping on a regular schedule. I posted something about it before. Three weeks ago, we went to the vet and she isn't impacted and is very healthy. They took a fecal as well and we found out she had too many flagellates and treated her with flagyl (metronidazole) for a week every other day. She had no parasites whatsoever. I took in another fecal and she was cured of that. But her poop is still runny and very very smelly but she is going everyday so that's the only positive.
My guess is that she hasn't been basking enough and isn't processing her food correcting? Her poop is mostly undigested food and the one time I saw her go, she was straining it out. I am thinking that her basking spot was too hot and she can't stand being in it for too long. I was checking her temps and on the fluker's thermometer that I had it was saying that the basking spot was 125 and on my zoo med was saying 110 degrees... on the same spot. I'm not sure which one I should trust but I bought a stand regardless to lower her temps and now the fluker's is saying 115 and the zoo med is saying 98. Also it seems that she likes to chill on the cool side a lot, which is constantly 85 degrees. What do you guys think? May I be right? Here's a picture of before and after:
Before.
Now.
Also I'm going to buy a new thermometer from Walmart tomorrow... which one would you guys suggest? Also should I leave the screen top off so she can get her full amount of UVB? I bought a 75w bulb as well should I change that? I have a 100w now in there.
Any help would be great! I want her to poop normally again! I'm running out of reptile carpet!
Also I always see this when you guys help everyone so I'll fill it out now.
How old is your dragon? almost 6 months
How long have you had your dragon? almost 5 months
How long is your dragon? 16 inches.
What is the sex of your dragon? Female.
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in? 30 gallon
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank? reptile carpet/paper towels.
Do you use UVB lights? Reptisun 10.0.
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb? tube.
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?
How old is your UVB bulb? 2 days old.
How close can your dragon get to the UVB? about 8 inches away from the highest point.
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? Zoo med 100w
What are the basking temps? now it's 115 (fluker's)/98 (zoo med) degrees; before 125 (fluker's)/110 (zoo med) degrees
What is the cool side temp? 85 degrees (fluker's)
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun? fluker's is a thermometer stick and zoo med has the probe.
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps? the fluker's is on the ground where the main basking area is and the zoo med is on the actual wood.
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad? no.
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific. turn on the light at 9am; feed salad of collards, (just recently) baby squash food, and mustard greens with nature zone bearded dragon bites; 50 crickets with calcium dust around noon time; then 20 crickets at 3pm with no dust.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)? see above.
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc? yes.
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them? Rep Cal Calcium. Everyday just on the first batch of crickets.
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)? pooping everyday.
Do you bath your dragon? How often? Once a week.
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath? I mist everyday and leave a swallow dish of water as well (with reptisafe in it)
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon? no.
Im not sure what those thermometers are, but is one a digital type with a sensor on a probe? If so this is the one you should trust. Any round dial ones, or stick on strips should not be trusted (up to 20 degrees off in some cases). I would get the acrutie brand, i thnk thats how you spell it, from walmart, its the one most people reccomend.
If there is undigested food in the stool then yes the temps are too low, or they havent been basking enough, and if the temps were 125 i can see why!
I would get the new thermometer, leave in on the basking spot (directly underneath the bulb where they sit) so the wood, and leave it for 30-45 min before taking a reading. You can move the bulb higher up if it is too hot.
Thank you for your help/reply I got the better thermometer (acurite brand) and it looks like both were off by a lot. The temp was still 120 degrees! I finally moved the light high enough so now it's 105 to 111 now. Puff is loving it! She's ran to her basking spot and is now gaping as I type. I feel so bad for not catching this sooner. I'm just hoping for a solid poop here in the next few days.
It's not getting better. She's basking more but the poop isn't any better.
Someone please help!? I'm thinking about getting another fecal done tomorrow.
I know, they do like to make us worry! If she is still eating its a good sign. What veggies are you offering? sometimes a high water coontent may have this effect, but i would still get a feacal done just to be sure.
hey, i'm not an expert by any stretch but all my beardies had runny poop when i was giving them squash. two days after i stopped, their poop went back solid. i say take it out and see what happens.
Now I'm a complete noob but I THINK if I remember reading right from somewhere that green squash isn't good for your beardie that often (maybe that could be it) but the yellow squash is good for your beardie (not sure which one you feed)
Like I said I'm a noob lol... But today was the first time that my beardie pooed twice in one day (I gave a bath today and he decided to poo right as I was taking him out and that stunk but that was the first time I have noticed it to be stinky)
I don't have any other ideas besides the squash sorry