Introducing 'new'? Items to Ricco

[indianachick]

Hello!
I've had Ricco my male BD for about a week now.
I was chosen to be his new Mama And I think he already loves me...lol..
Anyway, the prev owner obviously only fed him meal worms and carrots, & romain (occasionally).

The 1st 3 or so poo's he did here were totally ALL carrots.
Now that I am feeding him meal worms and wax worms, plus the greens EVERYDAY,
He's pooin' black & whiteish, reg looking poo? Is that right?

I am going to introduce him to Yellow Squash tomorrow.
I put a few cut up green grapes in there yesterday and he never even touched them.
Maybe he never had them before?

I have 3/8 in crickets on the way from Flukers.. I hope that's the correct size for him?
He is 1 yr 4 months old approx. How many Crickets can I put in his home?
And I have a total phobia over crickets...weird isnt it? I can handle a BD, but not a cricket!
Any good ideas on that? (LOL)

So am I doing alright so far :?:

Melissa~

 

[LilahFaye]

Hello
It's good to hear that Ricco is settling in well, because many beardies suffer from some pretty bad relocation stress, and it can take them awhile to get used to their new surroundings.

Food: I would be careful with feeding Ricco too many meal worms or super worms. They have a very hard chitin shell, which makes it hard for some beardies to digest them. I would also steer away from feeding him too many wax worms because they are high in fat. What kinds of greens are you feeding Ricco now? I would stay away from romaine lettuce, and any other kind of lettuce, due to the fact that all lettuces have little nutritional value towards beardies. If you are feeding him carrots everyday, only feed them occasionally, because carrots have a compound in them that binds to calcium and steals it away from the bones. I don't know if yellow squash is good for beardies, I've never used it. I stick to butternut squash, acorn squash, and sometimes hubbard squash. My beardie doesn't like grapes much either. He's not a fruit fanatic, your little guy may be the same as mine! Here's a color-coded list of foods that you can feed your beardie: http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

His poop: You say his poo is black? He may be having problems with passing his stool. If he looks like he strains to poop or stops pooping, try and give him a few baths and see if this un-clogs him. You should be giving Ricco a bath at least once a week, and when he's shedding, I'd suggest three times a week to help ease the shed. DON'T pull on the loose shedding skin. That can cause irritation and even infections. If it seems to really bother him, use a baby toothbrush and rub the shedding skin. If he still doesn't seem to be pooping normally, give him some baby food. A common treatment is also applesauce with a little bit of olive oil. If his poop continues to be black for too long, I would think about taking him to an exotic vet, because he may need to get a fecal test done to see if he has parasites. Have you gotten him a vet check-up yet since you got him?

Crickets: 3/8 sized crickets seem a little tiny, and may not fill him up. At this age, you should be feeding your big guy from 40-50 crickets a week. What I would do is give him 15 crickets every other day (Three times a week.) If I were you, I'd get him some crickets that are a little bigger, but that is just my preference. My little guy who is only 6-7 months old eats crickets that are up to 1 inch big. You just need to follow the rule of thumb: If the feeder is smaller that the space between your beardie's eyes, then it's safe. For a big guy like yours, that's one pretty large cricket :lol: If you dont follow that rule, giving your beardie feeders that are too big for him to digest can cause impaction. Here's a link explaining what impaction is: http://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/impaction/

Here are some questions that I would like to ask you:
How big is your beardie (Head to tail measurement)?
What kind of lighting are you using? (UVB Tube, UVB coil, Basking Bulb, etc)
What are your temperatures? (Under the basking bulb, on the "cool side" of the tank?)
What kind of substrate are you using? (Sand, paper towel, ReptiCarpet.)
And that's all for now I hope I helped!

P.S. Sorry for the EXTREMELY long post!

 

[indianachick]

Hi Lila, thanks for all the great info!!

Ricco is 16 inches long and currently shedding (1st time for me!)
I have been bathing him 2-3 x a week, he likes it, mostly if I hold him

Here are the specs.

40 gal feeder viv
sand sub
zoomed 100 watt basking heat/black ceramic dome style
small ceramic infrared (looks like a blacklight)
and the dreaded repti-sun uvb compact flo. black ceramic dome fixture
(getting the other one tomorrow!!)
Temps hot side 95 cool side 60-70
Seems comfy, likes his home, didnt seem to have relocation shock.
romaine, kale (YUK) collard greens fresh daily
(spoiled he likes to be hand fed his greens!)
back to meals and now silks.
I tried the crickets and to my amazement they hid his in his log
he was not interested in them after the 1st day, so for 3 days I was putting crickets (about 15 or so) in there, and they were hiding! Lucky for it was like 15 degrees outside and I took the log out there and slammed them all out...HA!
I personally dont think he has ever eaten a cricket Before I gave them to him.

He has no eye problems, no lazy eye, no blinking, nor closing them lots.
His poo is 2 x a day, still dark with whitish goo like, but not as black as it was.
I heard they pee and poo at the same time?
He doesnt strain to go either.

Hope I didnt forget anything!
Thanks for writing back!
Melissa

 

[LilahFaye]

If his poop still looks a little odd to you, you should consider getting a fecal done at the vet. He may have parasites of some kind. The sand substrate may also be an issue, he may have some impaction. Do you feed him in the same tank? If so, I would use a different substrate so that he doesn't eat it which hunting his food (unless you hand-feed him everything.) Does his poo look runny? If it does, that may be because of the romaine lettuce. You shouldn't give him too much of that, because it's mostly water and can give them runny poop. They usually do "pee" and poo at the same time. The white gooey stuff you're referring to are called urate's. Just like birds, lizards poop their "pee" in a white, gooey form, so that is normal (as long as the urates are not hard). His temps sound pretty good, and he also seems like a good size for his age. He doesn't need to eat crickets, as long as he's getting his nutrition in other forms (worms/roaches, etc) Can I suggest phoenix worms? My beardie thinks that they're amazing It's good that you're getting a new bulb. Make sure your getting the ReptiSUN 10.0 TUBE. It's good to hear that he's shedding (my guy is too!) If you really think his poo doesnt look right, I would take him to get a fecal. But, I wouldn't worry too much unless his begins changing his behavior.

See ya

 

[beardiesrock45]

if he dosnt eat squash the first time its served its ok try to add some apple juice or some carrots to it and if he dosnt eat it after 8 hours replace it and try again for like a week he might eventually gfet interseted it worked with me and apple juice and a salad mixture now he luvs it and gets exited everytime he iz fedd :lol: