Onwyx
Member
- Beardie name(s)
- Onyx
Hi everyone, new here to the forum.
My bearded dragon has been having hard urates most of the time for over a year now. I’ve brought her to the vet several times to do lab work and ultimately, the vet told me he’s unsure why her stool is the way they are since I seem to be doing everything right, which is quite disappointing.
My beardie, Onyx, is in a 40 gallon (36x18x18) enclosure, which I definitely plan to upgrade to a 120 when I find the space.
UVB: 34” ReptiSun 10.0 UVB, T5 HO 39W. I change these every 6 months. Being a 34” in a 36” tank, it stretches pretty much the entirety of her enclosure. It sits directly on top of the screen towards the back of the enclosure.
Basking: ZooMed Repti Basking Spot Lamp 100W. I change these whenever they stop working.
Temps/ Humidity: Cool side 70-80F, 30-45% humidity. Basking spot 95-104F, 30-38% humidity.
I’ve attached a photo of her enclosure for reference. UVB lamp is hard to see but it’s towards the back of the enclosure as mentioned.
Onyx is ~4.5 years old now and she loves her greens (mostly collards, occasionally turnip/dandelion greens and butternut squash), which she gets every other day or every 2 days (she doesn’t eat if I give her more often than that). I stopped feeding her bugs for quite a while because her vet and I were afraid she was having indigestion issues because she would only poop once per week or 2 weeks, and her urate would be hard (per the vet, he doesn’t think she was ever impacted since her belly was always soft and she had bowel sounds). I started reintroducing small dubia roaches to her in June, just 1-3 at a time every 2-3 weeks at most.
In April, she was extremely active, scratching at the glass enclosure wanting to come out and had regular BMs all the time. Her stool was formed but urate was on the smaller side. Same thing in May but slightly less active but still active. In June, she was way less active but will still eat, but she started to skip basking. Every time I put her up to bask, she would come down within 20 min to 2 hours, and then she’d remain on the cool side for the remainder of the time until I make her bask again. Sometimes she would go 1-2 weeks without pooping. Recently, she had a BM on 6/24 and then finally again today 7/8 (exactly 2 weeks). Both had watery but formed stool, slightly mucous-looking, with large but somewhat hard, chalky/ crumbly urate. The urate from 7/8 had a hint of green, which I’ve never seen in her urates before. I’ve attached photos for reference.
When she was having hard urates, I stopped feeding her bugs and I’d soak her almost everyday, and mist her greens slightly. But then she started having a small pool of liquid with her stool, so I stopped soaking her and don’t mist her greens as often.
I lightly dust her dubias with calcium and vitamins. But since she only gets these occasionally, I dust her greens every week or so. With the consistently hard urates, her vet and I thought maybe she’s getting too much calcium at one point. Her last 2 lab work showed that her calcium were in normal range, although the most recent one in March was less than the one before. Her vet discussed her lab results with me and he thought that maybe she had some kidney injury, but decided that it’s likely not the case. He suggested using avian red palm oil on her greens to help protect her kidneys, which I do use occasionally.
Of note, I’ve noticed her belly twitch a few times and her arm twitch once. I thought these may point to calcium deficiency but I’m not sure since her lab results suggests that it’s fine. I’ve attached her last few lab results here as well.
Does anyone have any idea what may be the reason for her consistently hard, chalky urates? And why her stool may be mucousy and watery?
My bearded dragon has been having hard urates most of the time for over a year now. I’ve brought her to the vet several times to do lab work and ultimately, the vet told me he’s unsure why her stool is the way they are since I seem to be doing everything right, which is quite disappointing.
My beardie, Onyx, is in a 40 gallon (36x18x18) enclosure, which I definitely plan to upgrade to a 120 when I find the space.
UVB: 34” ReptiSun 10.0 UVB, T5 HO 39W. I change these every 6 months. Being a 34” in a 36” tank, it stretches pretty much the entirety of her enclosure. It sits directly on top of the screen towards the back of the enclosure.
Basking: ZooMed Repti Basking Spot Lamp 100W. I change these whenever they stop working.
Temps/ Humidity: Cool side 70-80F, 30-45% humidity. Basking spot 95-104F, 30-38% humidity.
I’ve attached a photo of her enclosure for reference. UVB lamp is hard to see but it’s towards the back of the enclosure as mentioned.
Onyx is ~4.5 years old now and she loves her greens (mostly collards, occasionally turnip/dandelion greens and butternut squash), which she gets every other day or every 2 days (she doesn’t eat if I give her more often than that). I stopped feeding her bugs for quite a while because her vet and I were afraid she was having indigestion issues because she would only poop once per week or 2 weeks, and her urate would be hard (per the vet, he doesn’t think she was ever impacted since her belly was always soft and she had bowel sounds). I started reintroducing small dubia roaches to her in June, just 1-3 at a time every 2-3 weeks at most.
In April, she was extremely active, scratching at the glass enclosure wanting to come out and had regular BMs all the time. Her stool was formed but urate was on the smaller side. Same thing in May but slightly less active but still active. In June, she was way less active but will still eat, but she started to skip basking. Every time I put her up to bask, she would come down within 20 min to 2 hours, and then she’d remain on the cool side for the remainder of the time until I make her bask again. Sometimes she would go 1-2 weeks without pooping. Recently, she had a BM on 6/24 and then finally again today 7/8 (exactly 2 weeks). Both had watery but formed stool, slightly mucous-looking, with large but somewhat hard, chalky/ crumbly urate. The urate from 7/8 had a hint of green, which I’ve never seen in her urates before. I’ve attached photos for reference.
When she was having hard urates, I stopped feeding her bugs and I’d soak her almost everyday, and mist her greens slightly. But then she started having a small pool of liquid with her stool, so I stopped soaking her and don’t mist her greens as often.
I lightly dust her dubias with calcium and vitamins. But since she only gets these occasionally, I dust her greens every week or so. With the consistently hard urates, her vet and I thought maybe she’s getting too much calcium at one point. Her last 2 lab work showed that her calcium were in normal range, although the most recent one in March was less than the one before. Her vet discussed her lab results with me and he thought that maybe she had some kidney injury, but decided that it’s likely not the case. He suggested using avian red palm oil on her greens to help protect her kidneys, which I do use occasionally.
Of note, I’ve noticed her belly twitch a few times and her arm twitch once. I thought these may point to calcium deficiency but I’m not sure since her lab results suggests that it’s fine. I’ve attached her last few lab results here as well.
Does anyone have any idea what may be the reason for her consistently hard, chalky urates? And why her stool may be mucousy and watery?
such as hornworms, or in liquid form from 
