No bowel movements

[KaylinME]

I got a 7" beardie about three weeks ago from a mom and pop pet store. She seems perfectly healthy and happy. She's adapted really well. She's not even scared of my dog anymore. The only problem I have is that she isn't using the bathroom. She's only gone once and it was yesterday during her bath. I've read in a few places that that isn't that unusual, but I just don't like it. There has to be something I can do that will help her go to the bathroom. We've tried a few things like not dusting her crickets as often, giving her more water and veggies and moving the tank around so she has more sand room to use for the bathroom. We've given her another warm bath today too and nothing. How normal is this? I'm worried but I really don't have enough money to take her to the vet. What can I do?

 

[blue11]

hi there
i would keep with the warm water soaks. when she goes, just quickly drain the sink, rinse with hot water, and replace the water for some more soaking time. The water acts a great little ... "enema" .... ha, for them. My beardie pretty much ONLY poops in the bath. But, works for me, no poop in the viv!!!
One thing you can do, in the bath, is stroke her belly on the right side, from the bottom of her beard downward to her vent ... just use one finger to lightly do this, you can do it several times, or as much as you need, it helps stimualte a poop as well. you dont want to push hard or squeeze, just a nice belly massage toowards her right side, in a downward motion usually works like a charm.

If she is getting the right temps, and is basking, and has the proper UVB bulb (linear, reptisun, 10.0) and you arent feeding anything with hard chitin that could compact her, then you can pretty safely assume that her food is being digesting properly. Depending on how often and how much she eats will determine how often she goes poop.

Is your substrate loose, like sand? If so, you might want to get rid of the sand ASAP for such a little beardie. That can play a HUGE factor in being impacted. What kind of substrate are you using?
~Emily and Blue

 

[KaylinME]

I am using sand, but isn't the rule of thumb anything over six inches? But if I need to use newspaper or something else for a while I can. She's such a pretty girl. I hated making her feel so bad. She got to the point where all of her yellow was gone and almost all of her orange was gone and she was just brown. I couldn't figure out what was wrong either. Then we gave her a bath when we cleaned out her tank, and viola! Poop. lol. Now she's back to her pretty self. I just wish that she would go in the tank. But I'll do what it takes to help keep her healthy. If that includes nightly baths, so be it. She's a doll baby. =D
Thanks.

 

[blue11]

hi hi

i dont really think there is a certain rule of thumb with sand, with the exception that some poeple put their adult beardies (like over 1.5 years) on playsand.
some people have sand as a personal preference, and that is their perogative, but i would never use it as my subtrate, MOST people "just say no" to sand. And there are lots of reasons ...

number one being the huge risk of impaction, and therefore leading to them not be able to poop, and eventually death. even if you arent feeding your beardie on the sand, they still lick everything, all the time, no matter what.
another is that is harbors alot of bacteria. you may think you can just scoop the poop out, but beardies have more excretion than just a piece of poop, there is the urate and the liquid and water that comes out with it all ... that seeps into the sand, and so its kinda like living in a litter box.

another reason is that particles can and often do get in there eyes, which is a pretty bad ordeal to look at and have them go through. They can even lose an eye to it. sad stuff.

one more that i can think of off the top of my head is the dust it creates - lots of respitory infections and irritaion, like living and breathing in a dust bowl, icks.

check this out -
when i first got Blue, she was pretty much a hatchling, and the first month of her life that i had her (up until she was about 7 inches), i had her on sand. then after reading, thinking, and listening, i realized, woah, what am i doing??? ahhhhhh! so i vacuumed out her (then only 20 gallon) tank out. 6 months later, am i STILL shaking sand out of my vacuum cleaner, and my vacuum cleaners filter is still bright orange and just embedded with particles from the sand. its crazy!!! and not just a little sand, alot of sand still shakes out of the cansiter and filter when i clean it out, which is quite alot b/c i am a total OCD vaccuuming freak :shock: ikr? BUT ... anyhooooo ... yup. she was living on that, breathing that, etc.

also, try this .... take a handful of sand out, put some water drops on it, and let the sand sit for a bit. those spots the water hit will turn hard ... this is what happens in your beardies body.

what i use is TILE. love it!! it looks awesome, you can pick out basically whatever you want from Lowes, they will cut it to fit for you, and it is soooooooooo wasy to clean. wipe down, and done. take the tiles out for a deep clean, spray off. vacuum out with the attachemnt, i mean its amazing.
other substrates are: repti carpet, paper towels, non adhesive shelf liner, newspaper ....
to me, tile is the best investment, b/c once you have the viv they are going to be in for their life, you never really have to buy new flooring. so in the long run AND the short run you are saving TONS TONS of mula. big money saver. solid substrate is just a HUGE LIFE SAVER.

loose substrates like sand and crushed walnuts and all that stuff .... eeeeeeeeeeeep, scary, dirty, dangerous, blarg.
at 6 inches you have a little baby on your hands
i remember when Blue was 6 inches .... CUTE size!!

i hope that made some sense ... think about it, ya know, something to consider for the health of your sweety
have a BEARDIFUL day!!
~Emily and Blue

 

[lindawaz]

I also have tile and Love Love Love it :mrgreen:

oh not the shiny slippery kind- rough

 

[blue11]

yups indeed!!!
something with a slight sealent or finish on it so its not porous and can be wiped down, and so that poops/pees wont seep into it, but at the same time with that slate-y feel, with just enough texture for grip and self nail-filing!!
here is Blue's tile, this is her cool side, the tile overlaps on this pic, eh, ooops.
i personally dont grout my tile, that way i can pick it up whenever i want and when ever i need to

i think if you make the switch over, you will be soooooo happy and your little schmoo will too!!!

 

[blue11]

one more thought (i ALWAYS do this sorry! lol)

what some people do, is give their beardie a small "sandbox" ... like a shallow tupperware container with some regular ol' PLAYsand in it that you can find at pool retail shops (my fiance works at a pool company, and they sell playsand there, i would think you could get it anywhere like a hardware shop, lowes? home depot?) not the calci-sand. Some peoples beardies seem to enjoy it from what i see around the forum and doing research.
i dont have one for Blue, she is 7 months, and even though she is 15 inches, i dont feel safe about it yet, i dont know if i will ever or not. possibly? BUT ... you can always make the whole thing tile, and add a small playsand box if you have your heart set on using sand in some way.
with your beardie being so small, im not so sure i would take that route yet, but its your beardie, and as long as you aware of the cons of it .... i would just use your best judgement in the end you have to do what YOU feel is right for your beardie, she's your baby

AND ohhhhhhh yes, i LOVE the colour Blue turns in the bath after a poop. such a light happy colour, with a creamy white beard and belly .... its like .... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh relief, thats right, mhm. teehee. i know exactly what you are talking about lol
SHE reall does SOUND like a TOTAL doll baby
its neat we both have females, there are alot of males out there! GIRL POWER! :mrgreen:
i do give Blue daily evening baths, sometimes i skip a day here and there, and she tends to hold her poop until bathtime comes around. i guess it can be a blessing and a curse come to think of it .... i guess in the end, if they GOTTA go, they will eventually GO ... in the viv. but i SWEAR they just know and hold it, ha!!!
~Emily and Blue

 

[KaylinME]

I hadn't even thought about using tile. I think we'll stick with sand (she was on sand when we bought her so I know she's used to it) until we get her into her for-life viv. Then I'll probably put tile in there.
But on a random, newbie kinda note: how do you put pictures up? I want to show you my pretty girl but I'm not sure how. lol.

 

[blue11]

you go to photobucket, upload the pic, get the IMG LINK and paste it on here.

even if you are just housing her temporarily on sand until she gets her "for life" viv ... you can still get SUPER cheap tile at Lowes. For a smaller tank, it would prob cost you safely under 10 dollars. that way you dont have deal with the risks. or just throw down some rept-carpet or paper towels down ... she will be so much safer

good luck with the pictures, its the third set of codes down, you want to the full image code.


~Emily

 

[KaylinME]

I'll talk to my fiance about it and see what he thinks. We might could get some cheap stuff.

But here's my Kira

This was her reaction to me taking the picture

And this is her older sister Bella. =D

(Sorry about the lines. My phone's camera sucks.)