No Pooping and not eating!

[wolfiemorph]

My beardie, Veo, has not pooped or eaten in more than a week. He's a juvenile, about 12 in long and I've had him for a month.

This went on a week before (before, he didn't poop for 4 days) and then he finally pooped. After that, he has not pooped since.

He will not poop in the bath. He gets in his bed time position 4 hours before bed time. I give him water by syringe every day.

What can I do???

 

[CooperDragon]

Some of them have less frequent habits. Is his general level of activity lower? That may be causing his metabolism to move more slowly than normal if he isn't moving around much. It's good that you're offering him water. The hydration should help him move things along. You could also offer him some plain pumpkin, baby food applesauce or baby food prunes as well as a drop or two of olive oil to see if that helps move things along if he'll lick some of it up. There could be something up that is causing his lack of activity too.

 

[EllenD]

What is his normal, daily diet? And what is the temperature on his basking spot?

 

[wolfiemorph]

He's always been pretty mellow.., just sitting there. He likes to lay on the glass of his tank because of his reflection, I think. Yea, he doesn't move around much at all.

Everyday, I feed him a mix of collard greens, kale, and I think mustard greens. It all comes in a bag.

The spot he sits in the most at his basking spot is at 106° Fahrenheit.

 

[EllenD]

What live insects do you feed him, and how often?

 

[wolfiemorph]

I don't feed him live insects. I forgot to mention- I put about 20 or more canned crix in his salad everyday, along with Zilla Beardie pellets and JurassiCal spray on calcium. I put the Reptivite vitamin powder only a few times a week.

He seems to be fine on the canned crix; we can't have any live feeders..

 

[EllenD]

That's a really serious problem. From hatching up until a little over a year old, beardies need a ton of live protein. Canned, freeze-dried, dead bugs are not providing nearly the protein and nutrition and growing beardie needs to grow, develop properly, and form bone density. From hatching up to 8 months old he should be getting at least 2 live insect feeding every single day, 3 is better up to 8 months old, then scale back to 2 until he hits a year old. Each feeding session should last 10-15 minutes and he should be allowed to eat as many live, gut-loaded insects as he wants to in the 10-15 minutes, and like I said he needs to do this at least 2 times a day, 3 is best. At 8 months you can scale it back to 2 live feeding sessions a day, then at a year or so go to one, but at his age he absolutely cannot stay healthy and grow and develop properly without live protein. Anything that is dead is not meant to be his protein staple.

At only 12 inches long he's only 4-5 months old (or should only be 4-5 months old at the most), and you're doing him a huge disservice by not feeding him tons of live protein. He's going to end up with nutritional deficiencies, stunted, and sickly...

 

[wolfiemorph]

Okay..... thank you. I'll see what I can do. Would phoenix worms be okay? I heard they come in a container and need little to know care, but I haven't researched them....

 

[CooperDragon]

Yeah black soldier fly larvae are a MUCH better option than the dried bugs and store food. You can order them in bulk from symtonbsf. Silkworms would be good too. You can order a pod of them from coastal silkworms. The two feeders combined should offer a pretty decent staple. Does he have a good UVB Light? What are the temps on the cool areas of his tank?

 

[wolfiemorph]

He currently doesn't have the best UVB light. It's from his previous owner; a coil bulb. When I earn more money, I'm going to get a lamp stand to put an MVB bulb above his tank. I already have the MVB bulb, I just need a stand.

The temp on the cool side is about 84-85 degrees Fahrenheit..

 

[kingofnobbys]

He currently doesn't have the best UVB light. It's from his previous owner; a coil bulb. When I earn more money, I'm going to get a lamp stand to put an MVB bulb above his tank. I already have the MVB bulb, I just need a stand.

The temp on the cool side is about 84-85 degrees Fahrenheit..

better off switching over to a T5HO 12% tube in a reflector hood, very easy to install UNDER the mesh lid.