Parasites or diet? (Pics of poop)

[kayenzed]

So my beardie's poops have been a bit watery for about a month now, but I didn't think anything of it because I've heard that greens and high water content foods can cause this. However today her poop was almost completely watery.

She's a year old, her diet consists of repashy grub pie every day, bok choy + pellets every second day, and the occasional wax worms or banana. Temps are 110 under the basking light, 90 on the hot end and 80 on the cool end. Got an 18W uvb tube and a 75W heat lamp.

Her appetite has been increasing slowly and poops are regular.

So basically ever since I started feeding her bok choy her poops have become watery but all her behaviour is exactly the same, loves running around etc

http://imgur.com/a/RdU09

Parasites or just diet?

 

[Adriana0918]

Try not feeding the bok choy for a few days and give Collard Greens instead. I'd also try a tiny tiny bit of spinach mixed in as it is a calcium binder and should make the poop a little more solid. Careful not to feed too much though. Have you considered live food as more of a staple? That might help as well. Dubias and Phoenix worms are awesome as live staple feeders. Careful with the waxworms as you probably know, they are like candy. As long as she looks comfortable and happy and is still running around and eating I wouldn't worry too much however we do want to at least try to fix this. Has your beardie been losing weight at all?

 

[AHBD]

Hi there...that's a huuuuge amount of liquid. It may be dietary but I'd get a fecal done right off the bat to rule out parasites.

 

[kayenzed]

Thanks for the quick reply!

I'll get a fecal done on Tuesday if things don't change, I really hope it's dietary because I'd rather keep my $85 !

I'll try her on collard greens or rocket instead. As for live feeders, there's limited choice here in New Zealand so that's why I chose repashy. I stopped feeding her crickets because she would eat $30 worth every two days! I would love to breed them but unfortunately don't have the space. The other option is locusts which are even more expensive and probably too big for her yet. Or mealworms which id rather stay away from.

In terms of weight loss, she's actually been gaining weight slowly but steadily which is good.

As I wrote this she jumped out of her tank and climbed up onto my bed lol. I left the door open on purpose

 

[Adriana0918]

lol aw sounds like a little mischievous one you've got there!
She seems to be pretty active which is great considering what her poop looks like. You'd think she'd act a little under the weather.
I get what you mean with the live feeders, they are expensive.
How old is your beardie?
Do you have any worms such as Phoenix worms or silkworms available to ship to you or pick up at a pet shop? If your beardie is old enough, superworms would be alright as well. You're right to stay away from the mealworms they have a real bad rep.
As for the weight, it's great that she has been gaining weight. It means she most likely doesn't have parasites as when they have parasites they tend to lose weight quickly. Make sure to monitor the weight. Any major weight loss is a real bad sign when you suspect any kind of parasite. And a fecal would be a great idea then.
I say give her a few days and wait for improvement, if she's still pooping this way, I'd bring her and a stool sample (from the same day) to a vet.

 

[kingofnobbys]

repashy grub pie every day, bok choy + pellets every second day, and the occasional wax worms or banana.

repashy grub pie is a VERY POOR SUBSTITUTE for live insects. I suggest giving live roaches or crickets (which are gut loaded and dusted) daily at 12 months old.
Another excellent insect staple are silkworms.

buk choy is fine, full of fibre and also quite rich in Ca.
pellets ? .... what brand ? .... I only give pellets now to my crickets.
wax worms = junk food also very high in phosphorus
banana is high in phosphorus (will bind dietary calcium) , OK for a treat.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Thanks for the quick reply!

I'll get a fecal done on Tuesday if things don't change, I really hope it's dietary because I'd rather keep my $85 !

I'll try her on collard greens or rocket instead. As for live feeders, there's limited choice here in New Zealand so that's why I chose repashy. I stopped feeding her crickets because she would eat $30 worth every two days! I would love to breed them but unfortunately don't have the space. The other option is locusts which are even more expensive and probably too big for her yet. Or mealworms which id rather stay away from.

Try Frog Arcade (Melbourne), https://frogs.org.au/live-foods/
I think you'll be able to get crickets in bulk , or superworms in lots of 500 sent across the moat by air parcel post from them. Will likely work out a LOT cheaper buying from them and shipping by airparcel post than buying crickets by the small tub and paying NZ retail prices for them from the local pet shop.

They send out orders on Tuesdays, so the deadline for online orders is 9am Tuesday . I'm in Newcastle and my crickets usually arrive Wednesday or Thursday , they ship all over Australia, so they'll have no problem sending to NZ.
I usually buy 700 x 2/3 sized crickets which come in a 4" diam mailing tube. (every 2 weeks of so)
I believe crickets and superworms are regarded as HARMLESS insects so they are not restricted (import from Australia to NZ by airparcel post).

Just Googled NZ insect breeders :http://biosuppliers.nz/crimson_004.htm , ouch ! pricey (a $1NZ / cricket in small tubs ONLY from them .

If you breed crickets from a tub of large crickets, I think all you'll need is a peet coir and some egg crates and a 30L plastic filing box , they wont crawl/climb/jump out of this.

 

[kayenzed]

She is 1 year 3 months old.

No access to any of the worms you listed, or at least when I researched 6 months ago there wasn't. I'll check again

I'll have a look around for dubias too, never heard of anyone in NZ with them but you never know.

As for repashy, I had no idea it was so poor, all I've heard is good things ie people raising their pets solely on it growing fast etc. I know that after starting her on repashy she gained 50 grams within a week, and another 100 grams that month. I'd really rather not have to spend $90 a week on crickets, maybe I'll do repashy half the week and crickets the other half? Is once a week too often for wax worms?

 

[kayenzed]

Try Frog Arcade (Melbourne), https://frogs.org.au/live-foods/
I think you'll be able to get crickets in bulk , or superworms in lots of 500 sent across the moat by air parcel post from them.
They send out orders on Tuesdays, so the deadline for online orders is 9am Tuesday . I'm in Newcastle and my crickets usually arrive Wednesday or Thursday , they ship all over Australia, so they'll have no problem sending to NZ.
I usually buy 700 x 2/3 sized crickets which come in a 4" diam mailing tube. (every 2 weeks of so)

Just Googled NZ insect breeders :http://biosuppliers.nz/crimson_004.htm , ouch ! pricey (a $1NZ / cricket in small tubs ONLY from them .

If you breed crickets from a tub of large crickets, I think all you'll need is a peet coir and some egg crates and a 30L plastic filing box , they wont crawl/climb/jump out of this.

Wow thank you so much for this! That would be very very helpful if they ship to NZ! There's another place called insectdirect where I used to get my crickets, but they're the same price. As for breeding them I did some research awhile back and apparently you need heat for them, certain soil, a container for eggs, and then another container for the babies once they've grown a little? Idk it seemed crazy. What's peet coir?

 

[kingofnobbys]

Try Frog Arcade (Melbourne), https://frogs.org.au/live-foods/
I think you'll be able to get crickets in bulk , or superworms in lots of 500 sent across the moat by air parcel post from them.
They send out orders on Tuesdays, so the deadline for online orders is 9am Tuesday . I'm in Newcastle and my crickets usually arrive Wednesday or Thursday , they ship all over Australia, so they'll have no problem sending to NZ.
I usually buy 700 x 2/3 sized crickets which come in a 4" diam mailing tube. (every 2 weeks of so)

Just Googled NZ insect breeders :http://biosuppliers.nz/crimson_004.htm , ouch ! pricey (a $1NZ / cricket in small tubs ONLY from them .

If you breed crickets from a tub of large crickets, I think all you'll need is a peet coir and some egg crates and a 30L plastic filing box , they wont crawl/climb/jump out of this.

Wow thank you so much for this! That would be very very helpful if they ship to NZ! There's another place called insectdirect where I used to get my crickets, but they're the same price. As for breeding them I did some research awhile back and apparently you need heat for them, certain soil, a container for eggs, and then another container for the babies once they've grown a little? Idk it seemed crazy. What's peet coir?

peat coir ( this stuff available from garden centres , http://www.brunnings.com.au/coir.html , as same as peat moss ).

A heatpad under the breeder tub on a thermostat will do the job , wrt keeping eggs and pinhead size crickets (babies) warm. If you have a nice warm house you will probably be fine without resorting to heating the breeding , incubation and rearing tubs , a good place might be under the kitchen sink or in the bottom of your pantry cabinet.

I used a 10L Décor ClearVue tub with small holes in the lid (made with a fine soldering iron) when I had very small crickets (20Days old crickets) keep them in.

I believe most here who breed their own crickets use click-clack tubs or 30L (or larger) storage tubs with lids. Beauty with these is they are compact, see through, tall enough to be escape proof, and STACKABLE ( so you can if you are organized, have a 5 or 6 organised into breeders, eggs, pinheads, 2 week olds, 4 week olds, 1/3 size, 2/3 size and then simply transfer the 2/3 sized crickets to the keeper tubs for gut loading prior to feeding out. (that's how I'd do if I decided to breed my own crickets).

Plastic take away food tubs with lids are the go for keeping the larger (small and medium sized) crickets in. Or used cricket tubs that have been cleaned , you only really need maybe 12 of these , you can probably sell your surplus crickets as well.
If you are stuck for the lids flash off a PM to me and I'll pop some of my spares (I've kept all the tubs I originally bought crickets in .

- I was buying my crickets in tubs (Piscus and BioLabsAu brand from local pet shops for my first 2 or 3 years and I kept all the empty tubs - handy for storing stuff in) , I'm sure I can slip a couple of dozen lids into an envelope to post to you (so long as you cover the postage, probably work out expensive postage to send a stack of tubs + lids to you when you get these over there easy enough).

http://birdcare.com.au/crickets.htm , might be worth approaching BirdCare.com.au for bulk crickets and superworms.

 

[kayenzed]

Wow, you make it sound much easier than the rest of the Internet! I'll have to ask my Flatmate though, see how she feels about having tubs of crickets in her house (I rent and she owns it).

That frogs site doesn't ship to NZ, but I'll email them anyway and see. I asked in a NZ Facebook group I'm in and I discovered that Phoenix worms are available here, but they're called Calci worms which is why I got confused. So yay! $20 for 200 worms, as opposed to $30 for 50 crickets lol. Thanks so much for your help

 

[kingofnobbys]

Wow, you make it sound much easier than the rest of the Internet! I'll have to ask my Flatmate though, see how she feels about having tubs of crickets in her house (I rent and she owns it).

That frogs site doesn't ship to NZ, but I'll email them anyway and see. I asked in a NZ Facebook group I'm in and I discovered that Phoenix worms are available here, but they're called Calci worms which is why I got confused. So yay! $20 for 200 worms, as opposed to $30 for 50 crickets lol. Thanks so much for your help

I've breed crickets by accident , found pinhead sized crickets in the empty tub a few weeks after I feed out resident crickets who'd grown to full size and mated and layed eggs in the egg carton material and these had hatched.
I've not tried breeding regularly as I get my crickets pretty cheaply from Frog Arcade and it's not worth the effort for me (if I had 3 or 4 breeding pairs of skinks and or dragons , and regularly had lots of little hungry mouths (baby skinks and hatchling dragons) to feed , I would definitely be breeding my own crickets as I'd have to pay a fortune otherwise to feed them all.

Most the guides for breeding crickets I've seen are by people in the USA and UK, and it gets polar cold there in winter for several months , so heating for the crickets is necessary there. NZ's climate is mostly much more temperate so other than in the depths of a cold snap or winter storm, if the house is heated , I expect the crickets will be fine without special heating.

I've been told woodies are much easier to breed, they actually thrive on neglect, but then your house mate might take a dim view of your breeding roaches.... for some strange reason

Frogs ships to Tasmania and Queensland and WA so apart from the extra paperwork , I can't see how there would be an issue them sending to NZ. Definitely worth asking them directly by email or by phone.

Also called calcigents (soldier fly maggots I think).
I've tried that kind of insect, they are very small and pupated TOO FAST for me and were a flop as a feeder (my skinks , even my little eastern water skink , wouldn't touch them, through the flies that hatched in Peppa's and Toothless's rearing tubs were a hit, they loved catching and eating them).
But definitely worth a try if you can get them and she will eat them.

 

[DaisyDragon123]

I fed my dragon Repashy Grub Pie and veggies during parasite treatment and he about doubled his weight. He put on 100 grams. Rephasy is more known for gecko food I believe but they are branching out. I am still going to use it. I think it's very good.