Please help!!!

[Jhoa.124]

I have a 5 month old female bearded dragon. I got her from petco a month ago. She has been doing well with eating and pooping. Today, she did not eat as much during breakfast time maybe 5-8 insects (mix of crickets and dubia roaches). I tried to put the insects in front of her during the day, nothing. Then at dinner she did not eat anything and went to bed. During the day, around 3 she pooped twice, the first time was good! Pee and everything. Second time again well, but then the last piece of poop was like round and not like long and ovally like normal. I see it and it has a little bit of blood. I’m so contused as this can be so many things. It could be parasites, I know crickets are very prone to parasites, I was going to stop feeding crickets after the few I have. And just do dubia and worms. Another possible thing is just being hard to poop, like us humans when it takes us a lot to push it out lol and we bleed a little. I really hope it’s not parasites and just an upset tummy. She has not pooped since then, shes been in her basking spot the entire day. She has not been moody everything is the same. Can someone with more experience with bearded dragons help me out pls! Thanks!

 

[hdochow]

the first place to start is with your setup. it really does control everything health wise with these guys. let us know what size enclosure you have, what lights, feeding schedule, temperatures and how you are getting those readings. the vast majority of the time any issues are solved by getting those things on par. the fact you said you got her from petco has me concerned. they are notorious for selling "kits" that are actually a great way to kill a dragon. the person i rescued sir henry of scales from bought one of those kits. luckily i found this forum and learned the correct information to care for him. trust me, everyone here wants the best for you and your dragon! we will ask questions that might not seem relevant, but they really are. it is also helpful to post pictures of your dragon along with your full set up, and then close ups of the lights, top of the enclosure (screen/solid top), that type of thing. once those things are in place, it is much easier to diagnose your particular question about what is going on.

 

[hdochow]

and welcome to the forum!

 

[Jhoa.124]

the first place to start is with your setup. it really does control everything health wise with these guys. let us know what size enclosure you have, what lights, feeding schedule, temperatures and how you are getting those readings. the vast majority of the time any issues are solved by getting those things on par. the fact you said you got her from petco has me concerned. they are notorious for selling "kits" that are actually a great way to kill a dragon. the person i rescued sir henry of scales from bought one of those kits. luckily i found this forum and learned the correct information to care for him. trust me, everyone here wants the best for you and your dragon! we will ask questions that might not seem relevant, but they really are. it is also helpful to post pictures of your dragon along with your full set up, and then close ups of the lights, top of the enclosure (screen/solid top), that type of thing. once those things are in place, it is much easier to diagnose your particular question about what is going on.

I have a 40 gallon tank, I use paper towels as floor, I have a basking light I think its 75 watts and UVB 10.0 from amazon. I feed her twice, morning after she wakes up she gets greens but not a lot since she’s not an adult yet so I keep it 90% bugs 10% greens. And around 6-7pm for dinner time. It has always been like that. Her basking spot reaches 95, her cool side is about 75. I have 3 thermometers in her tank as well as for the humidity which is 35-40 most of the time! I provided a picture of her. She has shed already healthy shed! last week!

 

[hdochow]

oh she's a little cutie!!!

for your uvb, is it a long tube light, or a compact/coil? you want a tube, the compact/coils are inadequate and cause health problems. the tubes have specific distances to have them based on the top of your enclosure and what strength of bulb. i'm sure @KarrieRee will chime in at some point. work with her, she is our lighting guru. if you need links for tube UVB lights, she can help you out. also, did your kit include red or blue bulbs? if so, get rid of them. they are also not good for beardie health. they want it cool and dark when they sleep. the wattage of the basking light is really hit and miss. the size of the enclosure is a factor, as well as the temp in the room the enclosure is in. there is no set way to know which wattage you need right off the bat.

they should have salads every day, even if they don't eat them much in the beginning. i leave them in the enclosure all day, and then the left overs are fed to sir henry's roaches in the early evening. you want to make sure they have at least 2 hours to digest food after eating, so watch that pm feeding vs your light shut off time. here is a link for foods that are appropriate for them. ignore it saying kale is not good, it has been found to be a great staple feeder and that list has not been updated.

what type of supplements are you providing? and how often?

what type of thermometers are you using? if they are the dials that stick on, that is only reading ambient temps, and for basking you want the surface temp. the best to have are digital probe thermometers. IR temp guns can be used, but they can be off depending on what the basking decor is made of. links for the digital probes can be posted if needed.

 

[Jhoa.124]

oh she's a little cutie!!!

for your uvb, is it a long tube light, or a compact/coil? you want a tube, the compact/coils are inadequate and cause health problems. the tubes have specific distances to have them based on the top of your enclosure and what strength of bulb. i'm sure @KarrieRee will chime in at some point. work with her, she is our lighting guru. if you need links for tube UVB lights, she can help you out. also, did your kit include red or blue bulbs? if so, get rid of them. they are also not good for beardie health. they want it cool and dark when they sleep. the wattage of the basking light is really hit and miss. the size of the enclosure is a factor, as well as the temp in the room the enclosure is in. there is no set way to know which wattage you need right off the bat.

they should have salads every day, even if they don't eat them much in the beginning. i leave them in the enclosure all day, and then the left overs are fed to sir henry's roaches in the early evening. you want to make sure they have at least 2 hours to digest food after eating, so watch that pm feeding vs your light shut off time. here is a link for foods that are appropriate for them. ignore it saying kale is not good, it has been found to be a great staple feeder and that list has not been updated.

what type of supplements are you providing? and how often?

what type of thermometers are you using? if they are the dials that stick on, that is only reading ambient temps, and for basking you want the surface temp. the best to have are digital probe thermometers. IR temp guns can be used, but they can be off depending on what the basking decor is made of. links for the digital probes can be posted if needed.

Thank youu! UVB is a long tube! I also take her outside when the weather is nice to get natural UVB from the sun! The kit that I got came with Basking and UVB no red or blue! I have not used none of those! My house is usually a good 75 degrees! When Im able and have time, I try to hand feed her, so I know she’s eating her greens and getting used to it! I first feed her small little bites of collard greens then her insects. And leave veggies in her enclosure as well! I give her Calcium with D3 from repticalcium! 3 times a week! They are the ones that stick on the tank all 3 are! But thank you so much!!

 

[hdochow]

oh good! so far you have avoided most of the "kit" problems i encountered. the outside UVB is great! i'm not quite at the outside temps here at home that will allow that, but we're getting close. are you giving a multivitamin too, or just the calcium? you're going to want digital probes for basking temps. something like this would be sufficient. you can have just 1, and move it around, but i have 3 so i don't have to mess with relocating them to get temp readings. the probes hang on the back wall, and every now and then i move the one on the hot side to the basking spot to verify readings there. babies like a hotter basking spot than adults do.

 

[Jhoa.124]

oh good! so far you have avoided most of the "kit" problems i encountered. the outside UVB is great! i'm not quite at the outside temps here at home that will allow that, but we're getting close. are you giving a multivitamin too, or just the calcium? you're going to want digital probes for basking temps. something like this would be sufficient. you can have just 1, and move it around, but i have 3 so i don't have to mess with relocating them to get temp readings. the probes hang on the back wall, and every now and then i move the one on the hot side to the basking spot to verify readings there. babies like a hotter basking spot than adults do.

Definitely take your bearded outside, its so cute seeing them look around haha!Just the calcium, I had read that multivitamins wasn’t as a need as Calcium. If you can recommend some multivitamins please! Okay great thanks for the info!

 

[hdochow]

sir henry for sure loves outside time! we just have a limited season where it is warm enough to do so on the north oregon coast.

they should have a multivitamin at least once a week. sir henry hates anything powdered, so we get liquid calcium and vitamins from tracie, @Drache613 , who is a moderator here on the forum. she's a vet tech and usually on pretty late at night my time. her website is bug-de-lite. there are plenty of powedered calcuim and vitamin supplements, i just have no experience with them so don't really have recommendations on which is better than others

 

[Jhoa.124]

sir henry for sure loves outside time! we just have a limited season where it is warm enough to do so on the north oregon coast.

they should have a multivitamin at least once a week. sir henry hates anything powdered, so we get liquid calcium and vitamins from tracie, @Drache613 , who is a moderator here on the forum. she's a vet tech and usually on pretty late at night my time. her website is bug-de-lite. there are plenty of powedered calcuim and vitamin supplements, i just have no experience with them so don't really have recommendations on which is better than others

Oh okay!
Okay great thanks so much!
One question, how do you feel about feeding crickets? Since ive read some articles saying they are really prone to parasites.
Another thing, my beardie ate a couple insects this morning. Do you think it’s just a tummy problem or something else?

 

[hdochow]

we don't do crickets. they are disease prone, can be noisy, and stink. plus, they die off quickly.

it is possible the temps are off which could affect eating/digestion. or she could just not be hungry. if she's acting normally otherwise, i'd get the probes to verify temps and then just keep an eye on her.

 

[Jhoa.124]

we don't do crickets. they are disease prone, can be noisy, and stink. plus, they die off quickly.

it is possible the temps are off which could affect eating/digestion. or she could just not be hungry. if she's acting normally otherwise, i'd get the probes to verify temps and then just keep an eye on her.

Seems like her appetite is back! I 100% agree with the crickets, I still have some left so Im thinking of finishing those up. What other insects do you feed that can be fed on the daily? Since I know super worms are high in fat. And mealworms as well!

Thanks so much! Her appetite definitely came back, she hasn’t pooped today. But she definitely seemed more interested in her food she ate her leefy greens and some bugs, I tried to not give her as much since I dont want to disturb her tummy as much. I dont know if that’s right to do hahaha. Hopefully tomorrow she eats well!

 

[hdochow]

we only feed dubias, but sir henry only has bugs once a week now, if he chooses to eat them at all. a couple times a year we get some superworms or silk worms to give a break from the dubias. currently we have some silkworms. you could do all 3 and do a mix. the silks grow fast though so only buy a small amount at a time.

 

[Jhoa.124]

we only feed dubias, but sir henry only has bugs once a week now, if he chooses to eat them at all. a couple times a year we get some superworms or silk worms to give a break from the dubias. currently we have some silkworms. you could do all 3 and do a mix. the silks grow fast though so only buy a small amount at a time.

Great thanks so much! And cutting off crickets won’t hurt them right?

 

[hdochow]

not at all. a lot of people do crickets cause they can be found locally. it's actually cheaper to get bugs online.