poop question...

[Becky08]

I took Mr be bops poop out of his cage...it was fresh and the white part was kinda hard...i read it could be from dehydration? ?? Or too much calcium? ?? I give him a bath 3 or 4 times a week...im going to get a syringe and see if i can get him to drink..never seen him drink in his bath! Will he be ok??

 

[Claudiusx]

Hi ,

If the urate is hard/chalky, that is a sign of dehydration. Usually too much calcium causes an orangy/yellow urate.

How long are his baths?

He shouldn't really have hard urates with baths 4 times a week.

-Brandon

 

[Becky08]

Its ususlly 10 min...he doesn't like them very much..he doesnt sit still...some of it was soft and same was hard...but not chalky hard...like it didnt fall apart like chalk would

 

[Twobeardieguy]

I agree, how much calcium/vitamins a week are you giving?

 

[Becky08]

5 days a week one feeding

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Back the calcium down to 3-4 times a week once a day until the urates go back to white-clear.

 

[Becky08]

Ok thank u :0)

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Welcome. :wink:

 

[Becky08]

Ok...now im worried! He really might be dehydrated ...his skin isnt wrinkley but it kinda looks dry! The sides of him mostly..i thought he was shedding but idk...tried the syringe but he didnt open ofmr anything....should i force it? I gave him a bath for 15 min ran the water in front of him he just looked at it and tilt his head...should i do baby food?? Ahhhhh help!!

 

[Esther19]

Try putting a little unsweetened juice in with the water. My clan is happy to lick it up when there's a splash of raspberry juice added.

 

[Becky08]

Ok ill try that tomorrow(his bed time is in 10 min)...do thy have no energy when dehydrated? ?hes pretty active for the most part..he runs around his cage and i take him out and he loves it...but sometimes he sits under his basking platform and just stays there...

 

[Mustashio]

I'm going to add to this thread because many of the OP's questions are the same as mine. My first question is...at what point are you saying his poop is slimy/hard/etc. When my Tashi has just "freshly" pooped, it looks wet and the urates usually separate a bit from the darker stool. Then, depending on how long you wait to analyze it, it all tends to get dry and hard. I'm pretty good at cleaning up the poop within a few hours (cuz it seems all I can do is sit in front of his viv and watch him all day! Love him!) He gets 10-15min baths 3-4 times a week, and will often drink water either during the bath or sometimes I drip a drop of water onto his nose and he licks it off.

We had a pretty good health scare when we first brought Tashi home about a month and a half ago. His stool was full of parasites from the pet store and he was walking like he was drunk and falling over, and displaying some signs of low calcium, and eventually stopped eating! We thought we were going to lose him. But we syringe fed him for about a week until he regained his voracious appetite, added another UVB light to add to the Mercury vapor bulb we already had, and now he is back to his voracious healthy self! Phew! He finally started eating his greens this past week...especially loves red cabbage and butternut squash, and eats about 10 crickets 2x a day, plus occasional mealworms. Calcium dusted at one feeding 5x a week and vitamin dusted for one feeding 2x a week. Daily misted (and sometimes calcium sprinkled) salads.

Leading to my next question....today his poop, which has been once or sometimes twice a day, was very large (the cabbage perhaps?) and had a distinct urate portion, but then the darker portion also turned quite white after about an hour. What's up with that? Worrisome or no?

I love turning to this board for questions! Sorry OP for jumping onto the coattails of your original post!

Jill