** Poop Today***No poop since Christmas

[Smid]

Smid hasn't pooped since Christmas. He has been eating less (maybe 1 worm every 3 days, lots of veg some days - collard greens, squash, endive - and some days no veg at all), sleeping more - but that seems like a really long time to not go. this happened right before Christmas too - resulting in a trip to the vet and a probe..... I have been giving him a drop of liquid calcium as per dosage from the vet and once of week i trick him to eat some veggies.

I've been giving him daily baths for at least 20minutes - varrying temps, tried applesause - will be trying some olive oil tomorrow. He has farted twice and once almost looked like he was going to go but no.

So I guess my questions are - should I worry? should I take him back to the vet for another probe? what can I do differently to help him go more regularly? He is 2, weighs ~600g 19.5". All his temps are great 102-108 hot side, 78-83 cool side.

Could it be humidity?? I did just move back to Edmonton where dry is an understatement - I don't have a proper guage for that, but I could definitly grab one and maybe put his water dish back in on the cool side....

All suggestions more than welcome

 

[remi1]

He could be brumating. Check this article out on brumation: http://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/brumation/

 

[Smid]

I imagine that he is brumating - but I'm worried about the lack of poop. I'm no expert but I've massaged his belly and I can't feel anything too hard in there - I know he has food in there somewhere - but where and what the hold up is of the poo I have no clue.

Liz

 

[remi1]

I don't think it would be the humidity esp since you're giving him a bath everyday. How much time is he spending underneath his basking spot? Maybe if he wants to brumate, then could be avoiding his basking spot; that would slow everything up and make him not want to poo. Have you had a fecal done before the pooping issue to check for parasites? The reason I'm asking is that if he's otherwise healthy I would suggest letting him determine how much he wants to eat instead of forcing food in him and then let him do his brumation thing. But, the pb is that he needs to poop out everything he has in him. If he's not basking, you can try and force him to bask, and then offer some babyfood squash, unsweetened applesauce or canned pumpkin w/a drop of olive oil mixed in to try and get him to poo (though you seem to have that dept covered).
Just so we all know, what are you using to measure your temps? What kind/brand of UVB light do you have?
Hopefully someone else here will have other suggestions to add...

 

[Smid]

I have a Megaray MVB and use two digital therms with probes. He still basks - just no poop.

The vet did a fecal test after she got her massive sample and he was fine then for parasites.

 

[remi1]

Forgive my ignorance, but what do you mean by probing? I've always understood it to mean a technique that people use to sex snakes and whatnot.

What kind of substrate do you have him on?

I'll do some reading this am and see if I can up w/ anything else, I'm sorry
See if anyone else will post a suggestion when this goes to the top..

As sort of a stupid question, is he in the habit of jumping off of things when he's out and about?

 

[Smid]

That's what the vet called it - I believe she slipped something up his vent to make him go.

I'm sure he'd jump if I let him - I keep a close eye on him when he is on my bed, but he hasn't jumped off anything in a long time - and when he did before it was more of a flailing fall as he just walked off the edge....silly dragon. Thanks for all your comments so far.

Liz

 

[NuKe]

If your sure its not brumation i recommend 100% squash baby food with some olive oil in the mix. It "Greases the pipes" to say and it recently helped me with with my little guy nero who hadnt gone for almost 2 weeks. Once you feed this a nice half hour bath at a little warmer temp than usual is inline. Thats my two cents

 

[Smid]

I'm pretty sure it is brumation - but I'm just concerned about the lack of poop as he has eaten in the past three weeks even though it's way less than normal.

Off to give some oil and applesauce and than a bath...

 

[Smid]

No luck again, he doesn't appear to be in any pain or worse spirits - he basked for about 2 hours after the bath - closed his eyes to food and has now moved out of the hottest spot to sit and ponder life under his hammock?? Any idea on how long is too long to not poop? Please

Liz

 

[remi1]

I think the fact that he's acting normally is good. I'm sorry, the only thing I can say is to keep up w/babyfood/unsweetened applesauce/pumpkin and oil along with warm daily baths... Is he seeming bloated? This may not be real relevant, but does it get too cold at night? What kind of substrate is he on? What did the vet say about his pooping pbs?
I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[Smid]

it gets down to about 70 at night, he is on tile, the vet didn't have any idea why - it was only his first time not pooping then. Thanks

Any other ideas suggestions out there??

Liz

 

[Smid]

bump

 

[Fallencomrade2008]

My male didn't go for like 3 weeks and then he decided he was going to drink so much water the he accually coughed up a bit of it (i called him choice words). Any way after the water incedent he went just fine. I imagine that he may have needed the extra water. As i have posted before he will never drink from anything except the tub. Good luck.

 

[remi1]

How's he doing today?