Runny poops and constipation

[NarcoticRain]

Hello! I've got some concerns about my bearded dragons health and questions about what i should do.
I'll first give a little background.
I've had my beardie since November of last year, he was bought as a hatching from Petsmart. I haven't had any problems with him at all up until now. He's had a vet visit since the problem im about to discuss started and he has a clean bill of health, according to the vet, but were having a bit of a problem still. His diet currently consists of phoenix worms in the morning, greens and carrots throughout the day, and crickets about 4 hours before bed.
The problem first started a little after i introduced a little bit of fruit to Lupins diet. He absolutely loved it, eating the little bit he got first, and only eating his greens afterwards if he was still hungry. After he started eating fruit, his poop got smelly and very runny. He was pooping big smelly piles every day. This is when i took him to the vet and then took the fruit back out of his diet.
Now that he isn't having fruit, he has been going days without pooping. He just went 4 days, which is the longest he has ever gone without pooping, and when he finally did poop, he was straining VERY hard and looked a bit distressed. The thing is though, he is not eating any less, hes not less active, or anything else that could signal that he is sick.
I'm very confused as to why this is happening. He has proper lighting and heat, he eats well, but he's just not pooping well and that worries me very much.
I've considered starting to give him fruits again to maybe help him out, but im so worried of having to deal with the runny poops again. He would always run through it if he did it while i am at work, and always looked so unhappy about it. Plus i had to disinfect his tank every other day to get rid of the smell.

 

[CooperDragon]

When you visited the vet, did you have a fecal test done for parasites? The runny, smelly poop can be caused by them sometimes. If that's ruled out, the fruit could have been causing excess hydration which would result in runnier poops. I would try to strike a balance by hydrating the crickets really well and rinsing the salad components before adding them to ensure that they are as moist as possible. I'd try that for a week or so and see if it helps.

 

[NarcoticRain]

When you visited the vet, did you have a fecal test done for parasites? .... I would try to strike a balance by hydrating the crickets really well and rinsing the salad components before adding them to ensure that they are as moist as possible.

The vet saw nothing in his poop when we went, and since then there has been zero runny poop and zero smell. I think part of the constipation may be due to stress, he just got upgraded to a bigger tank and ive been slowly changing his night/day cycle.
His crickets stay fed and hydrated and i also wash his greens daily.
I've bought some butternut squash to see if he likes it and if it helps.

 

[CooperDragon]

The squash is a good thing to offer and will carry a bit of extra moisture. Please keep me posted on if that helps or not.

 

[NarcoticRain]

I'm happy to report that Lupin is doing a whole lot better. It took him a while, but he LOVES the squash. Im super glad his poops arent runny anymore because he decided a good time to take a poo would be while sitting on the edge of my super expensive gaming laptop! :shock: Soooo glad it didnt run from the corner into my keyboard

 

[CooperDragon]

I'm glad to hear that he's feeling better! You can try using regularly scheduled baths to help regulate poops and minimize further near laptop destroying incidents.