So my little girl just pooed..

[SR20]

I just gave my beardie a warm bath today. She had not pooed for about 2-3 weeks before today, so I was hoping she would while in the bath. She did, and it was a lot. It's been about only 10 minutes since the bath but she seems a bit cheered up now, but I would too seeing as much as she pooed lol. Anyway there were a few phoenix worms floating in the tub after she pooed. They were not chewed up, they were whole. I am guessing she is not chewing them while she eats them. Is there any way to get her to chew them? It seems like she does, and I know she chews up her crickets and superworms. I just don't want her to get impacted. From now on I will be giving her warm baths more frequently. & hopefully she will be more energetic as well because for the past month or so she has just been laying inside of her cave unless I would take her out of it. Anyway my only concern is what I should do about feeding her worms and how I can get her to chew them. I will include a picture below so if poo grosses you out don't scroll down lol!

You can see a phoenix worm floating beside her right side.

 

[daner923]

How long is she? The way to get them to chew phoenix worms is to only offer a few at a time, or to poke them with pins. This is pretty common. But they probably aren't the cause of the impaction.

 

[SR20]

She is 15 inches long from her snout to her tail. I've been feeding her phoenix worms since she's been about 2 months old and she has never had a problem with them. This is the first time this has happened. I usually give her anywhere from 10-20 a day, plus around 20-40 crickets. & occasionally a superworm and every few days I'll give her 2 waxworms as a treat. I also feed her a bowl of mustard greens everyday unless I run out.

 

[daner923]

I would hold off the supers for another inch or two - they can definitely impact beardies under 16 inches. Glad she passed it though!

 

[SR20]

Alright, I will hold off on the superworms until she is bigger. She has only eaten about three of them, I got like 50 in a variety pack I ordered last week and gave her one at a time to see if she liked them. She had been acting lethargic and hiding in her cave before she had ever eaten supers, so something else possibly could have caused it. All in all I'm just glad it passed and she finally pooed, she does seem happier!

 

[Dragon4Me]

My 6 month old has been eating medium phoenix worms for over a month now and just last Friday she poo'd and it had undigested worms and worm pieces, I thought it was because she was on medicine for parasites, that maybe it affected her digestion but I was told on here that it's not unusual with Phoenix worms...it's been better since I give her less in the morning..I more evenly distribute between her two feedings. On the weekends when I have more time I give her a few at a time as she eats them.
Jennifer

 

[daner923]

She should still get as many as she can eat at each feeding. If you can't take the time during the week to feed just a few at a time, you can either poke them with pins or pick something else for weekday feedings.

 

[SR20]

Daner, what would you suggest being a few at a time? I usually give her 10 at a time once per day. I use them for her source of calcium, so if I should just stop feeding them to her if it persists I can just dust her crickets with calcium powder.

 

[daner923]

Well, she should be eating as many as she wants twice per day. What I mean is put five in, let her eat them, then 5 more, etc, until she doesn't want any more.

 

[SR20]

Alright. One more question though lol sorry. If the phoenix worms are being undigested does that mean she's not getting the calcium from them? & should I be dusting crickets with calcium powder as well? I dust her crickets with a multivitamin twice per week but I don't dust with calcium since I feed her the phoenix worms.

 

[daner923]

As long as she is digesting MOST of them, then she will be fine. If she isn't digesting any of them, then no, she isn't getting any calcium.

 

[Esther19]

What is the temperature at the basking spot, and what are you using to measure the temp?

 

[SR20]

The basking spot temp is always between 98-103 Fahrenheit. I use a digital probe thermometer to measure the basking spot temps. Sometimes she basks, sometimes she doesn't. Lately she has been laying inside her cave a lot, the one on the hot side, but after I got her to poo in the bath she has been out more. Right now she is laying on top of her cave on the cool side of the viv, which is 82 degrees.

 

[SR20]

Thanks for all the help daner! I will be keeping a close eye on her and seeing if she starts digesting the worms better, and I will go on from there.