swolen vent

[fancybearded]

So Yoda poops about every other day. Gets bigger with every shed it seems. Well today he pooped and I noticed when he ran away that his vent is still swolen. I have never actually seen him poop until today.So my qquestion is....does it take a few minutes for it to unswell? Today is also the first time I had every seen an undigested worm in his poop. But not entirely sure if he didn't just poop on a rouge worm. His diet is mostly Phoenix worms and kale salad.

 

[daner923]

Sometimes they don't chew the phoenix worms because they are so small. Then they don't get digested and come out alive The solution to this is to either feed them just a few at a time (think like 5, then add 5 more, then 5 more, etc, until he is done) or poking all the worms with a pin so that even if he doesn't chew them his digestive acids get inside them.

They do push out their cloaca a little when they poop, and it can take a few seconds to go back in after that. As long as the cloaca doesn't stay stuck out, he's fine. If it does, that is called a prolapse, and is a very serious and life threatening situation.

 

[fancybearded]

Thanks It did go back to normal but today his poop was wetter yhan usual. I think maybe he had too much of the dirt that is in with the worms. He looks so happy now tho. White belly and basking.

 

[daner923]

What kind of dirt? You should always wash off phoenix worms and pat them dry before feeding them to your dragon.

 

[fancybearded]

The one they are packed in. We shake them off but never rinsed. That detail wasn't in the direction sent with my order.

 

[scipherneo]

The website says that the packing material is 100% safe for your dragon, however they recommend removing it. I'd imagine it could cause some small temporary issues if a good deal of it was ingested. I suggest just taking a portion of the cup of worms, and dumping them into a little Tupperware container filled with water. The worms float, the dirt doesn't.

 

[fancybearded]

Awesome thank you for the advice. My husband came home with a strainer.