Hey everyone!
I'm new to the beardie world, so I've been trying to educate myself as much as possible for my new beardie Averath (Avery for short
). Lately I've been noticing that he has been having trouble digesting fruits and veggies; earlier when I was giving him a warm bath he pooped in the tub, and it pretty much looked like untouched veggies, apple pieces, and small carrot pieces (his meal from yesterday). He has no trouble digesting crickets, and his only trouble with mealworms is the occasional exoskeleton. I haven't given him waxworms because of the high fat content, and I want him to put on healthy weight; he was thin when I got him.
A little backstory: we found him in my mom's garden munching on some sweet potato vines. Since they aren't native, we had some red flags come up about what he was doing in the wild just before winter--we live in Texas and it was still in the high 60s - low 70s at this point in November. My mom was unable to catch him that first day since she's terrified of anything without fur, but the next day when I came home from uni I saw him basking on a rock and grabbed him with a towel. Fast forward: I get him a tank and some lights, and decide I'm keeping him myself. It only took him a couple days to stop hissing, he's never bitten, and now he's very docile and loves to be loved on!
We aren't sure how long Avery was in the wild; we believe a neighbour who moved out maybe a month before we found him was the one to release him before they left Another neighbour said they had been feeding him apples, thinking he was just the average Texas reptile hanging out in the yard, lol.
I've had him for about a month now, and the digestion problems seem pretty recent. I had a lot of trouble getting him to start eating veggies, since he was probably used to the apples he was given and wild insects. To this day he'll eat apple chunks first before starting on the rest of his salad! But adding apples was a good way to trick him into eating the greens, which I always cut up small so that it'll stick to the good stuff.
Some food I give him regularly (twice a week or more): Mustard greens, turnip greens, apples, baby carrot pieces, cilantro, blackberries, kale, radish greens, asparagus, bell peppers, and strawberries and their leaves. I'm in the process of finding out what he likes still do I can vary things more Out of these, it was the mustard greens, apples, carrots, and bell peppers that didn't seem to digest at all, but there have been other instances too.
More info:
-Avery is 13 inches long, and has shed all his legs, his tail, and the area around his mouth and beard, so he is still growing.
-We don't know how old he is, since we found him in the wild and have no idea about his previous husbandry, but he's old enough to see that he's male by the 2 bumps near his vent.
-I have him in a 20 gal tank (I know, I need to upgrade soon, but it was an impulse buy because we needed a place to put him). I took him off the included sand substrate very quickly because it was not only turning his skin orange, but it looked like he was getting it in his nose as well as all over his food and in his water when he ran around; now I have him on just simple paper.
-His basking spot is about 6 inches from his basking lights, and he has one for the daytime and one for night. That side of the tank is between 92-105 degrees, depending on the temp in the house. He's by the window to get some sun during the day, but I might have to move him away if it's drafty and messing with his temps.
-His UVB is a Reptisun 5.0, and site on the other side of the tank, which stays between 70-85 degrees.
The issue I'm having with his stools seems to only pertain to the fruits and veggies. His cricket and mealworm poops seem to be normally formed, if a little bit wet. He doesn't have diarrhea, but a little bit of liquid comes out with the poop and the urate. His urate seems to be just fine, pure white and solid but not hard.
Do you guys think he could have parasites? I've heard the digestion could be a warming issue, but his temps seem fine and he doesn't have trouble with his protein sources. He gets plenty of calcium. However, because we don't know what he could have picked up in the wild from eating wild insects, I'm kind of at a loos. He seems healthy and happy otherwise, and is very active even given me trying to induce a brumation cycle with fewer hours of light, lol. We don't have a reptile vet anywhere around here, do any info or advice for a newbie beardie owner would be much appreciated!!
I'm new to the beardie world, so I've been trying to educate myself as much as possible for my new beardie Averath (Avery for short
). Lately I've been noticing that he has been having trouble digesting fruits and veggies; earlier when I was giving him a warm bath he pooped in the tub, and it pretty much looked like untouched veggies, apple pieces, and small carrot pieces (his meal from yesterday). He has no trouble digesting crickets, and his only trouble with mealworms is the occasional exoskeleton. I haven't given him waxworms because of the high fat content, and I want him to put on healthy weight; he was thin when I got him.A little backstory: we found him in my mom's garden munching on some sweet potato vines. Since they aren't native, we had some red flags come up about what he was doing in the wild just before winter--we live in Texas and it was still in the high 60s - low 70s at this point in November. My mom was unable to catch him that first day since she's terrified of anything without fur, but the next day when I came home from uni I saw him basking on a rock and grabbed him with a towel. Fast forward: I get him a tank and some lights, and decide I'm keeping him myself. It only took him a couple days to stop hissing, he's never bitten, and now he's very docile and loves to be loved on!
We aren't sure how long Avery was in the wild; we believe a neighbour who moved out maybe a month before we found him was the one to release him before they left
Another neighbour said they had been feeding him apples, thinking he was just the average Texas reptile hanging out in the yard, lol.I've had him for about a month now, and the digestion problems seem pretty recent. I had a lot of trouble getting him to start eating veggies, since he was probably used to the apples he was given and wild insects. To this day he'll eat apple chunks first before starting on the rest of his salad! But adding apples was a good way to trick him into eating the greens, which I always cut up small so that it'll stick to the good stuff.
Some food I give him regularly (twice a week or more): Mustard greens, turnip greens, apples, baby carrot pieces, cilantro, blackberries, kale, radish greens, asparagus, bell peppers, and strawberries and their leaves. I'm in the process of finding out what he likes still do I can vary things more
Out of these, it was the mustard greens, apples, carrots, and bell peppers that didn't seem to digest at all, but there have been other instances too.More info:
-Avery is 13 inches long, and has shed all his legs, his tail, and the area around his mouth and beard, so he is still growing.
-We don't know how old he is, since we found him in the wild and have no idea about his previous husbandry, but he's old enough to see that he's male by the 2 bumps near his vent.
-I have him in a 20 gal tank (I know, I need to upgrade soon, but it was an impulse buy because we needed a place to put him). I took him off the included sand substrate very quickly because it was not only turning his skin orange, but it looked like he was getting it in his nose as well as all over his food and in his water when he ran around; now I have him on just simple paper.
-His basking spot is about 6 inches from his basking lights, and he has one for the daytime and one for night. That side of the tank is between 92-105 degrees, depending on the temp in the house. He's by the window to get some sun during the day, but I might have to move him away if it's drafty and messing with his temps.
-His UVB is a Reptisun 5.0, and site on the other side of the tank, which stays between 70-85 degrees.
The issue I'm having with his stools seems to only pertain to the fruits and veggies. His cricket and mealworm poops seem to be normally formed, if a little bit wet. He doesn't have diarrhea, but a little bit of liquid comes out with the poop and the urate. His urate seems to be just fine, pure white and solid but not hard.
Do you guys think he could have parasites? I've heard the digestion could be a warming issue, but his temps seem fine and he doesn't have trouble with his protein sources. He gets plenty of calcium. However, because we don't know what he could have picked up in the wild from eating wild insects, I'm kind of at a loos. He seems healthy and happy otherwise, and is very active even given me trying to induce a brumation cycle with fewer hours of light, lol. We don't have a reptile vet anywhere around here, do any info or advice for a newbie beardie owner would be much appreciated!!
