Undigested Worms

[MoonsAreBlue]

My beardie Parthy made a poos this morning that had a mostly undigested superworm and an undigested reptiworm in it. She had already eaten 3 supers for breakfast. Should I be concerned? I've been feeding her 6 supers per day for a few weeks with no problems. Yesterday, I fed her 2 supers in the afternoon and then my order of large reptiworms came in. I fed her for 12 minutes, until she stopped eating them. I think she had at 25 or so. I gave her a bath 3 days ago. She ate a good amount of vegetables yesterday morning but not this morning.

Age: 4.5 months, had her since she was 1/1.5 months old.
Warm side: 115
Cool side: 83-88
Salad in the morning: collard greens, turnip greens, a couple small pieces of parsnip, green beans
Supplements: calcium with D3 (one feeding, 5 times per week) and herpivite (one feeding, twice per week)

The only thing I can think of is that I purchased a probe thermometer and found the cool side to be too warm (90+). I replaced my 100 watt bulb with a 60 watt and the temp dropped down the the range above. She did bask in the warm side after eating both supers and reptiworms.

Any ideas? I have supers, reptiworms, and crickets. I tried to feed her the crickets a couple days ago but she wouldn't eat them, so now I'm not sure what to feed her right now. I will have to order anything else online and won't be here until Wednesday, if I'm lucky. The shops around here only sell supers and crickets.

 

[destiny1998]

First off your basking step is to high 110 max. Also no supper worms till she's 16 inches. They have a kink in their digestive track and can cause impaction. Good luck!

 

[w0554096]

Hello,
There can be a few reasons for undigested food in the poop.
As the previous posted said, superworms are no reccomended until your dragon is around 16 inches, though that is a guideline and lots of people don't have any problem feeding small supers, in small quantities to younger dragons like yours.
What type of UVB are you using and how old is it? Is it mouting inside of the tank, or sitting on top of the screne?

Sometime if they are not getting enough UVB, they will have undigested matter in their poop.

Other than the undigested bugs, was the poop normal? Runny, smelly, etc?

Has she had a fecal done recently?

Parasites are another common reason for undigested food in poop.

Phoenix worms, reptiworms, etc, can frequently pass through undigested if they do not get chewed. It happens all the time and it's nothing to worry about.
If there's no issues with her stool (other than the undigested food) and no issues with her UV, them maybe just hold off on the supers for a few days and see how it goes. Try feeding her the reptiworms slowly, so that she'll chew them a bit. Some people also poke them with a pin before feeding them, just in case your dragon gobbles them whole.

Keep us posted.

 

[MoonsAreBlue]

Thanks for the advice! She hasn't pooed yet this morning, but is there something else I should feed her? I know I can keep reptiworms cooled at 50-60, but is there another feeder that I can do this with as well or will last a while if I order them in bulk online?

I only started feeding her supers because she got lazy in chasing her crickets and started eating less. Now she won't eat them at all, and supers were the only other thing sold at my pet store. There's a local store that might have a bigger selection, but their animals aren't kept very well. I don't want to take chances with their feeders.

 

[w0554096]

Depending on what area you're in Dubia roaches are a great staple feeder. You'll have to check though, since they are illegal in some places (Like Canada).
Silkworms also make an excellent staple feeder. Hornworms and butterworms are great to add into to their diet for variety also, though they can get pricey, especially at petstore. Butterworms can be refridgerated and will last for months.

The Reptiworms are probably your best bet for long term feeder. They very nutritious, most dragons love them, and apart from sometimes not chewing them and pooping them out whole, they're a great option for a staple feeder. You can order them in bulk and keep them in a mini fridge for months.

Superworms are a good staple as well, though depending on how big your dragon is, I would reccomend feeding many of them right now.

However, since your dragon's already 4.5 months old, you could start breeding supers now, and have a nice colony going by the time she's ready to eat them constantly. In the meantime, you could offer her micro supers as they come up.

 

[MoonsAreBlue]

She pooed a couple hours ago. It looked normal for the most part, nothing undigested. However, there was a lot of water that came with it. The poo and urate still held their shape, though. Also, there was a tiny amount of white, stringy looking stuff on the poo. From the placement, I'm wondering if it's just some of the urate that mixed in with the poo. Should I be concerned about that too? She was uninterested in her greens and the reptiworms this morning but ate a super when I offered it. I gave her another super (2 in total) so she would get some food in her. I didn't plan on giving her any this morning, but she just wasn't interested in the reptiworms.

I've thought about raising superworms. They're cheap at the pet store though, so I don't mind spending the money every couple of weeks. I don't think roaches would be a good idea. I live in an apartment complex of sorts and if any escaped, that may cause a huge problem. Butterworms and silkworms might be good, but they are expensive. Approximately how many would a growing beardie eat? She ate 18 of the reptiworms last night. I'm about to order a lot more reptiworms/phoenix worms since I just purchased a mini fridge and hopefully I can get all the feeders from one place.