Reptile & Amphibian Forums

this is prolly a really weird question... but i'm a new owner and i was wondering how often bearded dragons go to the bathroom... I've had mine since saturday and i've only seen him do #2 once... ive fed him every other day so i'm just wondering....

depends on what they eat how much even just the dragon and the temps.
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My Leo's
1.0.0 Normal
0.1.0 Tremper Albino
My Beardie
0.0.1 Red x Gold

How old is it?
How much food does it eat every other day?
How does its abdomen look? Distended?
Need more info to answer your question, but there are to possibilities.
1. Your dragon is pooping out as much as it is eating, which may or may not be enough.

2. Your dragon is not pooping out as much as it is eating, which could be due to an impaction, sub-optimal temps for proper digestion, internal parasites, or other physiological factors.

More info is needed to tell if your dragon is putting out enough, but generally speaking, my dragons at least usually poop at least twice a day when growing and at least once a day when full grown.
Paul

paul,

he's 6 months old, i fed him crickets and lettuce the 2 or 3 days ago and he went once but not since then... today i fed him mealworms and tried carrots with some lettuce... he ate all of it except the carrots

um his abdmonen looks fine.... what do you mean by distended??
the temperature in the tank isnt high enough i guess that could be the problem.... is that really bad??? im gettin the big lamp
soon.

It sounds to me you were not really prepared for this animal. They need to eat every day. If it is young it needs to eat several times a day. Lettuce is not giving it any nutritional value at all. You need to read some care sheets from the internet and be more prepared to take care of its nutritional needs. The rate of growth on young dragons require proper feeding and supplementation. It's great that you came here for advice but do some research on their diet needs. Start with www.beautifuldragons.com

Mike

I agree 100% with the above post. Please do some research on this animal, regarding temps, ligthing, supplementation and feeding.

Only being fed every other day will pretty much explain the lack of poop... At this age he should have lots of small crickets (no larger than the space between his eyes) to eat at least two times daily!!!

i gave him crickets the other day... i must have put 15 in his tank and he didnt eat them all... i left them there all day. and i leave vegetables in a bowl in his tank all day and he doesnt eat all of it.

Since you've only had him for a couple of days, it's possible he's not eating because he's stressed out from the move. He should start eating like a pig very soon though, if there isn't a medical problem. A good rule is to always get a new beardie to the vet for a checkup and a fecal, just to make sure he's healthy.

Also, please follow kephy's advice, and check out the link below. Beautyfuldragons.com is a great resource in every aspect of beardie-care. I don't know where you've got your info on beardie care, but I can tell you that every owner with a little experience, including myself, will tell you that the information you've received is completly ridiculous and not to be trusted!
Beautyfuldragons.com

I forgot this was a brand new dragon. It's very normal for him to not be interested in food right away after a big move like that, so ignore my post about him not having an appetite. In a week or so he should be eating like a pig.

Still, as ND said, a vet visit and a fecal on a new dragon is always a good idea.
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1.0.1 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

i made a vet appointment for next week... due to my work schedule i cant get him there at during the week after work.

ive gotten most of my info from the pet store i got him from and a book about bearded dragons.. the other sources ive used are links from this site... but i checked out that other site you guys told me about and ill follow that from now on.... just being a new owner i wasnt sure on what was right and wasnt. but i know now... thanks!

Good idea. Sounds like you really want to learn all the right info to take good care of him. Too bad that there is so much bad and conflicting info out there to confuse new owners.

As much as we wish it weren't this way, it seems like a lot of pet store employees don't have to actually know how to care for the animals to work there. There are the few who care and do know a lot and we are grateful for them, but more often than not it seems like they just say whatever they can to sell, and do what is most cost effective, even if it isn't in the best interest of the animals.
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1.0.1 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

i want to make sure he lives a prosperous life and stays healthy... he's the coolest thing i've ever bought and he deserves to have a good life... i was really scared when a bunch of people on here said i was feeding him wrong. the guy in the pet store i got him from had raised him or so thats what he said so i figured he knew what he was talkin about. who knows what he was telling me.

thanks for your help!

also another question... when is the best time to feed beardies? early in the morning or kinda mid afternoon? I've been feeding him around 6pm

Best to feed salad in the morning so he has all day to pick at it. Cricks can be fed around noonish and mid afternoon. As long as he has at least two hours after the food is removed from his cage to bask and digest before the lights go out.
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1.0.1 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

A 6 month old should be eating a lot more than that. My 3 month old goes through 50-60 crickets a day, plus salad.

You probably should schedule a vet visit to see why he has such a small appetite. Parasites and impaction are the first things that come to my mind when I hear about a dragon loosing it's appetite.
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1.0.1 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

i have been reading up on all kinds of forums and books and websites about bearded dragons. i have seen in more places that you should feed them every other day not every day. thanks for the info though.

Did all those places tell you to feed them lettuce and carrots, too? Cuz those are terrible foods for beardies.

I've been reading up on beardies for 3 years and I've never seen anyone recommend feeding them every other day. Adults need to be fed daily, and juveniles need to bed fed twice daily. To feed a 6 month old every other day, and feed him things like lettuce, carrots, and mealworms.... is very bad for him. Please, just feed him daily, there is no reason not to except for laziness. Remember it's better to overfeed than to underfeed. Babies can sometimes eat up to 60 small crickets a day. That is not the kind of appetite of an animal who should be fed every other day.

And go to beautifuldragons.com for nutritional info on the foods you feed him.
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1.0.1 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

I would really like you to post a link to some of those places. If you continue to keep your dragon on the schedule you have it on you will incur continued problems. If you continue to feed it lettuce it will get diarrhea and become dehydrated. I really have to question where you have gotten the info you say you've read. If you want to raise a sick dragon and watch it continue to get worse, then go ahead and disregard the info YOU requested and keep doing everything "business as usual".

Maybe I misread your response earlier. I thought you were coming off as "I read something different elsewhere and I'm going to listen to that instead of you guys". It now seems you were misinformed and you really do want to take better care of it. Disregard my earlier post of irritated responses and I'll take my foot out of my mouth. ( I'm quite used to the taste)

It is possible that the info on the page was misinterpreted, which is easy to do when first sorting through the mounds of info available on the web regarding BD's. I'd be willing to bet that the original info was refering to feeding a full grown adult crix every two to three days. See how this may be misread as feed every other day? Either way it looks like the original poster is being steered towards the correct info and is making the effort to care for his/her BD.

Somehow I doubt his abdomen looks fine and not distended if you fed him 3 days ago. they need food everyday, I am not going to type all of the care sheet but visit beautifuldragons.com for a care sheet, I don't feel like flaming today.

Well I didn't read the rest, so it's good that you want him do have a long happy life. how long is he? After bieng fed that all his life he must not be very big.?