Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey everybody hows things???quick question..well quick for me anyway..lol..my wee guys are eating greens like crazy..i would say theyre eating as much greens as crickets..is this ok??im now feeding them crickets 3 times a day..but 1 hour after theyve eaten crickets there eating greens..and now there toilets are a little watery....im thinking of taking greens out and just giving once a day...what you guys think...im feeding them spring greens..dont know what there called in usa..but there dark green large leafs...also carrots..but not too many...they will eat anything and i mean anything..actually had to stop one eating my kids dinner tonight.he was trying to eat french fries.haha..anyway is it ok for young beardys to eat so much greens?????

First thing's first, if you haven't already had a fecal check on them, get one. Gotta rule out parasties.

As for too much greens, I think there are a lot of different answers for this one. My experience is this...

A few months ago mine we're both having watery stool. One had been dealing w/ giardea for quite a while, so I just figured he wasn't better yet. Then my little guy started doing the same thing. I took them both in and they were both given a clean bill of health. The vet then asked me what I was feeding them. I had always figured that there was no such thing as too much salads. The adult was getting about 90% salads and 10% insects, and the baby was getting 40% salads and 60% insects. The vet told me to cut back on salads and increase the insects, because greens and fruits contain so many fluids. Now my adult gets 50/50, and my juvi gets 30/70. It worked fine and they're both doing very well.

I think a lot of people do feed mostly veggies, and if that works for them that's great. For some reason my lizards didn't digest it so well, so I had to cut back. Given all the different factors like heat, humidity, activity, diet... not every lizard is going to be exactly the same, and there is no one right answer. So I think it's good to make little adjustments here and there and figure out what is best for your pets.

That's just my take on it.
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

were the fecals just watery, and with some shape to them still, or just a complete mess? I ask because studies are showing that adult bearded dragons that eat much more greens than insects tend to live longer and not have kidney problems. If it was only causing the feces to be watery but still with basic shape to them, and not just a big brown puddle (sorry to be gross), I wouldn't necessarily say that they aren't digesting them well. More that they are just getting more fluids and need to release more fluids. I don't think a 50/50 diet is going to cause kidney problems, but I'm having trouble getting mine to eat veggies (at 2 years old), and if I could get him eating at least 50% greens, I'd be very happy. But like I said, it sounds like your diet seems to work out well for your lizards, but from my point of view, you're very lucky to have two so eager to eat greens and veggies.

It was actually just green puddles of mess. No seperation from feces and urates, no shape at all. That's why I thought it was still the giardia. I always heard more veggies were better, so I was skeptical. I had ruled out everything else, though, so it was worth a shot. I didn't take away their greens, but I slowly increased their insect portions and that was all it took.

They still eat a heaping pile of greens everyday, but the main thing is they are getting more crix than they used to, and it makes the consistency of their stool more solid. The crickets are gutloaded with greens too, so even when they eat crickets they are getting greens. (don't tell them, it's a secret ) Every once in a while if I run out of crickets and they only get veggies for a day or two, it gets all runny again. I do realize that this is not the norm, but it's what works for me.

I still believe that plentiful veggies are great, but if a beardie is having runny stool and parasites have been ruled out, small adjustments to the diet may do the trick as it did in my case. Baby beardies especially need lots more crickets than adults do, so if braveheart's little beardies are gobbling down as many greens as they do crickets(and that's a lot)... I think it's possible that the watery stool may be a cause of that. He did say that it's just "a little" watery, so if it isn't parasites it's probably nothing major to worry about.
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

ok, it sounds like you are definately doing the right things then. I've got to take a fecal to my vet because even after the last treatment for strongylls, it still looks like my little guys has them. I'm almost certain it's still strongylls, but I have also been giving him gatorade lately because his uric acid levels were high, and his calcium levels were fluctuating (because he wasn't eating greens and veggies), and I think his phosphate was off a little too. Gatorade sure does do a lot though. It's increased his activity level by a lot, and increased his appetite, but there is the possiblity that his poo is runny just because of the gatorade, which is why I want to get a fecal done before giving him another treatment for his parasites (though I could do the panacur thing without doing a fecal...I just don't think it's good to put any medicine into a reptile if it may not need it, regardless of how harmless the medicine is).

But all in all, sounds like you're doing a good job, and I'm very envious of your lizards, though I could never give up my picky, wormy little guy (my vet calls him a wormy little guy, due to the amount of parasites he's had since I got him...which will hopefully be over soon).

the toilets have shape to them in mine just a little messy..and my beardys are juveniles

Well if you've had fecals done and they are clean of parasites, a little excess water in the stool is nothing major. Cutting back a little on the veggies may fix the problem, but probably isn't neccessary like it was in my case.
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

you can never over feed a beardie veggies!

lol! You didn't read my post, did you?
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)