Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, JUST after feeding i was moving my BD out of the way to get her feeding bowl, so i placed her near a perch for her to climb on, and so i'm not looking, and all of a sudden i hear the crunch of her eating sumthing, and it happened so fast i couldnt tell wut it was. it sounded crunchy like a cricket, b/c thats wut i just fed her, and one could've easily escaped the bowl, but if it wasnt a crick, would a BD be stupid enough to eat its own feces and swallow it? i cant think of ANYTHING else that it could possibly be. she was chewing it for a second or two b4 gulping it down and didnt seem to mind it, so thats wut makes me wonder wether or not it was a crick. but if by the smallest chance in the world that it she did eat her own feces, how bad could that be? i kno worst-case-scenario would be death, but wut PROBABLY would happen??

sry for the long post, but thank you so much for reading it and responding!!!

gratefully, Eric
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0.2.0 Bearded Dragons (Nunca & Nexus)
My baby Beardie!(aka the Fugative)

It's quite common for bearded dragons to do that... so don't worry your dragon is not going to die. The biggest concern you will have is parasites and if the waste has been in the cage a long time and allowed to "host" and cause parasite build ups.

It's critical to remove waste as soon as possible to avoid bacteria and parasite build ups which can cause serious problems to your dragon health wise. But in general I would say no your dragon will be just fine.

brandon
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Dragons by Nature

yeah, thats the thing that made me so angry if it was feces. b/c i JUST cleaned the tank too b4 feeding, and i thought that i must have missed it or something, b/c w/e she ate was hidden right on her perch.

thx
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0.2.0 Bearded Dragons (Nunca & Nexus)
My baby Beardie!(aka the Fugative)

I actually doubt it was feces he was eating. Most likely a stray cricket managed to jump out of the bowl and hid on or near his perch. Considering most feces I have seen are firm but soft they wouldn't crunch, unless they had time to dry out in the heat of the basking lights. Especially considering you mentioned cleaning the cage just before feeding, it wouldn't have been an old one.