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My bearded dragon Sidney doesnt seem to want to go to the bathroom. He eats like a horse, but he spaces his bowel movements out so that there is anywhere from 3-5, sometimes even a whole week in between. I keep him on repticarpet, so I don't think it could be an impaction. I think my temeratures are right. The thermometer is on the floor of the enclosure right now (about 20" from the light, since it is raised up) and it reads about 88 degrees. Sid's basking spot is 5-6 inches higher, and last time I checked it it was in the 100's. Should I just try gradually turning it up? He will move to the other side if it gets too hot right? I am worried that my thermometer isn't giving an acurate reading. Last time I put it on the basking spot, the temperature just kept going up, as high as 140 or so, but I think the thermometer might have just gotten too hot.

any suggestions? (either for thermometer, or for why the dragon won't poo)

later

Maybe your thermometer isn't reading accurately, what kind is it?

>>My bearded dragon Sidney doesnt seem to want to go to the bathroom. He eats like a horse, but he spaces his bowel movements out so that there is anywhere from 3-5, sometimes even a whole week in between. I keep him on repticarpet, so I don't think it could be an impaction. I think my temeratures are right. The thermometer is on the floor of the enclosure right now (about 20" from the light, since it is raised up) and it reads about 88 degrees. Sid's basking spot is 5-6 inches higher, and last time I checked it it was in the 100's. Should I just try gradually turning it up? He will move to the other side if it gets too hot right? I am worried that my thermometer isn't giving an acurate reading. Last time I put it on the basking spot, the temperature just kept going up, as high as 140 or so, but I think the thermometer might have just gotten too hot.
>>
>>any suggestions? (either for thermometer, or for why the dragon won't poo)
>>
>>later

How long have you had him and is it possible he is impacted from the previous owner's enclosure?
Does he soak? Where does he stay in the heat gradient?
How big are the crix he is getting? You can impact an animal on too big of bugs. So could a bad parasite load.
I personally would soak him a couple times a week and see if that increases his pooping.
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Sonya

How old is your dragon. If it is an adult, it can be normal.
If it's a small dragon, get a digital thermometer from Radio shack or Walmart to make sure your temps are accurate. They are about $10.00-$15.00.

I put my digital thermometer up on the log again, and when I came back and looked at it it just said HH...which I guess means it's too high for the thermometer to read. So I pulled the analog thermometer off of the side of the tank and threw it up on the log and sure enough, right off the scales (it goes up to 120). So I'm guessing it might have been more than 130 in there. No wonder he hasn't been basking as much lately. But now I'm confused, because last time I measured the temperature on the basking site, it was about 110 when the thermometer on the floor read 86. This time it read 88 and it was like 130 on the log. Is this wierd or normal?

So anyways, I got the temps back to normal (I have my light on a dimmer switch). We'll see how he does in the next couple of days, it won't be a week of no pooing until wednesday. If he gets to wednesday and still nothing, I'll give him a good soak (even though it usually doesn't help him for some reason).

To answer some of your questions, Sidney is about 1 year old (we think) since we got him about 6 monthes ago, and he was only 13 inches, and now he's 16 inches. So we are guessing he's pretty much done growing. I think his growth may also have been stunted since he wasn't under the best care when we got him (we weren't observent enough to realize it when we got him though). The guy that runs the shop seems to like using either calcium sand or repti-bark for his lizards, but if he was impacted, we would have noticed already, and I think the vet would have too (he got a check up).

We'll see what happens and then try soaking. If that doesn't work, are there any types of food we can give him the will...uh...loosen up his bowels?

later

I would soak him now, if he was under temps that high his cells can dehydrate and you could have worse problems on your hands, at a mininum he needs misted several times a day.

Try to encourage him to drink, placing him in a small tub and moving the water in front of him gently or then dripping it on his nose should start him drinking.

Bearded Dragons left under to high a heat can have kidney damage due to the body not having fluids to filter out inpurities. Some symptoms of dehyration is wrinkled skin, dark circles under the eyes and consipation

since once it got hotter he didn't bask much, just in the cooler part of the day. I will get him hydrated though. I gave him some water today and he drank it.

well, i guess i'll do my best and see how it goes.

later