Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Today I finally got him to poop... 30 minute belly massage didn’t work... he hasn’t eaten a single green since hes been here so I thought maybe lack of water. When he would open his mouth basking on his rock I shot 1ml of water in his mouth... 1 hour later he pooped, extremely large. In the bowel movement were 3 very hard pieces of calcium Im guessing... not sure, they were very hard to squeeze. What causes this buildup? Lack of UVB? Maybe his light wasn’t close enough? They were just real hard white pieces that looked like tylenol pills but a little bigger.

I got him last Wednesday so its been a week and 3 days. Anyone have any ideas. He eats about 10-20 superworms a day, he ate 1 dubia roach... not sure how the calcium buildups or what they were got so hard, but im guessing he was probably impacted from them? Any ideas what I can change to prevent this in the future? Should I not dust with regular calcium and use the calcium with d3... I do use a UVB light but I think the light wasnt close enough to help. Its now close enough and kept on 3-5 hours a day. Calcium with d3 or without?

I think it could have been caused by lack of water and diet possibly. I think 10-20 superworms a day is excessive. I would start feeding him insects every other or third day and give him salads every other day. Use mustard, turnip, endive etc and add some shredded carrots and other veggies with a little fruit. This will provide water to him if he isn't a big drinker. Also try some warm shallow soaks maybe once every two weeks.

Good luck

I find a lot of animals love cantaloupe... Maybe you can add that to the salad.

I soak the cut leafy greens in very warm water to crisp it up (especially when they just come out of the fridge), this way they have more water in them, and when I strain it, I don't even bother dry it off. I give them to my bearded dragon dripping wet; this way they get a lot of water when they eat the greens...

The hard white substances in the poop are urates, the solid form of urine all reptiles pass. These are perfectly normal.

Keeping your dragon well hydrated is best way to ensure regular bowel movements. A healthy diet is also good, with plenty of greens fed daily.

I can't remember if you posted what age your dragon is. Adult dragons should be fed about 80-90% vegetable matter (assorted greens, vegetables etc) with the rest being insects. Typically about half dozen superworms, a couple silkworms or hornworms are more than enough. Half a dozen adult crickets are fine as well. Or you can give a feeding of insects a couple times a week.

Dragons under a year old should receive insect feedings every day with salad offered daily as well. The younger the dragon the more frequent insects should be offered. Hatchlings would need 3-4 insect feedings throughout the day, with greens always available.

Washing greens to ensure they are crisp and damp is a great way to help keep dragons hydrated.

A good basking temp with ranges between 100-120F (with tiered or multiple basking areas so the dragon can choose how high of basking temp they want at any given time is far better than just one single temperature for a basking spot). UVB is also very important and the basking area should be fully exposed to UVB, the tube ones typically should be 8-12" above the basking spot (further for the higher rated ones, 8.0-10.0) or about 18" for mercury vapour bulbs or coiled florescent tubes.

Avoid lose substrates like calcium based sands, as these can cause issues in the intestinal tracks such as impaction. Also, the heavier grains do not break down in the digestive system and extremely little if any, are absorbed. Better to use the ultra fine calcium powder in addition to a healthy calcium rich diet of greens (collards, mustard greens etc)
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PHLdyPayne

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