# Bearded dragon Pooping



## Rach and Io (Sep 29, 2012)

Hey there, were new bearded Dragon Parents, we adopted her exactly one month ago today (Yey happy post 1 month adoption day!)

We named her Olwen (welsh name), she was roughly 3 years old so we just class 29th of August as her birthday now 

Anywho my question is she laid some infertile eggs on the 25th of September (4 days ago) and she took a poop that day but has not pooped since.

With the moving and everything her pooping has been all over the shop anyway so I'm not quite sure what her "routine" is exactly (Old owner said every two days but we've changed her diet a little and get her to hunt her pray now than hand feeding like she was use too).

We was just wondering had any of you experienced a beardie not pooping for a while?
She's eating well and had been to the vets prior to laying eggs (he's a really good reptile vet too, highly recommended too us) he was pretty happy with her, she'd had x-rays etc (different issue). 

We know about things such as egg binding but not really too worried yet as she's not acting poorly and is eating very well. 
We have tried to bath her and softly rub her tummy today but it didn't seem to work. She's not even trying to strain or anything though :?

Her substrate is beardie special fake grass looking stuff and 1/3 kitchen tissue as she likes to cuddle into it at night so I don't think she's at anything that could impact her. 
(She came to us on wood chips, they got taken out about 3 days after we got her as she ate 3 trying to catch a cricket and nearly give us a heart attack, we were in two minds about the stuff anyway).

This might seem like a really weird first post but we have been following these forums for about a year (wanted to do some major research into beardies before getting one to ensure a good way of life for her).


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## vgorst (Sep 27, 2011)

Welcome 

Seems you've been thrown in the deep end with this one!

If she's still eating then hopefully she'll start pooing again soon. If you get concerned then I would advise taking her to the vets again. It could be any number of things from being a bit constipated, retained eggs to any other infection (aggravated by the stress of laying eggs). 

Keep feeding her and making sure she's hydrated (avoid rubbing her belly when bathing). Double check temperatures, UVB and supplements as this can also cause constipation. I would put a lay box in with her if you haven't already, she's likely to have further clutches.

If she is still eating regularly and not pooing for 1-2 weeks then I would get her back to the vet. Hope it all goes well for her!


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## Rach and Io (Sep 29, 2012)

Thank you for the welcome 

We've had a crazy time with her so far, it's been heck of an eventful month. I also forgot to add to my last post she's also shedding at the mo so even more of a stress factor for the poor little one! 
She popped her eyes out the other week! that was scary lol! 

Thanks for all the tips, we'll continue going as norm and hopefully she will manage to poop soon, we've been putting it down to her maybe being sore from all the laying. 

Just for future reference why would you recommend avoiding rubbing her tummy? If you don't mind me asking, I'm not confronting you just trying to learn 

Also temps, what would you recommend? We've seen a lot of places say keep her basking at 32C but her old owners use to keep her at 28c, we've been trying to slowly wean her up to 30c but she pants a lot, want her too be properly digesting and stuff though 

We asked the vet about our supplements and he was pretty happy with them. He did recommend adding some red or yellow peppers to her diet though just for a little mix up and extra vits. 

UVB was changed pretty much when we got her and we are planning on changing it again in 6months (Around Io's birthday so we don't forget hehe).

Again thanks for the reply, we were going to give her a week and then give the vets a call if she still has not passed anything.


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## vgorst (Sep 27, 2011)

She popped her eyes? What caused that? 

If you rub their belly in the wrong way you can cause more damage than good, internally they're quite delicate. Many people recommend it but i would only do it if a vet recommended to.

Temperature wise her basking spot should be around 105-115f (off the top of my head I think thats around 40-45c). It seems high but remember they're from Australia in very hot/dry areas. Gradually increase the temperature as, you're right, she won't be used to it. Adjust it by using her behaviour, she should only bask for short periods and then be off exploring/hunting. Make sure her cool end is high 70f- low 80s (sorry I can't think of centigrade) to allow her to thermoregulate properly. Her low basking temperatures may be contributing to her lack of pooing, without sufficient heat they have difficulty digesting their food. This can eventually lead to impaction. 

Sounds like you've got UVB and supplements sorted. If you need a list of other good veg search in google for 'beautiful dragons nutrition' and it should be the first link (I would link it but I'm on my iPod lol).

Sounds like you're doing good by her


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## Rach and Io (Sep 29, 2012)

Shedding apparently, vet confirmed it too  
It helps stretch the skin out to get all the old stuff off, gotta be honest I thought she was having an allergic reaction to something lol. 










Ahh fair enough I see, that's a pretty good way to think about it, thanks for that. 

No worries, I'm constantly using google to convert the temps anyway haha. We'll continue to ease it up and see how she goes 

Thanks for the food chart, we have one similar we printed out when we first got her (stuck it up in the kitchen on our "notice board" type thing we have). It's never a bad thing to have too many though 

Thanks! We just want her to have the best life she can I guess, she's got a few kinks in her tail, vet said she probs had MBD when she was younger  she's also got puckered scars on her tail, I dread to think where she initially came from because we are the 3rd set of people to have her poor thing! 
She's got good bones now though according to the xray's they took so at least she's doing good now and hopefully we can keep doing good by her!


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## vgorst (Sep 27, 2011)

Ooo ouch that looks quite painful! Does that go back to normal itself or did the vet give you something?

It's sad when animals are constantly passed between homes but I'm glad she found somewhere good finally! Sounds like you are really going those steps further for her  She should be a very happy beardy!


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## Rach and Io (Sep 29, 2012)

Nah it literally lasted like 30 seconds and she just sucked them back in again. 
Scary 30 secs when you have no clue though lol.

Yea it is really sad! we wanted an older beardie anyway as we didn't want to take on a baby first time encase we did something wrong to effect it later on in life, plus there are too many unwanted older beardies to want to encourage the breeding of more which will probs also just end up in shelters, poor things 

Thank you hehe 
What pets do you have gracing your home?


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## vgorst (Sep 27, 2011)

I've never seen that before, but if it only lasted 30 seconds I bet many beardy owners haven't seen it either.

Older beardies are nicer I think, a lot more chilled out and not quite as piggy!

I've got 2 African fat tail geckos, a crocodile skink and an African pygmy hedgehog atm, I did have a kitten but my mum fell in love with her lol. Do you have any other pets?


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## Rach and Io (Sep 29, 2012)

*on returning from a google search*

Ohhh my! they are so cute! they are all like miniature! and I didn't think you could get such a cute looking skink breed! 

Aww bless! Kittens are quite sweetly persuasive though hehe! 

I've had a hamster before, and have a dog at my mums (but she's all of ours so obviously doesn't live with me now I've moved out).

Io's had rabbits, rats, budgies....etc but has nothing except fish at his parents home now.

We've both had fish from one point to another and were given two fish in the second year of uni by the previous tenant that didn't wish to move them all the way north with him. 

But yea, Olwen's our first reptile between us so were really new to the game


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## vgorst (Sep 27, 2011)

Yeah I go for the little reps  although my bf has a bosc monitor that I help to look after...he's not so tiny!

Well if you have any more questions/problems then just ask on this forum  most people are willing to help (although you will get the odd a*se!)


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## Rach and Io (Sep 29, 2012)

Aww hehe! the little ones are the cuties! I would just be afraid of losing them behind the sofa haha.

Aww I've see a few pics of Bosc's they ain't so tiny no 

Thanks for that  Yea I've seen a few criticizing replies while browsing here before getting Olwen. I understand in some cases people should really do some reaseach and I can see why owners would get riled up but at the end of the day no one is going to learn through being shouted at, they will either be too scared to come back or become stubborn and carry on, just not a good route because it's the lizard that suffers in the end. 

UPDATE: Gave her another bath today, left her too it and just put our hands in encase she wanted us, She was sitting on my hand and oh and behold she pooped :notworthy: :2thumb:


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## vgorst (Sep 27, 2011)

Bet you've never been so glad to see poo!! That must be a relief


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## Rach and Io (Sep 29, 2012)

Very big relief! Although not the first time been glad to see her poop, when we first had her she was on wood chip substrate which got totally removed when she ate 3 chips trying to chase a cricket (she'd never hunted them before, always hand fed but we wanted to see if we could get her to hunt)

Anyway she passed them pretty much the next day but the wait was agony!


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## ThatFredChick (Mar 6, 2012)

How big are your wood chips?? Although my beardie can't hunt either nor is he spectacularly bright it seems, he has eventually learnt to spit them out as they're bigger than crickets and obviously not very crunchable :L


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## Rach and Io (Sep 29, 2012)

Not quite sure to be honest, we got rid of them like 3 days after we had her, I think they were assorted sizes but roughly 1/2cm x 1/2cm.

We changed it to kitchen tissue at first but bought a bit of special beardie carpet stuff (looks a bit like fake grass) it covered 2/3 of the viv, were going to get more but decided to keep 1/3 of it paper tissues as she loves to cuddle up in them at night 

We've had to change her viv quite a bit since we've had her, she had a log thing in there but fell off it and hurt her leg one day so that came out too, she was prescribed bed rest by the vet so we left her basking rocks and little wood bark thing in there propped up by a little wood arch thing. Currently making her a basking platform we've made ourselves out of cardboard, currently covering it in "child edible safe" paper mache (that's flour, water and salt mix hehe) and going to seal it in a waterproof, high temp taking sealant that will be totally aired before it even goes near her viv.


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## Zoobec (Jul 24, 2012)

Seems like Olwen has a lovely home! I love our beardie, we've had him a month too, they are amazing!


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## Rach and Io (Sep 29, 2012)

Ain't they just? I love how cuddly they are! 

Aww thank you! ^_^
I'll get some pics up when her viv is finished


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