Poop problems

[StellaG]

We brought home Stella on Sunday. She’s 10 months old and we were told she’s been healthy. She currently eats dubia and or crickets about 15 or so of them daily, salad of kale and bell pepper with calcium and D and a little water spray. She’s been eating well. Moves about her enclosure from basking to hammock to cool area and seems generally ok. She looked really full so I thought maybe she had eggs and made her a lay box. Turns out she was constipated and was bloated. Now she looks like a deflated balloon. I currently have her in her lay box with heat and UVB until I’m done cleaning and resetting her enclosure.

my questions since I can’t get her to the vet until late next month(they are fully booked):

1. is mucus in poop always bad?
2. Is it normal for there to be liquid and strong odor after with a blowout when they have not pooped for a week or so?
3. Does she look ok or too skinny? Her tail is plump so I’m guessing the skinny look is from going from bloated to normal?

 

[Beardie Lover]

She is a little skinny. You could bump up her food to around 25 insects or so. About the poop… when my beardie hadn’t pooped for a while her poo did smell pretty bad, but if it smells like rotten then you should definitely get her checked out. Have you tried to give her collard greens? They are the healthiest option. Mucus in poop is normal unless it is A LOT. Is her poop brown with a little white? She looks overall pretty healthy, besides being a little skinny. A good way to tell if she has eggs is to feel under the belly and see if you can feel grape sized objects.

 

[Sadie]

We brought home Stella on Sunday. She’s 10 months old and we were told she’s been healthy. She currently eats dubia and or crickets about 15 or so of them daily, salad of kale and bell pepper with calcium and D and a little water spray. She’s been eating well. Moves about her enclosure from basking to hammock to cool area and seems generally ok. She looked really full so I thought maybe she had eggs and made her a lay box. Turns out she was constipated and was bloated. Now she looks like a deflated balloon. I currently have her in her lay box with heat and UVB until I’m done cleaning and resetting her enclosure.

my questions since I can’t get her to the vet until late next month(they are fully booked):

1. is mucus in poop always bad? Mucus is fine
2. Is it normal for there to be liquid and strong odor after with a blowout when they have not pooped for a week or so? Runny stinky poops could be a sign of parasites - if you think she might have them take a fecal in to the vet have it tested NO ENEMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3. Does she look ok or too skinny? Her tail is plump so I’m guessing the skinny look is from going from bloated to normal? -- --- please increase the food - if shes eating salads good feed more salads - insects should be as many as she can eat in a 10-15 minute time frame - make sure you have good lighting like NO coils for a UVB but a long tube fixture NO Thrives and NO Zilla fixtures - if you need more help please ask --- basking temps need to be 95-100 taken w/ a digital probe thermometer -- this is all VERY important for her overall health and behavior --- what are you using for a lay box for substrate?

 

[StellaG]

She is a little skinny. You could bump up her food to around 25 insects or so. About the poop… when my beardie hadn’t pooped for a while her poo did smell pretty bad, but if it smells like rotten then you should definitely get her checked out. Have you tried to give her collard greens? They are the healthiest option. Mucus in poop is normal unless it is A LOT. Is her poop brown with a little white? She looks overall pretty healthy, besides being a little skinny. A good way to tell if she has eggs is to feel under the belly and see if you can feel grape sized objects.

Thank you! It was just a little mucus compared the amount of poo. I will up her food. She’s certainly hungry for it. It did smell rotten. Im actually getting her in with another exotic vet on 9/2. I haven’t done collards yet but will with my next grocery trip. She did have a large urate that was very soft looking and brown poop followed by watery stool and then a large amount of green stool.

I appreciate the help while waiting to get her into the vet.

 

[StellaG]

Runny stinky poops could be a sign of parasites - if you think she might have them take a fecal in to the vet have it tested NO ENEMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had the same thought but they won’t test her without an initial visit. I’ll be sure to save a stool sample for her visit so they aren’t going in to get one. When I brought her home she was in a pretty filthy enclosure that smelled quite bad so my first thought was parasites or gut infection.

3. Does she look ok or too skinny? Her tail is plump so I’m guessing the skinny look is from going from bloated to normal? -- --- please increase the food - if shes eating salads good feed more salads - insects should be as many as she can eat in a 10-15 minute time frame

she could eat a lot in a full 10 min. I’ll up them.

- make sure you have good lighting like NO coils for a UVB but a long tube fixture NO Thrives and NO Zilla fixtures - if you need more help please ask --- basking temps need to be 95-100 taken w/ a digital probe thermometer -- this is all VERY important for her overall health and behavior --- what are you using for a lay box for substrate?

I have washed play sand that is moist but not wet. A dome light with 75w keeping heat around 100 and UVB in ZooMed fixture with T8 linear 10% and she is about 6 inches under it right now.

 

[Sadie]

Runny stinky poops could be a sign of parasites - if you think she might have them take a fecal in to the vet have it tested NO ENEMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had the same thought but they won’t test her without an initial visit. I’ll be sure to save a stool sample for her visit so they aren’t going in to get one. When I brought her home she was in a pretty filthy enclosure that smelled quite bad so my first thought was parasites or gut infection.

3. Does she look ok or too skinny? Her tail is plump so I’m guessing the skinny look is from going from bloated to normal? -- --- please increase the food - if shes eating salads good feed more salads - insects should be as many as she can eat in a 10-15 minute time frame

she could eat a lot in a full 10 min. I’ll up them.

- make sure you have good lighting like NO coils for a UVB but a long tube fixture NO Thrives and NO Zilla fixtures - if you need more help please ask --- basking temps need to be 95-100 taken w/ a digital probe thermometer -- this is all VERY important for her overall health and behavior --- what are you using for a lay box for substrate?

I have washed play sand that is moist but not wet. A dome light with 75w keeping heat around 100 and UVB in ZooMed fixture with T8 linear 10% and she is about 6 inches under it right now.

Ok sounds good--- it's possible shed gravid but she is going- has she been doing any digging like frantically?

 

[StellaG]

Ok sounds good--- it's possible shed gravid but she is going- has she been doing any digging like frantically?

she was digging the day we brought her home, I think just really stressed, but not since then. She has not dug at all in the sand. She seems content there though. Just drying her tiles and her enclosure will be ready again. Glad to have the lay bin ready for future just in case. If I notice any digging or frantic behavior I’ll try putting her back in the lay bin.

 

[Sadie]

she was digging the day we brought her home, I think just really stressed, but not since then. She has not dug at all in the sand. She seems content there though. Just drying her tiles and her enclosure will be ready again. Glad to have the lay bin ready for future just in case. If I notice any digging or frantic behavior I’ll try putting her back in the lay bin.

Yes and is there a clear plastic cover over the bulb on the uvb if so take it off please

 

[StellaG]

Update! Poops are formed now with just a little extra liquid but food is actually digesting!!! Here’s what I think helped:

She came to us without any lighting so having proper UVB and heat I’m assuming made a difference. I was adding bell pepper to her salads and spraying with water, she doesn’t need that extra hydration. Greens and bugs alone seem to be offering plenty hydration for a healthy poo and urate. I think the stress of moving, new people and a new enclosure probably added to the problem. I was giving her dubia at first but noticed those were not well digested so I’ve switched to crickets with a wax worm or two(she was also underweight). She went from not pooping for a week, having several blowouts to now having a daily or every other day formed, well digested poo. She’s also more active and plumped up and not to wrinkly looking.

 

[StellaG]

Another update: Stella has parasites and worms and is being treated for both. I am finding that she digests crickets the best in regards to insects. BSFL came out whole so I’m going to stop feeding those even through she loves them. I will be trying silkworms next. All in all her digestion is still improved, which is encouraging. I suspect with adequate treatment and good care this won’t be an ongoing issue. Fingers crossed.

 

[Sadie]

Another update: Stella has parasites and worms and is being treated for both. I am finding that she digests crickets the best in regards to insects. BSFL came out whole so I’m going to stop feeding those even through she loves them. I will be trying silkworms next. All in all her digestion is still improved, which is encouraging. I suspect with adequate treatment and good care this won’t be an ongoing issue. Fingers crossed.

How many of the BSFL are you feeding? And is she eating them really fast? That is a common occurrence w/ the BSFL we often tell people to feed not so many at a time as they tend to swallow them whole -- if shes digesting every thing else and the other insects are coming out whole its not the basking temps- that too would cause insects to come out whole -- I would feed them just not so many at a time if she loves them

 

[StellaG]

She does love them and I feed them one at a time but I give her about 15 in a single feeding.

 

[Vic and Mars]

She does love them and I feed them one at a time but I give her about 15 in a single feeding.

You don't have to stop feeding them, just do it more slowly so she will give herself time to chew. If she just swallows them whole no matter what you can just stop feeding for a while, and wait until she becomes "more mature" to where she'll take her time

 

[StellaG]

You don't have to stop feeding them, just do it more slowly so she will give herself time to chew. If she just swallows them whole no matter what you can just stop feeding for a while, and wait until she becomes "more mature" to where she'll take her time

Thanks. She just tend to just swallow them. They may be too small for her to bother chewing? The ones I have are maybe 1/2 inch. Do you feed BSFL regularly? How do you do it and how many do you feed? I have a ton of them and my gecko doesn’t like them and my chameleon only need a few so I’m a bit overstocked at the moment.

 

[Vic and Mars]

Thanks. She just tend to just swallow them. They may be too small for her to bother chewing? The ones I have are maybe 1/2 inch. Do you feed BSFL regularly? How do you do it and how many do you feed? I have a ton of them and my gecko doesn’t like them and my chameleon only need a few so I’m a bit overstocked at the moment.

I try to feed them daily, but I have a hard time getting my beardie to eat them :/ she prefers dubias since they move much quicker. You can actually give them up to 40 per feeding, although I usually do fewer. Do you take her out right after or during feedings? After they have lots of bugs they need to be left in their enclosure for a few hours so they can be in the correct temperatures to properly digest all that protein and fat. My beardie used to have this same problem because I'd take her out during or after large feedings

 

[StellaG]

I try to feed them daily, but I have a hard time getting my beardie to eat them :/ she prefers dubias since they move much quicker. You can actually give them up to 40 per feeding, although I usually do fewer. Do you take her out right after or during feedings? After they have lots of bugs they need to be left in their enclosure for a few hours so they can be in the correct temperatures to properly digest all that protein and fat. My beardie used to have this same problem because I'd take her out during or after large feedings

Thank you for sharing your experience. I only take her out before feeding insects or several hours after salad. She is generally good about hopping right onto her basking spot right after eating. Is suspect her eating the larvae fast and being on antibiotics may be the culprit.