Is it eggs?

[Caitlinp99]

Hi everyone. I have an 8 month old female beardie named Cleo. For the past week she’s been acting very strange, and her pooping and eating habits have changed.
She started pooping in her viv instead of the bath, which I wasn’t too worried about at all, but lately she’s been passing runny urates with no poop. She also hasn’t eaten at all today, and sometimes hasn’t been eating her second feeding.
She has started scratching the walls of her viv and bumping her nose against the glass.
I took her to the vet with a stool sample but he didn’t test for parasites as the sample wasn’t diarrhoea. He said her weight, skin, eyes and everything else was fine. But there’s definitely something up with her. I asked the vet if he thinks she could be gravid, but he couldn’t tell just by feeling her stomach and mentioned that she could have a follicle problem which would require her to be spayed.
I have made her a lay box which she hates, I haven’t put it in her viv yet as she just keeps jumping out. She doesn’t dig at all when she’s in it.
I have no idea what to do and I’m so stressed, she just doesn’t appear to be getting better.
Sorry it’s so long but she’s had a lot of problems which just suddenly came on her.
Thank you.

 

[PatsyB]

What are your temps? How old is your UVB? How big is the tank? Was it an exotic vet or just a vet that sees exotics? If he thought it could be follicles he should have taken an X-ray of her belly. Feeling her belly isn’t going to tell him anything but with an X-ray they will see what is going on.

All dragons, male and female, do what you are describing with running around the tank and bumping the glass. Sometimes they get restless and just want out. A female that is gravid will dig at the floor of the tank like she’s trying to make a hole.

What are you feeding her? Some bugs are juicier than others and can cause runny stool. I know if mine eats too many horn worms they will just pass urate.

It’s not impossible for an 8 month old to be gravid. She’s still really young though, usually it starts around 18 months. I would first take a look again at your husbandry and just make sure it’s all in check.

 

[Caitlinp99]

What are your temps? How old is your UVB? How big is the tank? Was it an exotic vet or just a vet that sees exotics? If he thought it could be follicles he should have taken an X-ray of her belly. Feeling her belly isn’t going to tell him anything but with an X-ray they will see what is going on.

All dragons, male and female, do what you are describing with running around the tank and bumping the glass. Sometimes they get restless and just want out. A female that is gravid will dig at the floor of the tank like she’s trying to make a hole.

What are you feeding her? Some bugs are juicier than others and can cause runny stool. I know if mine eats too many horn worms they will just pass urate.

It’s not impossible for an 8 month old to be gravid. She’s still really young though, usually it starts around 18 months. I would first take a look again at your husbandry and just make sure it’s all in check.

Hi, thanks for the reply
Her basking spot temp is around 100-105. I’ve had the UVB for three months and it is an Arcadia 12% t5 floodlight. The tank is 3ft and I am getting a bigger one soon. The vet was an exotics vet.
She isn’t really digging at the floor from what I’ve seen, she’s standing on her back legs and scratching the walls. I use paper towels as a substrate and she often kicks those up.
I am mostly feeding her brown crickets and hoppers. She did have black crickets when this started, so maybe they could have something to do with this. She’s had them before and found them hard to digest.

 

[Caitlinp99]

Nevermind what I said about scratching the walls, I just walked in on her scratching in the corner of her viv

 

[Aerries]

My BOY dragon digs to the bottom of of tank....I think he might be confused with the name Cleo lol but he’s 100% male. He has the two bumps on his tail above the vent lol


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[Caitlinp99]

My BOY dragon digs to the bottom of of tank....I think he might be confused with the name Cleo lol but he’s 100% male. He has the two bumps on his tail above the vent lol


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They’re funny little animals haha. Cleo has been going crazy in her tank lately, just running back and fort, scratching the walls and glass dancing. I don’t know how she has so much energy lol

 

[Hdrydr31]

They’re funny little animals haha. Cleo has been going crazy in her tank lately, just running back and fort, scratching the walls and glass dancing. I don’t know how she has so much energy lol

It is alot of that going around my male is going crazy surfing/bobbing and my female is antsy moving around her tank alot..lookin for lovin....

 

[Caitlinp99]

It is alot of that going around my male is going crazy surfing/bobbing and my female is antsy moving around her tank alot..lookin for lovin....

I wonder if what’s happening with Cleo could just be that and not eggs

 

[Hdrydr31]

I wonder if what’s happening with Cleo could just be that and not eggs

It could be since your dragon is still on the young side for eggs...however making sure she doesn't have eggs is important and really the only way to know if she's got eggs forming is an xray. Making sure she is free of eggs is important as it's possible for eggs to rupture causing serious infections etc...

 

[Caitlinp99]

It could be since your dragon is still on the young side for eggs...however making sure she doesn't have eggs is important and really the only way to know if she's got eggs forming is an xray. Making sure she is free of eggs is important as it's possible for eggs to rupture causing serious infections etc...

She’s mostly stopped eating, she’s eating around 5-9 small hoppers a day and it’s takes about an hour to get her to eat that as she just wants to come out of the tank, but when I take her out she wants to go back in

 

[Hdrydr31]

Ok I went back thru this post and I saw that he didn't test her poop???("stool sample but he didn't test for parasites as the sample wasn't diarrhea") He should have tested it regardless of the consistency!! when I had my 3 dragons poop tested they were all normal looking but had parasites!! Not sure why I didn't catch what he said earlier, parasites could definitely be making her not act right!!

 

[Caitlinp99]

Ok I went back thru this post and I saw that he didn't test her poop???("stool sample but he didn't test for parasites as the sample wasn't diarrhea") He should have tested it regardless of the consistency!! when I had my 3 dragons poop tested they were all normal looking but had parasites!! Not sure why I didn't catch what he said earlier, parasites could definitely be making her not act right!!

Yeah, he told me to come back with a loser fecal sample. I have an appointment tomorrow with a different exotics vet and I’ve heard such good things about him, she’s going to have an ultrasound to check for follicles or eggs. If it’s not eggs, it most likely is parasites as she’s not eating.

 

[Hdrydr31]

Yeah, he told me to come back with a loser fecal sample. I have an appointment tomorrow with a different exotics vet and I’ve heard such good things about him, she’s going to have an ultrasound to check for follicles or eggs. If it’s not eggs, it most likely is parasites as she’s not eating.

I'm glad your going to a different exotic vet as a fecal sample is a fecal sample..they can test any sample..
Keep us posted!

 

[Caitlinp99]

Just got back from the vet, she is indeed gravid! I have some recovery diet to syringe feed her as she hasn’t been eating. Overall he was happy with her, and if she doesn’t lay within a week he will do an ultrasound to check for any problems.

 

[Aerries]

Just got back from the vet, she is indeed gravid! I have some recovery diet to syringe feed her as she hasn’t been eating. Overall he was happy with her, and if she doesn’t lay within a week he will do an ultrasound to check for any problems.

Geeze maybe I’ll be looking into my girl and watch her closely lol she’s not showing signs yet but I imagine she will be soon


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[Hdrydr31]

Just got back from the vet, she is indeed gravid! I have some recovery diet to syringe feed her as she hasn’t been eating. Overall he was happy with her, and if she doesn’t lay within a week he will do an ultrasound to check for any problems.

Glad you went to this new vet! Soo important to know this info so you can monitor her and get help for her if she doesn't lay..

 

[PatsyB]

Glad you got a second opinion!

 

[Caitlinp99]

Glad you went to this new vet! Soo important to know this info so you can monitor her and get help for her if she doesn't lay..

Since her vet visit, she seems to have gone back to her usual self but she hasn’t laid any eggs, either that or I just haven’t found them haha. She’s back to eating livefood (leaving her salad), isn’t going crazy in her viv anymore and doesn’t try to escape when I’m holding her. I’m struggling to get her to poop, though. A bath usually makes her go after a few minutes, but now it’s taking a while if she actually does poop. They’re also very small, but she’s only just started eating her usual amount again.

 

[Birdey]

Sooo glad you went to a different vet!! And when he said something about spaying her, that's silly. It's more havoc on their systems to get them spayed than to not!
I could be wrong in some cases, but I've never heard of "that she could have a follicle problem which would require her to be spayed."
Wish you luck!

 

[Caitlinp99]

Sooo glad you went to a different vet!! And when he said something about spaying her, that's silly. It's more havoc on their systems to get them spayed than to not!
I could be wrong in some cases, but I've never heard of "that she could have a follicle problem which would require her to be spayed."
Wish you luck!

The follicle problem the vet was talking about is follicular stasis. The second vet I went to said it’s very possible that she may be carrying eggs because he felt a structure in her stomach, however since that vet visit she’s back to her normal self so I’m not sure if she even had eggs in the first place. She’s showing no signs of being ill, no black beard or lethargy. I saw on Instagram that Sarah from Pampered Beardies posted about how her male and female beardies are digging and being very restless, and she said it’s just hormones.