Mealy worm in poop

[Pat B]

I noticed this morning that my BD had a full size mealy worm in his poop? Is this normal? Have never seen one before. However, one day he did eat a lot of mealy's....maybe this one didn't get digested??

 

[Daeyang]

O_________O that's scary o.o
How old is your beardie?
and it was DEAD right??

 

[Pat B]

My beardie is about 5 months and yes the mealy was DEAD!!

 

[Daeyang]

Ok just making sure; well mealworms are a bit unhealthy for young beardies and don't digest very well. Try to stick on small crickets instead, mealworms are more of treats then anything else.

 

[Germ]

It is reasonably common to periodically have undigested food in the excrement (cricket legs, roach wings, etc). But if it is an ongoing happening, there is likely a problem & is generally poor basking temps not being warm enough to enable it to digest it's food properly. If Mealies are being fed, all husbandry specs should be optimal.

 

[Aleena]

If anything is being fed, you need a good basking temp.

 

[Pat B]

The basking temp, that is where the uvb bulb is, reads about 98-100. The other side of the tank reads about 82 or so. He spends a lot of time in his little log house which is under the uvb light. Right now he is in a 20 gal tank.

 

[Germ]

Can you post pics of the setup, showing exactly what type of bulbs you are using & where.

 

[Pat B]

will do sometime today....thanks

 

[Daeyang]

And you should also be getting a bigger tank- Very soon
Minimum for an adult is a 40 gallon. and minimum for a baby should usually be 30 I believe

 

[Pat B]

We went out this afternoon and bought him a 40 gal new home. The little BD won't move in until the temperature is good and eerything is set. He will love....well....he better anyway!!

 

[Spikeleebd]

make sure his temps are right and are you using mealies as his staple? make sure that ur last feeding is 2 hours befor his lights go off, this ensure that he will have 2 hours to properly digest his food all the way

 

[Pat B]

I feed my beardie about 8 am and 5 pm.....lights out about 7pm. I am setting up his new enclosure today and will wait until temps are good so I can move him. Should be interesting. He has been shedding and a little pistol so want to wait until he is finished shedding. Don't want to stress the little guy! He gets crickets, mealies and greens. Doesn't like the greens too much.

 

[Germ]

You could\should extend it's daylight hours a bit. 12-14 hrs on, the rest off, is recommended. I & I think the majority of keepers run 12 on - 12 off. Some will go the longer (13-14) daylight hours as it suits their schedule better, but 12 should be the minimum.

 

[Pat B]

ok....will do. Still don't like the looks of his tail. I am going to wait until he sheds completely and seen what happens then.....thanks and have a good day!!

 

[drgnfly2265]

I'm a little late joining this thread but just wanted to say some things, lol. Try to switch to a different type of feeder. There are better feeders out there with less shell and more protien. I loved using Reptiworms (another name is pheonix worms), all protien and no shell to worry about, with calcium!

 

[Pat B]

Never heard of reptiworms....I would guess I have to order those from online? My beardie is still a juvenile. Loves his mealies but not this morning. Wouldn't eat a darn thing. Do you know if the beardie has to warm up before eating in the morning?

 

[Pat B]

One more thing....if you order them online....do you have a good website that you use?

 

[drgnfly2265]

One more thing....if you order them online....do you have a good website that you use?

I use www.reptiworms.com when I ordered reptiworms. If you are friends with them on Facebook, they will give you a code for I think it's 20% off! They have different sizes, but if your beardies is a juvenile I would suggest getting the large ones. They show pics of the worms size on their website.

It is good to let your beardie warm up before eating. Once my beardies warmed up. I would put a bowl, with their worms in it, in their viv and leave it in their all day with them. By the end of the day the worms would be gone

 

[Germ]

I loved using Reptiworms (another name is pheonix worms), all protien and no shell to worry about, with calcium!

The charts at the bottom of this post (That were posted in one of your other threads Pat), show the Maggots which are Black Soldier Fly Larvae (aka- Pheonix Worms, Reptiworms), have less protein than Crickets or Mealworms, so I am unsure where you get the 'All Protein' stuff from (15-16% is far from 'All') & they have more Fat than Crix too, but still well within acceptable boundaries.

When I originally started my roach Colony, it used to be said that Roaches were 'All Protein' also, which is far from the truth, too.

They are a good feeder, in that they have the proper Calcium to Phosphorus ratio required for BDs, so calcium dusting is not absolutely required for the meals when they are fed alone & may have less shell than the above other mentioned feeders.But doesn't mean that they shouldn't be dusted anyway.

So they do have their Pros & Cons. I don't recall seeing any actual specs to confirm anything on the shell yet, though. If other feeders are fed, the other feeders would still have to be dusted with Calcium. So if you are not only feeding Reptiworms you still have to have Calcium around anyway. It is another one of those personal preference things for keepers to choose between & basically if you want or don't want to have to dust one specific feeder or not. They are a good option\alternative.

The whole point of the calcium dusting\supplementation thing, is to keep the balance of the Phosphorus:Calcium (P:Ca) ratio of live prey at 1:1.5-2 (Some sources claim 1:1, because that is the absolute minimum for any Calcium absorbtion). The majority of the Live Prey that is fed, have a much higher Phosphorus than Calcium ratio & is why almost all Prey must be supplemented\dusted with added Calcium in an attempt to help make up the difference. Here is a very good explanation as to why in this article ...

The reason for all the smileys is because when P:Ca is written reversed, as it usually is, the forum picks it up as the code for that particular Smiley. So wherever the Pink Smiley is, it actually should read 'Ca: P', without the space between the colon & the P.

The main points to look out for are the fat content and the Ca ratio.

Ca Ratio and Reptiles

Many have heard about the Ca/P ratio but not many understand what it means to your reptiles. The Ca ratio is simply the ratio of Calcium compared to Phosphorus and so a Ca ratio of 1 (one or 1:1) would mean that Calcium & Phosphorus are found in equal quantities, a Ca ratio of 0.5 (half or 0.5:1) means that there is half the amount of Calcium than there is Phosphorus. An ideal Ca ratio would be around 2 (two or 2:1) as this will allow calcium to be easily absorbed.

So why is this important? It has to do with the way Calcium is absorbed by your reptile's intestine. For any calcium to be absorbed, there needs to be at least equal quantities of Calcium and Phosphorus in their food. If the Phosphorus is much higher, then not only will it prevent calcium being absorbed, but may even leach calcium that is already present in your reptile's body. This can lead to serious problems such as MBD (Metabolic Bone Disease). When Calcium and Phosphorus are dissolved in equal quantities, it forms an insoluble salt (Calcium Phosphate) which is very difficult to absorb by your reptile's intestine. If there is a large amount of phosphorus compared to the calcium, then all the calcium will be bound by the phosphorus and none will be available for your reptile. If there is a large excess of calcium, then no phosphorus can be absorbed, which is also a vital mineral but not needed in as large a quantity as calcium. Ideally the Ca/P ratio for most vertebrates is around 2 (also written as 2:1).

Fat vs Protein

Another thing to look out for is the amount of fat compared to protein. Fat contains twice as many calories as protein, but doesn't provide any of the nutritional benefits that are gained from proteins from their amino acids which are essential for the health of any living creature. The calories from fat are often called "empty calories" in dietary terminology. Most insectivorous reptiles will receive greater benefit from a high protein/low fat diet.

Source - http://www.leedspetshops.co.uk/index.php?main_page=page&id=81]

Ghann's Cricket Farm​

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http://www.exotic-pets.co.uk​

http://www.floridaherps.com/live-phoenix-worms/​

http://www.georgiacrickets.com/​

http://www.phoenixworm.com​

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http://www.grubco.com/nutritional_information.cfm​

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