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My beardie has runny and loose stools for the last two days.

What's wrong with my beardie

  • Substrate

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Runny stools

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0

stacie rauch

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
1
Hi All,

I am new here, and a new mother to a 5 year old beardie. I've gotten many conflicting opinions regarding his subsutrate. The owner before me was using playgroud sand, and I read that using rabbit cage recycled newspaper pellets was good. I did see him eat one when he was getting a cricket. I've talked to a few reptile store folks and they both said to use rabbit food pellets so if they ingest it will breakdown.

Meanwhile, these last two days his stool has been extremely loose, runny, and liquidish.

Help!!!!

Stacie
 

Ron G

Juvenile Dragon
3 Year Member
Messages
126
Location
New Jersey
I would never use rabbit food pellets nor anything else they can eat as a substrate. I use ceramic tile and reptile carpet in our cage. I also would not use any type of sand. Their is a lot of debate about this but Bearded Dragons natural habitat in Australia is hard clay as opposed to sand. Go on Google and check it out. It is interesting.
 

gilliesexotics

Super Moderator
Staff member
Messages
833
Location
Indiana
Hi, can you take a picture of his next stool? I can say i doubt it has anything to do with ingesting a small piece of substrate. I would recommend taking out the recycled newspaper though. Rabbit pellets arent the greatest choice. They can be ingested with no ill effect BUT the downside is that your dragon will defecate on these pellets then drag his vent on them. This would not be a good thing for him to ingest. Cleaning, replacing will be a must.
 

thorn

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
120
Ya honestly untill you get tile or reptile carpet I would just use paper towels. Oh and if you do get sand for him then make sure it's pre cleaned and sifted. You also might want to sift it your self too. I use to use sand and when I sifted my self I got about 6 lbs of rocks out of the bag of sand. Rocks big enough to make him sick
 

Augie

Juvenile Dragon
Messages
534
Location
San Antonio TX
Let me start by saying that using the right sand (as mentioned above) is safe. Children's washed playsand that is properly sifted is more than safe and a good way for your dragon to exercise. That's not just me, that's literally dozens of bearded dragon owners with decades of experience. You can argue that it's not their natural environment, but neither are newspapers, paper towels, or reptile carpet. :p All of which are perfectly safe. :D

I will say this, though: your dragon will pass sand when they poop. That's a good thing! It would be worse if they didn't pass sand, as is the case with harmful substrates like calcisand or walnut shells (both huge no-nos). Just remember to bathe them at least 1-2 times each month so they are properly hydrated.

On a side note (and to answer your original question), I honestly have no idea why your dragon's stool is loose. But of course we haven't seen it. It seems like most members of this forum have an odd fetish concerning dragon poo. Show us a pic! :D Bad joke, sorry! But I would think that the pellet substrate would do more to dehydrate your dragon because they are very dry; it would take some of their water reserves to process it, which may contribute to the watery stool. It would be more important for you to replace the substrate than to show us a pic, I would think.
 

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