Thorin has a black beard before he poops.

[amsnelson]

Hi everyone, early in August I asked about Thorin’s black beard. He was in puberty and he might still be in it, I am not sure. He is eating normally, going through shedding now, has grown an inch in length.
My question now is he shows his black beard about thirty minutes to an hour before he poops. The poop is fairly solid, white and dark in color, sometimes really smelly and sometimes not, last night was strong but nothing strange smelling . Four times now since the end of August I have seen him do the black beard before he poops. He usually poops 2-3 times a week and the times very so I don’t see him poop every time, I just clean up poop every morning if there is any or if I see it in the evening when I bring him out to explore.
Should I be worried about a black beard before he poops?

 

[Skybug]

He may be producing a sperm plug, puberty and black beard go hand and hand, can u take a couple pictures?

if u haven’t watched this guy , watch some of his vids, he has like 5 rescue beardys and give good information.

 

[amsnelson]

He may be producing a sperm plug, puberty and black beard go hand and hand, can u take a couple pictures?

if u haven’t watched this guy , watch some of his vids, he has like 5 rescue beardys and give good information.

I won’t be able to show the black beard because he doesn’t usually show it until before he poops but I can show you some of him today looking pretty normal.

 

[amsnelson]

Here is my handsome guy. He is still shedding so he isn’t as bright as he usually is.

 

[Skybug]

Watch that video, ur guy definitely looks sexually mature, the base of his tail is SUPER thic (male dragons hemipenes are actually in the tail) im thinking hes passing something that’s irritating him (bug bits) or a sperm plug , next poo take a picture aswell we’ll be able to tell more from that, what bugs does he get? And you bowel feed or hand feed correct? You obviously dont want him eating substrate.

 

[Skybug]

He looks completely normal and happy to me

 

[amsnelson]

He looks completely normal and happy to me

I did watch the video and he did have a poo like the one in the video awhile ago. But not the other night, it looked more normal . I think it is the puberty because since I just took those pictures he is puffing his beard in and out, not turning black though.
He is two years old next month so definitely at the age of sexual maturity! He is bowl and hand fed, he gets super worms, horned worms and Dubai roaches(when available) , lots of salad, peas, tomatoes on occasion, squash, and on occasion as a treat he gets blueberries (his favorite).
This has been a long shedding! He already lost most of his back earlier this month but he is shedding it again. He isn’t fond of baths but he does get them and I have a shallow container of water in his enclosure that he can lounge in, to help with shedding.
I hope I am doing everything right by him.

 

[Skybug]

Tomatoes in my opinion should be treated as a fruit (technically they are) he may be getting an upset tummy from those if fed daily, i personally would cut them out all together, everything looks accurate and it all looks good to me, kinda hard to tell you anything more without further pictures or information, him puffing his beard in the morning is normal stretching behavior, my girl does it almost every morning, as long as hes not black bearding all day long it cant be something too serious i dont think

 

[Rusty]

I did watch the video and he did have a poo like the one in the video awhile ago. But not the other night, it looked more normal . I think it is the puberty because since I just took those pictures he is puffing his beard in and out, not turning black though.
He is two years old next month so definitely at the age of sexual maturity! He is bowl and hand fed, he gets super worms, horned worms and Dubai roaches(when available) , lots of salad, peas, tomatoes on occasion, squash, and on occasion as a treat he gets blueberries (his favorite).
This has been a long shedding! He already lost most of his back earlier this month but he is shedding it again. He isn’t fond of baths but he does get them and I have a shallow container of water in his enclosure that he can lounge in, to help with shedding.
I hope I am doing everything right by him.

If he gives you a sign before he poops, use this to potty train, Rusty trained me, i did not realize he would not poop in his enclosure for months! Poor guy was acting out and constipated, till i started to realize he wanted out, he goes in the bathtub every other day or never more than 2 days ever.
Routine lights on, coffee for me, then breakfast for Rusty, more coffee for me, bath for 15 min, i use the actual bathtub, he runs around loves it, only takes couple mins he done, either time with mom or back to basking while i get to work.
Easy cleanup I'd give it a try

 

[amsnelson]

Tomatoes in my opinion should be treated as a fruit (technically they are) he may be getting an upset tummy from those if fed daily, i personally would cut them out all together, everything looks accurate and it all looks good to me, kinda hard to tell you anything more without further pictures or information, him puffing his beard in the morning is normal stretching behavior, my girl does it almost every morning, as long as hes not black bearding all day long it cant be something too serious i dont think

The tomatoes are a treat. Not a daily.

 

[amsnelson]

Tomatoes in my opinion should be treated as a fruit (technically they are) he may be getting an upset tummy from those if fed daily, i personally would cut them out all together, everything looks accurate and it all looks good to me, kinda hard to tell you anything more without further pictures or information, him puffing his beard in the morning is normal stretching behavior, my girl does it almost every morning, as long as hes not black bearding all day long it cant be something too serious i dont think

Good to know the beard thing this morning is just stretching. I don’t see much of his morning because I wake him up at 6:30 and I leave at 7:15 I get to spend time with him the evenings after work.