How to do Fecal Testing on your own Reptiles

To start off, I bought-

Microscope  (on Amazon) ~$85 (free shipping)

From Beautiful Dragons:

a box of microscope cover slips  $8

a box of microscope slides $10

a 8 oz bottle of Fecasol $12

20 fecal testers $20

and the awesome Parasite ID Chart $8

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It costs about $1/test to run a fecal float test. That's WAY cheaper than $45 at my vet's office.

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Note #1- You can buy a microscope from Beautiful Dragons too but it's more expensive.

Note #2- You can probably buy cheaper supplies, but I like supporting Beautiful Dragons.

Note #3- You can also buy a lot of other awesome supplies from her store like meds to treat coccidia & pinworms, calcium supplements, syringes, food, etc. If you are into rescuing reptiles, then check out her store. Her prices are good and she's a quick shipper.

Tiny Poop = HUGE Progress for Junior!

I woke up to find Junior had pooped a tiny bit! YAY!

And then I saw that Junior himself was no longer bloated and puffy!

His belly has been so bloated & full that he had no extra skin showing. He looks NORMAL!

Then he looked up at me after he took a drink!

This baby Savannah is the BIGGEST fighter I have ever ever had! I'm SO amazed by him!

An Update on Junior and Sadly, Still No Poop

My vet gave Junior a dose of Omega oils to help coat his digestion tract and hoped that would help start him pooping. Nope.

They then gave him a saline injection directly into his belly to help hydrate him more. That didn't start anything either.

He got a belly massage and a couple of baths. Nope. 

I'll continue giving him saline injections and switch him to oral calcium. No more Critical Care or feeding tube until he's able to poop. I'll also give him at least two warm baths a day.

If by Thursday there's no poop, Junior will go back in to the vet. Hopefully he won't need to have his poop plug surgically removed. 

Keep praying for poop! 

Junior off to the Vet

Junior made it through the night and is already at the vet. I'm hoping they can help him poop and clear the blockage in his belly.

I'll keep you posted on how he does.

Waiting for Poop

I came home from church early so I could help Junior with his belly. First, I gave him a bath, and then his daily saline & calcium injections. Third, I gave him a little enema. I know! My life is *so* glamorous. ;) Lastly, I gave him another bath.

He's so weak and uncoordinated that moving around in the bath wears him out very quickly. I ended up propping up his head to help keep it above water.

While I took the second video, I heard a massive crash upstairs and started giggling. Thanks, Kreature! Silly tegu.

I put Junior back and will head back to church for the last hour. Hopefully, the heat of his tank will help him move his bowels. I'll give him another bath tonight and then, if there's still no poop, he'll head to the vet first thing in the morning for more serious intervention. :(

Sad News for Junior

Junior's got some sort of blockage in his gut. Originally, he had urates built up, but he managed to push those out. Now he's got a fairly large poop plug that's not moving and his belly is bloated. 

I've backed off his tube feedings and am keeping him well hydrated. If there's no poop by Monday, he'll go in to the vet for an enema or something. I can tell his belly is bothering him. 😫

One of the problems with MBD is the lack of muscle strength and coordination it causes, including in the belly & digestive tract. If he can't figure out how to poop, he won't really have a chance at life. He's been doing so good too! I hope he can pull through this.

Come on, baby, poop!

This sounds funny, but will you join me in praying that Junior will be able to get rid of his constipation and poop? 

The Glamour of Rescue or "How I ended up wearing Poop."

I bought a bigger cage for Kreature last night and spent the day getting it cleaned up and ready for him to use it. Once he was in the bigger cage, I could put Norman in the one Kreature was in.


Since Kreature spent the day wrapped in one of my dresses under the Target bag (such a weirdo! ;) ), I got everything set up for him without having to move him. I moved his dog bed (minus the stuffing because he ripped it all out) and his piece of slate and added a water dish. The sliding glass doors in front are how I get him in and out.

Norman has been in a 40 gallon sick tank on my craft room table and had to be moved into the smaller cage. If I had to get him out, I might as well clean his wounds.

Yeah, that didn't work so well.

At all.

This is me covered with Norman's poop. After wrestling him out of the tank, into a towel, holding him tightly so he'd stop tail-whipping me, and keeping his mouth pointed away from my fingers, he did the only thing he could to show me how much he hated me.

He pooped.

While still holding him tightly, I had my daughter use a towel to wipe up the pee running down my legs.

I did manage to get him into his new cage. He was pretty freaked out by it at first. It has his same box and blanket in it, but it's still new. Every time I got near him, he'd start hissing & huffing at me.

But I swear he was laughing at me for having to shower after caring for him. See him grinning? He was proud of himself! ;)

Ah, such is the life of the rescue. Thank goodness for the Sanitary cycle on my washing machine and Chlorox wipes.

Today's Vet Visit

Today was a BIG trip to the vet. I took Kiwi the chameleon, Noel, Tiger, and the female gecko who had been chomped on by her mate.

Kiwi passed her exam with flying colors! Her bones are strong, her casque is firm, and she gained 4 grams. She is ready to move on with life. Woo hoo! Even Dr Folland said she had an amazing transformation. :) I didn't take a single pic of her. I mostly left her in her ice cream bucket because she hates being held & looked at.

Noel has doubled his weight since I took him to the vet last and tripled his weight since I rescued him. He's such a handsome boy. He's already getting ready to shed again.

Noel decided to poop while we were waiting for the vet. OH BOY! It smelled SO bad! I let them do a fecal test on it and it turns out that Noel is loaded with coccidia. We'll be treating him for that. He has an eyelid defect that makes his eye get really goopy and I'll give him two different eye drops for a week to see if that helps.

The female gecko actually looks good and acts good. Hopefully she'll start eating on her own soon. No pics of her.

Tiger did NOT like his vet visit at all. Poor guy is very miserable & sickly. His breathing is labored, his mouth is yellowing, his eyes are swollen, his nose is dripping, and he has severe diarrhea. We have exhausted almost all possibilities with him except for the $500 CT scan. Even that is not likely to show us anything that can be actually fixed. My daughter adopted him after her beloved beardie, Lizzie, died and she's loved on him ever since.

After Dr Folland examined him thoroughly, Tiger looked terrible. He folded his arms across his chest and kept his eyes shut tightly. :(

By the time we left, Tiger was looking less deathly.

It's hard to know what to do with him. He had a really bad beginning and was practically dead when I rescued him. This is what he looked like: 

Sometimes it's just not possible to ultimately overcome a bad beginning. I'm not sure what we will be able to do with Tiger next. I'm honestly going to have to pray about it and talk to my husband and daughter about it. $500 is a lot for a test that is not likely to show us something we can fix. 

Another hard part of rescue. 

A Caution about Superworms & Mealworms and a Discussion about Poop

Superworms and mealworms are an easy feeder to have on hand. They don't die as easily, they are fairly cheap, and most bearded dragons (and other insect eating reptiles) are happy to eat them.

There's a big problem-- their exoskeletons are very hard to digest. Mealworms are mostly a hard plastic-like exoskeleton with a bit of meat in the middle. Superworms are a more meatier version of mealworms. Think of their exoskeletons like the thick, inedible plastic covering on the end of a shrimp. You can technically eat it, but it doesn't taste good (sorta feels like eating fingernails).

Munch's insect diet-- and really his WHOLE diet-- in the past few months has been superworms. Bits and pieces of the exoskeletons have built up in his guts and are contributing to the bloating he now has.

Thankfully this morning he was able to poop but it was almost entirely parts & pieces of superworm shells. I'm going to post a picture and it's gross, but informative. I'll even make it smaller than normal. The pic doesn't do it justice, but as I looked through the poop, I counted at least 2 dozen "shell" pieces. What a relief for him to start moving that through his system.

Have you ever stuck a stick in a slightly flowing river or stream? It instantly starts to collect debris from the river-- a leaf, a stick, etc. If you leave even a thin stick in the stream long enough, eventually it will collect enough debris to form quite a sizeable dam, stopping the water flow in that area.

That's how I describe the "flow" of a beardie's intestines. A single piece of calcium sand, a bit of crushed walnut shell, or even a small piece of exoskeleton alone do not pose a problem to a healthy beardie's digestive system. But over time those small pieces will start to accumulate debris that can lead to a potentially fatal blockage/impaction.

Munch had a fecal test done last night at the vet and it showed a massive overgrowth of pinworms and pinworm eggs. Pinworm eggs are very sticky and attach themselves to everything (intestines, substrate, anything). If you have a small blockage and a couple of pinworms (which most beardies do), it won't be long before you have a larger blockage and an overload of pinworms. That's what happened to Munch. We are treating him for pinworms, but since his belly is not currently absorbing any fluids (not sure why), the dewormer med is largely ineffective.

SO, can you safely feed superworms and mealworms to your dragons? Yes, but think of them as beardie cheeseburgers and offer them as a treat. Roaches & silkworms are two of my most favorite feeders. Hornworms and Phoenix worms are my second favorites. Wax worms are largely like small cheesecake pieces and are perfect for putting weight on emaciated beardies. Superworms are okay. Mealworms are NEVER okay for beardies under a year-- not worth the risk of exoskeleton impaction.

Variety is key when feeding a beardie. Swap out your insects and greens often so they don't get bored of one particular thing. Only feeding one or two items is more likely to lead to nutritional deficiencies. When I tell people that, I almost always am asked "But what if they don't eat?" Most pet beardies are WAY overfed. Unless your beardie is very young or recovering from trauma, they can stand a few days of hunger to help motivate them to try new foods.

If you have a beardie under a year or a sickly beardie, you'll need to supplement their diet with some baby food or Critical Care from your vet. Don't let them go more than a day without eating since their bodies can't handle it. Otherwise, practice a little "Tough Love" and let your beardies become hungry enough to start eating their greens & veggies & other insects.

Also, an adult beardie (over a year and a half) will be *healthier* if you only feed insects once a week! YES! You read that right! I do every 10 to 14 days in the winter when they are less active. In the Spring and Summer, I do every 7 to 10 days. I've found that feeding less protein has made my guys much much healthier. They may look at you longingly and beg for feeder insects, but stay strong, Friends! Your beardie will be healthier and live longer with less protein in their diet.

Any questions? Post your comment below.

Curly, rescue 161

Curly is a 3 year old male Beardie who came in yesterday. 

I tried to teach him how to drink today, but he was more interested in the greens. 

I'm still trying to figure out his personality. His previous care takers said he's rather squirrely. I haven't seen that yet. 

He did somehow manage to poop three times on the glass. I've never had a Beardie skilled enough to poop on the glass, several inches above the floor. :/ It was all cricket parts too. I will get him on a healthy diet now that he's off sand before I run a fecal test on him. 

Another Substrate Attempt

When you have ten or more tanks, the substrate (covering) at the bottom of the tank makes a BIG difference when it comes to cleaning. 

Over the years, I've tried tile, slate, AstroTurf, shelf liner, peel & stick tile, vinyl fabric, and now linoleum. 

I think I like linoleum the best. I bought a 6 foot by 8 foot rectangle from my local Home Depot for $24.99 plus tax (US dollars) and cut it in to 6 pieces for 40 gallon tanks and 2 pieces for 55 gallon tanks. So about $3.50 a tank/piece. 

I use clear packing tape to stick it to the bottom of the tank so it doesn't slide around. When there is poop, I take a flushable wipe to clean up the poop and then I flush it. I never ever throw away poop-- it stinks!!! Flushing smells better. 

I buy whichever brand is cheapest for me. The last box I bought was from Costco and was a Kleenex brand that had an instant store coupon. 

The goal for substrate is a solid surface that is easiest for you to clean. Today I swapped out my old pieces of linoleum for a new piece. I took the old pieces outside and scrubbed them down good. Those are now in storage for the next empty tank or the next time I swap out all the tank pieces. 

Poop Painting

This morning, Preacher shows off his "off the canvas" style of painting for us. 

I think he was going for an "Abstract Expressionism" mix with a "Lyrical Abstraction" edge, maybe??? 

;) 

Poop. It's what happens. 

Well, Poop

Got home after delivering Junie and running a few errands and found poop all over my bathroom floor, bath mat, and baseboards. 

Otis!! Silly tortoise. He spread poop all over the back of the door too. 

Poop happens at my house. A lot! 

Poop!

One of the question topics I get asked about the most is Poop. 

Today poop is especially on my mind because I've cleaned up poop in 5 different beardie tanks. So let's talk poop. 

How Frequently--- 

It depends on the beardie. I have daily poopers and weekly poopers. My big boy Max normally poops every 2 to 3 weeks. Don't assume that healthy beardies *must* poop daily. 

Babies are the most likely to poop daily or more than once a day. Older beardies may poop less frequently. The key is to pay attention to your beardies. Over time, you will see what is "normal." 

How is it Supposed to Look-- 

A healthy beardie poop should be formed with a distinct white part, urates. Urates are the waste products that come from the kidneys. Since beardies don't pee, the urates collect in their guts and come out with their poop. It's the same with most reptiles. 

Here's some examples of Good Poop-- 

See? Solid, distinct white. Sometimes there will be extra fluid, sometimes not. It depends on how much the beardie has had to drink recently. 

Here's some examples of Bad Poop-- 

Blood. This one made me call the vet immediately and take in this sample!

Unformed. Diarrhea. 

Partially formed. 

Blood tinted liquid. 

Some Causes of Bad Poop-- 

The key with poop is you have to wait for at least a couple poops. You need to see a pattern. Even with the poop with blood tinted liquid, I'd wait for two poops. 

1- What they ate: new foods, extra fruit, etc often cause loose/runny poop. This is one of the reasons I wait for multiple poops. 

2- Stress: a change in location, a trip to the vet, the power being out, a sighting of another beardie, or anything else stressful can make a beardie's poop liquid. 

3- Parasites: the two most common parasites in beardies are coccidia and pinworms. There are other problems including nematodes, Protozoa, giardia. All of these are diagnosed by a fecal test (a fecal float and/or fecal stain). You can buy the supplies and train yourself to do them if you are willing to buy a microscope for around $120. Parasites are most likely to cause stinky, runny poops. 

Note- most beardies have some amount of coccidia and pinworms and are asymptomatic (they don't have any problems with it). My reptile vet prefers to not treat for parasites unless there is a problem (like diarrhea or weight loss). Your vet may have a different opinion. Parasite treatments are oral meds that you give for a couple days and then repeat in 2 to 3 weeks. Easy treatment. 

4- Sickness: there are some sickness that cause diarrhea in beardies. The biggest & most common is the Adenovirus. These have to be diagnosed by a vet and treatments vary. Talk to your vet. 

No Pooping Causes-- 

A beardie who is too cold or too dehydrated or too stressed won't poop. After several missed poops, a beardie's guts can become impacted and constant pushing & straining to poop can rip the delicate tissue of the intestines causing the beardie to bleed to death. That's why it's important to keep track of poop. 

1. Heat: you must have a basking spot of 95 to 105 degrees during the day and an overall temperature of 75 degrees or above at night. If your temps are too cold, fix them n

2. Water: dry pellets, no drinking, dry food can dry out the poop making it harder for a beardie to push it out. Offer daily baths and wet veggies (like squash) until poop happens. 

3. Sand and walnut shell: these plug up a beardie's guts! BAD! BAD! I know "calci sand" is supposed to be helpful. It's NOT.  Use a solid substrate. Don't agree with this? Feel free to find another beardie blog. I will not argue about it. You will never convince me that sand/walnut shell is okay. The list of beardies I've lost because of sand impaction is over a dozen. I've had too many beardies die on me from impaction and it's a terrible way to die. 

How to Help Cause Pooping-- 

Offer baby food prunes or applesauce (about a teaspoon for an adult, half teaspoon for juveniles) every day until poop happens. 

Give daily warm baths, 10 to 15 mins at a time. You can even do twice a day if you want. 

Give your beardie a few drops of olive oil. Just once a day until pooping. 

Take your beardie to a vet. A reptile vet can give an enema to help cause pooping. 

Let your beardie run around. Activity can help induce pooping. 

When in Doubt-- 

As always, if you have a question or concern or emergency, contact a reptile vet! I'm not a vet. This is just what I've learned over the past few years. 

Another New Substrate

The biggest symptom of Adenovirus is diarrhea which means frequent cleanings of the tanks. Some of my guys are popping multiple times a day, and I've been blowing though paper towels quickly. 

I decided it was time for a substrate change. At my local home improvement store, I bought a roll of linoleum and cut it into tank size pieces. Today I'll buy a club warehouse size box of flushable moist wipes to use to wipe up the poop. That will save me tissues too since I flush all the beardie & tortoise poop. 

For my two 55 gallon tanks, I used 4 tiles on the bottom. I tried, but couldn't find tiles that would fit in the bottoms of my many 40 gallon tanks without cutting edges. 

Hopefully a few well-places paper towels will give the babies something to burrow in and an absorbant material for the really runny poop. 

I've used so many different substrates-- ReptiCarpet, tile, AstroTurf, paper towels, fleece-backed vinyl, shelf liner, and now linoleum. There's no one right substrate; use whatever works for you. Just AVOID sand and crushed walnut shell. 

Fecal Testing

When I get a new beardie in, I don't test for parasites right away. A couple weeks of clean tanks and good food usually clear up any parasite infections on their own.

Lately it seems that all my guys are having stinky, runny poops so I've decided to run a test on everyone. 

I pick up the poop with the float kit and fill it full of a special liquid. Then it sits for 15 minutes with a slide cover on top. 

Then I put the slide cover, with the poopy liquid on it, onto a glass slide. 

Then I look at it under 400 X magnification with my microscope that I got on Amazon. 

Yesterday I tested Dex and have never seen so many pinworms in one test! No wonder her belly is bloated! Flame is being treated for coccidia. 

Then I have a list of treatment dates by the meds so I don't forget. 

If you're interested in doing fecal tests on your own, you can get all your supplies and instructions from 

www.beautifuldragons.com

Read about Do-It-Yourself Fecal Testing HERE

Tortoise Bathing

I'll be the first to admit that reptile bathing is the hardest thing for me to do with all my rescues. Now that the weather is warmer and the tortoises are outside more often, I plan to be better at soaking them all weekly. 

Here's today's bathing pics: 

The big guys-- 

The babies- 

The bigger babies-

The aftermath- 

I'll be buying a plastic wading pool and bathing them outside soon. Much easier to clean. 

Poor Baby Nubs

Nubs is my favorite beardie. He's the one that got the closest to death but still managed to live. He's such a sweetie. 

And now he's got a new problem. :( 

Nubs tested positive for adenovirus. His poop had been liquid for a week or two so I did a fecal sample. Came back totally clean. Another week or so passed and he started having bad in his liquid poop so I took him to the vet. 

Oh all the crummy luck. I've always been careful with sterilizing and such, but now I'm even more careful with Nubs. Adenovirus is transmitted through poop-- poop to mouth contact.  Even my kids know now to be ultra careful. 

The problem is that Nubs is still doing poorly. He's very lethargic and his beard is always black. His eyes are sunk in and he's not much into eating. 

We had him on antibiotics and he perked up for a week, but then went back downhill. I need to see if there's another treatment plan for him now. 

Nubs is young-- only 2 or 2 1/2. But the adenovirus may be the end of him. I may opt to let him be put down so he's not continuing to suffer. Whenever he goes, I'll choose to have him cremated. He's one of my very special ones. 

Oh Poop!

A couple weeks ago, I met my sister and her kids at our local aquarium. My favorite exhibit (besides the huge shark tank) is the river otters.

I couldn't see any of them and kept trying to move past the crowds to catch a glimpse. 

Finally, one of the otters went in the outside part of the enclosure (where there were no crowds). I got right up to the glass and had the perfect spot for a picture. 

And the otter stood up. And pooped. 

I started laughing so hard!! 

Poop! It's my life!!!