Regardless of the age of your bearded dragon, you want to do everything you can to keep them healthy. One of the parts of keeping them healthy that may not be your first thought is making sure your bearded dragon has regular, healthy bowel movements. The simple answer is that a non-brumating healthy adult bearded dragon should poop at least once every 1–3 days; bearded dragons need veterinary care if they are unable to poop for 5–7 days.
Knowing what normal pooping habits are for bearded dragons will help you keep your beardie healthy and allow you to know when a problem is developing. Let’s talk about bearded dragon poop!
How Often Should a Bearded Dragon Poop?
The answer to this question is dependent on the age of your bearded dragon. Hatchlings and babies require high-protein diets to help them grow and develop, so they usually will poop at least once per day, but it’s not unreasonable for them to poop up to 3 times per day. Juvenile bearded dragons are in a transitional diet from baby to adult, so they consume more protein than adults. Juveniles usually will poop every day or two.
Adult bearded dragons, which are generally considered over the age of 18 months, can poop anywhere from daily to once every three days on average How often adult beardies poop is dependent on their diet, their activity level, and how their body processes food.
What’s Normal for Bearded Dragon Poop?
It’s important to keep in mind that everyone is different, and this applies to bearded dragons as much as it does to people. Your beardie’s normal poop habits may be different from your friend’s beardie. It doesn’t necessarily mean there is anything wrong with either beardie if they are both eating, drinking, and acting normally.
Normal bearded dragon poop will be brown and log-shaped and will usually have white toward the end, which is the way that bearded dragons excrete “urine”. Warm water baths can help your bearded dragon poop if you think they are constipated. However, repeated baths are not recommended for bearded dragons, as this can interfere with normal digestive processes (baths function like laxatives for bearded dragons).
If you notice frequent runny poop, it’s a good idea to evaluate your beardie’s diet and environment to see if anything may be causing diarrhea. If you don’t find any obvious causes, or if your bearded dragon doesn’t poop for up to a week (even with a warm bath), you should contact your veterinarian promptly.
Conclusion
Checking on your beardie daily and performing routine enclosure cleaning will help you monitor your beardie’s bowel habits. This is a great way for you to monitor your bearded dragon’s health. Changes in bowel habits can indicate changes in health status, so keep a close eye on these habits. If you notice changes, investigate further and involve your veterinarian if needed.
Featured Image Credit: Dwiwanto Indrayu Bawono, Shutterstock
