Bearded dragons should eat and poop regularly to maintain good digestion and stay healthy. However, there are number of reasons why your bearded dragon won’t poop normally. So what to do if my bearded dragon won’t poop? In this post, we will discuss possible reasons on why bearded dragon isn’t pooping, why it poops only outside the cage, what is stuck poop and how to clear constipation.
Do you know that some bearded dragons’ beards become black some time before they poop?
How often do bearded dragons poop?
How often a bearded dragon poops will depend on age, what and how much it eats and if it’s suffering from any disorders. Generally, a healthy bearded dragon will poop every 1-4 days, or at least 7 days, and most will poop more often in a bath.
Baby bearded dragons will poop more than adults, and babies can even poop 2-4 times a day. Bearded dragons that are younger should also eat more feeder insects, and that will lead to more frequent pooping.
Why Won’t My Bearded Dragon Poop?
Reason 1: Not eating enough food to poop
If your bearded dragon is not eating enough food, then it won’t poop regularly. There are number of reasons on why your bearded dragon might not eat enough.
Small baby bearded dragons of up to 16 weeks of age can eat 3-4 times a day. Juveniles of up to 28 weeks can eat 2 times a day, and all adults above that age – once a day.
The stress can be caused by both external and internal problems. For example, low or very high temperatures in the tank might cause your bearded dragon to reject food. With very high temperatures, your bearded dragon will get stressed, will want to escape, scratch the glass and dig. Low temperatures, also, will cause lethargy and indigestion.
Very high or low humidity can also cause issues, for example high humidity can cause bacterial and fungal growth and susceptibility to parasitic infections. A very small tank can also cause stress – leading to pooping issues.
Your bearded dragon can also be gravid, and most females refuse food towards the end of gravidity. Another reason why your bearded dragon might be lethargic and eat less is brumation – the winter slowdown period. During brumation your bearded dragon might eat little or nothing at all and sleep a lot.
Frequent (every 2 months or more) setup change can cause stress, causing food refusal. Internal parasites and other health issues might also make your bearded dragon refuse food. Cage mate bullying can also cause stress.
If you suspect that your bearded dragon is not eating enough, and thus not pooping enough, then please consider all the reasons and changes and see the vet if necessary.
Reason number 2: Dehydration
If your bearded dragon is dehydrated, it could have problems with pooping. Water and essential hydration is crucial for digestion, moving of fecal mass in the intestines and pooping.
A bearded dragon that is dehydrated will have sunken eyes, loose skin (not very elastic and doesn’t go back to normal quickly if you pull it). A dehydrated bearded dragon will also have thicker saliva, poor appetite and urates (white part of the poop) will be harder as well as smaller or missing.
Bearded dragons don’t drink much water even if you leave the bowl in the tank. Even if you have a bowl with water in a bearded dragon’s tank, it is not likely to drink from there at all. You can try putting a drop of water on your bearded dragon’s nose – but it can ignore that too. Mist the tank few times a week, as well.
Actually, bearded dragons tend to drink moving water – so getting a small dispenser or fountain like this can help your bearded dragon drink more.
But most bearded dragons enjoy bathing and soaking, and this helps with hydration. Bathe your bearded dragon at least 1-2 times a week for extra moisture. Some owners decide to bathe their dragon every day.
However in general, bearded dragons get moisture from food. So you must offer salad to your bearded dragon at all times. Did you know that older your bearded dragon is, more salad it has to eat?
Reason number 3: Too much salad in the diet
Baby and young bearded dragons (0-7 months) must have a salad bowl in the tank all the time, so they start trying greens at the young age. Otherwise, you will have a picky eater once your bearded dragon becomes a juvenile and an adult. Try to offer little bit of salad to your young bearded dragon on top of main bugs every day.
Once your bearded dragon turns 7 months old and over, offer insects 3 times a week, and salad – 4 times a week. When your bearded dragon turns 18 months old, offer salad 5 times a week and bugs only 2 times a week!
But do not overdo with some vegetables or greens – for example lettuce is mostly made of water and doesn’t provide much nutrition. Too many watery vegetables and greens will cause diarrhea. Diarrhea will cause water loss, leading to an even more serious dehydration. Also, make sure to gut-load all the feeder bugs, and offer them moisture as well.
Also, watch temperatures in the tank. Very high temperatures will cause overheating, panting and water loss from the body. A basking temperature with highest temperature should not exceed 105-110 degrees F (40.5-43 Celsius).
You should also arrange a cool spot in the cage with temperatures of 75-85 F (23.8-29 Celsius), so that your dragon can move there if it’s too hot.
Reason number 4: Low activity levels
Believe it or not, bearded dragons that are not active at all or lazy can have trouble pooping. Activity helps promote healthy digestion, so lazy or lethargic bearded dragons might not poop as regularly. Unless your bearded dragon is brumating or sick, you can help promote interest in activity.
You can help your bearded dragon move around more by introducing new accessories or with play times. This can be creating a playpen, climbing to a lounger like this, going for a walk and more.
Find a list of fun games and toys for your bearded dragon in this post.
Reason number 5: Low temperatures in a bearded dragon’s cage
Bearded dragons are desert lizards and need quite high temperatures to stay healthy and digest the food. Very low temperatures won’t allow your bearded dragon to have a healthy gut and digest the food. This in turn will cause constipation, low energy levels and low appetite.
92-110 degrees F (33-43 Celsius) in the hot basking spot under the lights and 75-85 F (23.8-29 C) in the cool spot and background temperature are ideal for bearded dragons.
At night, temperatures of 65-70 F (18.3-21.1 Celsius) are ideal. If temperatures at night in the cage drop significantly, make sure to use an additional heating source to keep stable temperatures.
Avoid using any heat rocks and under tank heaters, as bearded dragons don’t properly feel heat with their belly, and can get burnt easily. If using an under tank heater like this, make sure to connect it to a thermostat to control the temperatures. The best bulb to use at night is a low wattage ceramic heat emitting bulb, for example (heat & no light).
Read all about heating and lighting (which bulbs to use and how to heat the tank) in this post.
Reason number 6: Your bearded dragon is impacted or constipated
Many bearded dragons become impacted and it is not visible straight away. Bearded dragons can become impacted due to loose substrate, random objects, or large feeder insects.
Of course, many people like the look and convenience of using sand in a bearded dragon’s tank. There are other loose substrates too, that can cause impaction. These are for example gravel, coco coir (not even suitable as holds moisture), bark, alfalfa and more.
Using loose substrate always poses risk of impaction, but never use sand especially just to be on the safe side.
If your bearded dragon is impacted, it’s belly will get round and look full. It will also poop less or not at all for more than a week. However, some will be able to pass the ingested substrate and it will be visible in the poop (please check if you suspect anything). Keep your dragon on paper towels to check.
It will also gain weight and seem lethargic. An indicative sign that a bearded dragon is impacted is that it eats, but won’t poop. Please note that most bearded dragons’ belly normally gets large after food and goes down after some time.
If you feed your bearded dragon bugs that are too big (larger than the width between the eyes), your bearded dragon might choke, develop constipation or even paralysis (back legs). Make sure to give appropriately sized bugs. You can find the size of bugs that you need to feed in this post.
Bathing your bearded dragon should help it relax and poop in water. Water stimulates pooping in bearded dragons. Prepare a bath with the water temperature of approximately 90-95 degrees F (around 32-35 Celsius). Massage your bearded dragon’s belly gently while sliding fingers towards the vent.
Allow your bearded dragon to sit in the water for some time and repeat until you believe your dragon has pooped out the mass. If it doesn’t work, offer your bearded dragon one drop of vegetable or mineral oil.
However, if your bearded dragon seems bloated and hasn’t pooped for 7-10 days, and none of the methods are working, take it to the vet immediately. A vet will perform an X-Ray to see if your bearded dragon has any foreign objects in the stomach or guts.
Reason number 7: Feeding too much
You should not feed your bearded dragon too many insects a day. Did you know that sub-adult and adult bearded dragons can suffer from obesity from eating too much? And obesity is not the only problem – too many bugs can cause impaction and paralysis.
Adult bearded dragons should not eat more than 50 feeder bugs a week (or only 25 bigger worms and roaches). 30-40 feeder insects per week for an adult is optimal, and around 10-20 crickets per 15 minute feeding for example is common. Never offer more than 10 high chitin or fatty bugs per day, such as super worms.
Don’t forget that your bearded dragon should eat less bugs with age, or it will have problems not only with pooping, but also digestion (vomiting and more) and kidneys.
Bearded dragons after 18 months of age should eat 15-30% insects and 70-85% veggies. This is compared to 50% insects, 50% greens for juvenile of up to 7 months old. Baby bearded dragons need to eat 20-40% greens and lots of bugs – 60-80%!
Start introducing vegetables, flowers and greens at an early age – always have some salad in the tank for your dragon to try.
What to do if my bearded dragon won’t poop?
- First of all, review the cage setup – lighting, heating, humidity, substrate and make sure everything is optimal. Remove loose substrate if you suspect ingestion.
- Review the diet – is your insects vs. salad schedule correct, and are you offering correct greens and properly sized bugs?
- Think about any recent changes in a bearded dragon’s activity levels and eating tendencies. Has anything changed?
- Make any necessary changes and take your bearded dragon to the vet if the symptoms persist for more than 10 days and if your bearded dragon seems lethargic and sick.
If your bearded dragon won’t poop because it is brumating, it’s normal. This is especially if a bearded dragon is not eating much at all. If it’s eating a little, then you can help your bearded dragon poop by soaking your bearded dragon once in 10-14 days to make it poop.
Make sure to always help your bearded dragon poop everything out before brumation starts, to avoid constipation and food rotting in the guts during brumation.
What can I feed my bearded dragon to make it poop?
Bathe your bearded dragon for 10-15 minutes to help with pooping, offer a 1-3 drops of mineral/vegetable oil, such as olive or sunflower oil.
You can also offer some purees that work as laxatives – pumpkin, apple sauce or little bit of a banana.
Bathing your bearded dragon to make it poop?
Many bearded dragon owners train their bearded dragon to poop once they take a bath, and it can be both a good and a bad thing.
A good thing is that there will be a schedule and your bearded dragon will poop regularly. Bad thing is that your bearded dragon might hold the poop if you miss the bathing and stop pooping in the cage altogether.
It might also poop more than it needs to at the time – causing loss of necessary water. This can again lead to dehydration and loss of electrolytes.
Bearded dragon poops only once a month?
If your bearded dragon only poops once in 3-4 weeks, it can be normal in only some cases. This could be during the brumation when bearded dragon’s body slows down.
Otherwise, this is a very long time and your bearded dragon could be impacted or sick. Make sure to replace UVB lights every 6 months and regulate temperatures, or your bearded dragon won’t be able to digest food at all. Take your dragon to the vet for an examination.
Bearded dragon won’t poop in cage?
Some bearded dragons won’t poop in cage and only outside. Generally, it can be if your bearded dragon has been previously trained to poop in the bath or generally outside the cage.
Most bearded dragons don’t poop in one spot every time. But some bearded dragons prefer pooping in one spot, especially chosen place outside the cage.
Another reason could be that your bearded dragon used to poop in the cage, and you would not be there for some time to clean it up.
In this case, your bearded dragon will hold the poop until you can release it – not to do it in the cage. This is actually a positive thing – your bearded dragon would like to keep its home tidy. Some bearded dragons will also scratch the glass to give you a sign – how smart are bearded dragons?
If this bothers you, try to make it a routine thing. You can take your bearded dragon outside to poop if weather allows all year round, or take it to the bath.
Also, you can put it in a small part of the room for it to poop in an enclosed area before letting it roam for longer. This way, your bearded dragon will learn that this is the routine and will associate pooping in that spot with more free roaming time.
Bearded dragon poop stuck?
If your bearded dragon’s poop is stuck in its vent, you can help remove it, depending on a situation. Try bathing your bearded dragon for around 10-20 minutes, and see if the poop comes out.
If bathing your bearded dragon doesn’t help and the poop seems to be hard, then give your bearded dragon a drop of vegetable or mineral oil for lubrication. Repeat the bath at the end of the day. You can also help soften the poop from the outside by gently rubbing it with a soft brush or toothbrush.
Sometimes, you might see a thick whitish string coming out of your bearded dragon’s vent. This is a seminal plug – hardened seminal fluid. It should also come out when bathing your bearded dragon. Don’t pull the plug, only help it come out by gently massaging the belly bottom and sliding your fingers at the vent.
However, if you can see something sticking out of your bearded dragon’s vent that is red or purple, this could be a prolapse. Unless your bearded dragon has mated recently, prolapse is serious and needs immediate medical help.
Thank you for reading this post. If you bearded dragon is pooping but you are worried if the poop is normal, you can find answers in this post.