4 year old bearded dragon

Question
Our dragon has not pooped for over 3 months.  (unless he is eating it)!  I have tried the baths and exercise, he eats okay.  I even put a little olive oil in his food hoping that would help.   Any ideas?  He is handled and cared for but for some reason we are having a real issue with the pooping.  He is not grumpy and still allows the children to play with him.  I am not sure what to do.... Please help.

Answer
Hi Trish, That length of time would be a cause for concern for me. It is quite normal for beardeds to slow down metabolically during this time of year. Their activity level and appetite tends to drop quite dramatically. Consequently their defecation is quite reduced and less frequent but, again nothing in over 3 months is a long time in my experience, especially if he is still eating. There are other factors that will affect gut transit time such as temperature (he should have a hot spot in the 100- 110F range) and also calcium levels. Calcium plays a key role in the nerve impulses and muscle contractions that move food along the bowel. Impactions are an obvious cause but they tend to produce other symptoms such as bloating, weight loss, pain and sometimes hind-leg paralysis.
Since you have already tried the usual things that tend to trigger a bowel movement with no results I would suggest you have an experienced herp vet take a look at him. He or she may be able to give you a good idea if there is retained stool simply from palpating him before you need to move on to something like an x-ray. Good luck.