I do question what is more important however. Whether it be worming the animal to improve its immune/organ systems, or rehydrating the animal first to strengthen the animal's systems. I for one feel that hydrating an animal that is afflicted with internal parasites is more important than dosing it with medications. Such medications are only indirectly beneficial to the animal itself, they only affect the parasites within; whereas water/hydration directly affects the animal's health and physiological processes. A lizard can survive with parasites(after all, parasites are not designed to kill the host), however conspecifically, a lizard cannot survive without adequate water levels within the body.

I think that there is no question that a comprimised system will open itself up to a harsher 'attack' by parasites, however I tend to question how many of these sick and skinny animals are in fact afflicted by parasitic infestations to begin with. Most claims of parasite infestations are unsubstantiated, as most people dosing their animals for such an infestation have never had tests done to confirm such an infection.

I suppose the original point of my post above, was to say that many people mistake a skinny, severely dehydrated lizard, for an animal that is teeming with parasites. I have acclimated many freshly WC tree monitors which were originally nothing but skin and bones- a couple of breaths away from death, that were tested for parasites several times(I was skeptical at the preliminary results), only to come up negative. I have seen this in other herps as well, where skinny, crusty, walking skeletons, that people could have sworn were teeming and infested with parasites, ended up not having any to begin with, or any significant, or jeopardizing parasite load.

When people see a skinny lizard, with its hip bones protruding, no fat or leanness to the musculature, most keepers are so quick to jump out and claim/assume that it is parasites, and are usually overlooking the real problem that is dehydration.

Of course parasites may and do become a problem in many cases, however I think that of all the claims of "parasite infestations" which afflict wc herps in captivity, most of the problems experienced are issues with dehydration, and not parasites..

Cheers Robert,

Bob
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Treemonitors.com

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