Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I believe that my two cresties have this protozoan. I have been told that it is treatable with Flagyl/metronidazole and strict quarentine conditions. My problem is I have no idea how administer these meds and what the proper dosage should be. I've read everything from 250mg/kg for 3 doses to 50mg/kg for 5-10 days. I would appreciate any advice because me beloved cresties are declining fast and i need to start some sort of treatment as soon as possible. Also, i've always used 10% bleach to water to disinfect. But obviously that didn't keep the parasites from invading my poor geckos. Is there a more effective disenfecting technique? I also have not found much info on where the parasites actually come from in the first place. Food, water? If the cresties do recover i don't want to deal with this problem again. Any advice will be appreciated...thanks!

Megan,

Sorry to hear that your geckos aren't doing so well. As far as metronidazole goes, a dose of 250 mg/kg sounds much to high to me. Significant overdose of this drug can cause neurological disorders. A dose of 50 mg per kg is certainly more appropriate. Giving the drug daily for 5-10 days is fine if the problem is serious. Entamoeba can be spread through any kind of unsanitary conditions, including old food or water, feces, etc. If these protozoans are the problem, the metronidazole should help. Of course, if the symptoms of your lizards is simply diarrhea or lack of appetite, etc., the problem could be a number of things. I don't know how sure you are that Entamoeba invadens is the culprit, but metronidazole will not work for some other bad guys like coccidians for example. Good luck.

Doug

Thanks so much for responding so quickly. YOu're totally right. I'm not postive if it's entamoeba invadens or not so I've decided to take them to an emergency vet to see if a diagnosis can be made. I have collected feces, but i'm not sure what poop belongs to what gecko. And i'm a little uncomfortable because this vet is not a reptile specialist...but i'm sure he knows a lot more than i do.
One more question. I'm in IL where it's like 2degrees out. Any suggestions on the best way to transport them? I haven't driven anywhere with them since bringing them home. I don't want to stress them out anymore than i need to.

If you have a deli container, or one of those ziploc containers-punch small hole in it. Put in a piece of paper towel, if it is a long trip, moisten it a bit. Try to keep them at a warm but not hot temp. Never just medicate an animal on your own. It's too dangerous.

Megan,

If you are worried about the transport of your geckos, you might try calling the vet and asking if you could bring only the fecals without having to bring the lizards themselves in. If in fact the problem is due to internal parasites, this may be really all that is necessary to make a diagnosis. Some vets will go along with this, and some really want to see the animals themselves as well.

Doug

I'm sorry to hear about your gecko. I had a problem with one of my geckos last year - losing weight, not eating. There is no reptile vet in my area, but I called around and found that pretty much any vet would do a fecal exam. Actually, they had to send it away to a lab that was more familiar with geckos, but that meant no vet visit (stressful for geckos) and I had the test results back in a couple of days. The test came back negative, so I'm glad I didn't try medicating my crested on my own. By the way, the fecal sample needs to be fresh (less than 24 hours old) - would it be possible to separate your geckos in clean enclosures so you can determine whose feces is whose? Good luck with your gecko!

I don't recommend any sort of self medication for my animals, but it was suggested to get fecals. For adult sized crested geckos you could grab some of those plastic shoebox/ storage containers (preferably larger than shoebox, but you get the idea) from any discount store, usually less than $5 a piece with covers. Drill a lot of holes in the top and sides, throughly clean and sanitize them, add paper towels to the bottom and several crumpled for nesting and hiding. This work fine for a day and we use them as a place to put our geckos when we clean them... to be honest, our crested tends to poo around the same time each night and it would be easy to just drop her in and wait for it to happen. Good luck, getting the tests done is the best solution.
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0.1 Albino Leo Gecko
0.1 Crested Gecko
1.0 Dear Boyfriend
Departed: Harvey and Spock

I really appreciate all the input. It's been really stressful. The fecal tests are being done but just out of curiosity I was wondering if anyone had any other theories about my ailing geckos. A little background: we moved them from an all screen enclosure about a month ago. (Winter in IL is cold! Sould have thought of that.) They are now in a 29 high with a screen cage extender. Shortly after they moved, we noticed slight changes in eating and hunting behaivor, but they were still eating and drinking and we thought they were just adjusting to their new environment. We were careful to disinfect their new cage and cage furniture. We change their water everyday, and their waterfall every other day. Feces and uneaten fruit or crickets are removed daily. So basically what their symptoms are now: no appetite, weight loss, not sure if they're drinking, VERY lethargic and weak, and trouble shedding. Anyway, i guess i wanted some more theories because i'm soo scared right now. THe waiting game is the worse. THanks again to everyone...

This probably won't be very helpful, but when my gecko was sick, we had no idea what was wrong. No changes in her enviroment - heat, humidity, and diet were the same as always - she just stopped eating. She dropped from 38 grams to 26 grams. She was skin and bones. Her fecals came back clean and the vet was as bewildered as we were. I picked up some Repti-Aid at the local pet store - it's supposed to be for malnourished or dehydrated geckos - and hand fed her for 3 weeks, always putting fresh food in her tank daily. At the end of the 3 weeks she just started eating again. That was a little less than a year ago, and now she is up to 43 grams, the heaviest she's ever been. Keep us posted. I'd love to know what might have been causing her illness.

B

Hi Megan,
Sorry to hear about your crested.
A couple of question- what temperature are they being kept at now- day, night?
How often do you mist?

Is there any possibility that the temperature is so cool that the crested is just slowing down (this is natural) during this winter?
Do you know for sure the gecko is not eating? Is it eating some but not all of its food? How much weight has it lost- over how long of period?
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