Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,

I have a 1 1/2 old Savannah Monitor that I have kept in excellent husbandry conditions since the date I acquired him/her. He/she is about 2 ½ long and approximately 2-3 pounds. The cage is currently 4’ x 4’ with 8” of soil and a 4 gallon water bowl. I have a hot spot of 110F and an ambient temperature of about 80F .

Last night my Sav defecated in the water bowl like usual and I proceeded with the cleaning. I noticed a string inside the water and once taken out of the water I realized it was a Tape Worm. It has many sections and is white/clear and about 5 inches long or so.

I have fed my monitor some raw turkey meat in the past as well as f/t mice, cooked eggs and turkey sticks (baby food as treats). I stopped feeding the raw meat about 2 months ago after I read about potential danger from the uncooked meat. Well it looks like my feeding past has come back to haunt my lizard/myself. (I am guessing that is what it is from)

Since the worm is so large I am gathering it has to be somewhat old and I am certain that it can’t be the only one in his/her belly.

I have some Flagyl from a while back and am hesitant to use it as it is about 5 years old. I only found the shelf life for the pills not for the paste and was wondering #1 if anyone knows how long is lasts for, #2 is it the correct treatment, #3 how much should I be giving my Savannah to kill off the worms?

If I am totally off course here please let me know. Since it is Sunday I am holding off on the vet since it will cost a fortune as it would be considered an emergency. Should I try and do this myself or scratch everything I said and go strait to the vet tomorrow?

I know many places sell Panacur and am willing to do whatever I need to get my Savannah help ASAP.

Any advice would be more than greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Eric

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Eric

Hi,

Firts of all RELAX!!
Tapeworms are not an emergency, they are not deadly to your sav under normal circumstances.
Flagyl and panacur both don't work against tapeworms, you need praziquantel, call your vet monday for the dosage.
Tapeworms are very rare in captive reptiles, he probably has had them his whole life from when he was WC, unless you feed him fresh cought snails or something.
Let your vet do a fecal to check for other parasites.
Your basking may be to cold, check this forum for better husbandry.

Jasper

Thank you for such a quick response.

Here are some pictures I just took of the worm inside a Ziploc Bag.

Am I correct in assuming this is a Tapeworm?

Thank you,

Eric

http://webmail.aol.com/41095/aol/en-us/mail/get-attachment.aspx?uid=1.24349422&folder=NewMail&partId=2

http://webmail.aol.com/41095/aol/en-us/mail/get-attachment.aspx?uid=1.24349422&folder=NewMail&partId=3
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Eric

hi,

can you put the foto's here on kingsnake, i can't open them through your link and i want to keep my compu as clean as possible.
your decription does sound like a tape worm.

Jasper

Tapeworms are usually treated with Droncit, available by perscription through a vet.

It is not usually life threatening, you can get through the treatment pretty easily.

Check out the book Understanding Reptile Parasites by Dr. Roger Klingenburg, available here on the classifieds. A valuable book, it covers the different parasites, how to identify each one, and the treatments for each. An important book for any reptile library.
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robyn@proexotics.com

Pro Exotics Reptiles

Hey Robyn and everyone who responded,

I really appreciate you answering my post to help get a solution for my monitor. I am going to go to the vet and have them prescribe me the meds that Robyn recommended and may as well get a fecal while I am there.

I will be going this week to the vet and will update the results.

Thank you so much!

I am much calmer now

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Eric