Hello all. I have a beardie which I bought back in September. He was little more than 7 inches long, 6 weeks of age when I picked him up. He has been doing great and has grown to almost 15 inches in length, a really beautiful male hypo pastel. A few weeks ago I moved him to his new enclosure, a 4'x2'x2' cage I picked up from showcasecages.com. He has always been a good eater, tearing into his crickets, silkworms and sometimes salad (especially when I wrap it around the silkies). When I moved him he went off his feed. I attributed it to the move but he hasn't eaten right since. I took a fecal in last week and the vet called me back: positive for coccidia and pinworms. We went to the vet who examined him and administered a dose of panacur for the worms. The vet did say he was a very nice looking beardie with good weight. He'll be going back for another dose in 2 weeks and I am going to start giving him Albon for the coccidia. I was kind of surprised with the fecal results because he has been doing so well and I have been very, very meticulous with my husbandry. I have him on shelf liner which I keep spotlessly clean. All the lighting and temps are correct. The vet gave me a printed out sheet which I only checked once I got back home and it says something about whipworms. Are these the same as pinworms? And now I am thinking he might have said something about hookworms. Can that be? Do beardies get hookworms or am I just getting all confused? For the coccidia, will I need to get rid of the branch in his cage and his basking ledge and keep him on paper until the parasites are gone or is there some way to completely disinfect this stuff daily. I have been constantly disinfecting with Novalsan even before this.
Finally, my wife got very upset when I told her about the parasites, particularly the worms. She is concerned that our kids can catch these. I would assume that unless we are very careless with the feces the risk is minimal but I would really like to hear from someone knowledgeable on this so that I can put her at ease. I am sorry about the length of this post and thank you in advance for any responses.
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Beardie has parasites, have questions, long post
Replies (5)
Ok first off the move may have caused the outbreak of parasites. A lot, if not most dragons, have parasites. Nothing you did, the move was neccesary and created stress. This leads to increases in parasites because of depressed immune system. You are correct that you want to be even more meticulous now that an outbreak has occured. Paper towels are the safest. He may have several types of worms not to worry panacur will take care of that. It is very safe. A lot of parasites are said to be host specific. Even ones that are not are very hard to catch. You child would pretty much have to eat the feces. Tell your wife not to worry. I was pretty careless in the past and have never had an outbreak in myself.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com
Derek:
Thanks for the response, my wife will be relieved. I will be keeping my dragon on paper for the time being. What about the furnishings in his cage? Mainly I have one of those rock type basking ledges, a long branch which he likes to lay on and a half log to hide in. Will I need to get rid of these as has been suggested in some books or is there any reasonable way to safely and completely disinfect these on a daily basis? This sucks, but I do want to get rid of the parasites and will do what is necessary to fix my beardie up.
You could soak everything in 1:10 bleach to water solution for half an hour, or you could bake it every night for 30-45 minutes at about 350F. If there is any fecal matter bleach soak and scrubbing is best. This is only neccesary when fecal matter is present. Go to www.reptilerooms.com and find the coccidia treatment there. Cheri is very knowledgable and does a lot of rescues. So she has dealt with it often.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com
wasn't that the med that CheriS was saying always use Acidophiliz with to reduce the risk of the dragons getting Yellow Fungus?
I posted a little down the forum what I do with albon. All my dragons on it last year gained weight and didn't lose their appetites with that regimen.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com
