Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just got fecal results back and my 15 mth old male (Rex) has a lot of Coccidia & my 7 mth old female (Ginger) has Stongyles. I've done a search of old posts and the best notes I can gather is below. Please comment but 1st here are some notables:

- Rex & Ginger are in seperate cages and there has been no cross-contamination of food dishes, etc.
- Both eat crickets & worms dusted Calcium/ D3.
- Rex (Coccidia) is eating well (crickets, worms, veggies & RepCal), does have runny stools, growth/ size are normal, he is very active. We've had him 13 months.

- Ginger (Stongyles) eats the crickets & worms but not much on the veggies & RepCal. She's not active but not loosing weight.
We got her 6 weeks ago so we have attributed her behavior to stress & possibly brumation.

COCCIDIA TREATMENT NOTES I'VE FOUND:
- Remove sand, wood, anything that can absorb.
- replace w/ paper or shelf liner. Something that can be removed or cleaned every time he poops.
- Clean the cage with Nolvasan or 10% bleach mix (only use Nolvasan on him)
- Treat w/ Albon: .2ml/ day for 12 days then do another fecal test.
- Albon has a dehydrating effect to kidneys so be sure to not overtreat

STRONGYLES TREATMENT NOTES I'VE FOUND:
- none for Beardies

Thanks for any help!

I've heard of strongyloides being treated with Pyrantel pamoate or in humans with mebendazole. I've always thought strongyloides was found in mammals but since i'm new to lizards i guess its live and learn. Don't really know what other things to tell you, i'm sure that the 'experts' on the forum with have someone in their midst that has dealt with something like this before. You might have to find a vet that can give you a script for the treatments. Doubt there's anything 'over the counter' that will help with both of the problems your facing. Sorry not much help here.
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0.0.1 Bearded Dragon (Eddie)
2.0.0 Dogs (Black German Shepherd-Nicholas, Black Lab-Cooper)
1.1.0 Budgies (Kia and Simon)
0.0.1 ?Fiddler Crab (Crusty)
0.0.25 Various Fishies (Freshwater)
2.1.0 Hubby and kids (Boy and a Girl)

You can treat Strongyles with Panacur which you can buy online without a prescription. I get mine from the Bean Farm.

https://secure.ioncart.net/beanfarm/shopdisplayproducts.asp?page=3

It's only $10 and I bet if you called them they could get it to you quickly.

As far as coccidia, you need to get it treated with Albon. If you don't have any get some Parazap which will help control it until meds can be administered. The Parazap may not eliminate it since it's already gotten out of hand, but it will help and not make things worse.

You might want to check out this site..

http://www.anapsid.org/resources/rxdose.html

It has common drug dosages on it for common reptile problems including parasites. It's a very useful site and I use it often.

Also, the drug dosage you mentioned (.2 cc's) of Albon is a little strong unless your beardie is like 550 grams. If you have a smaller beardie the dose will be much smaller. And I've never heard of dosing Albon for more than 7 days. Actually 3 to 5 days is considered normal. Check out that site above and it will explain it all.

By the way, the terminology on the website above is medical terminology. You will need to go to this site to understand it...

http://www.anapsid.org/resources/drugdose.html

Good luck!
Veronica
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Beautiful Dragons

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Beautiful Dragons

I have a print out of that site for my records(melissa Caplins)

and thanks, for the beanfarm addy, I did not know they sold the meds !

Thank ya most kindly , LOL

Eve

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Beautiful Dragons

Thanks Veronica, I've saved all 3 of the web pages and I'm having the test results faxes to another Herp Vet so I can get a perscription filled, advice on dosage, etc ASAP.

The one w/ Coccidia is 260 grams by the way.

- Aubrey

Glad to hear it! And it never hurts to double check your vets prescription/dosage or question them about it. We have to keep them on their toes!

The dose I normally give my beardies (per my herp vet and per Melissa Kaplan's website) is 50 mg/ml for 3 days, then stop for 3 days, then repeat for another 3 days.

To figure a dose you have to know three things:
* Your beardies weight in kilograms
* Dosage of the med in mg/ml
* Concentration of the med

260 grams is .26 kilograms (move decimal 3 places to the left). And the most commonly used albon is 12.5% concentration. When you have a percentage as a concentration you have to multiply by 10, so that means that the concentration is 125.

The formula is weight X dose / concentration.

So that's .260 x 50 / 125

If you did it right you should get .104 or .1 cc's.

Veronica
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Beautiful Dragons

My vet has Gem (20wks 215grams and 15.5"stl) on .2ml of Albon for 12 days. In the prior post you said this is way too much. I looked at the slide and all you could see was the coccidia all over the whole slide. Could these dosages be harming her? She is on day 8 (4 days of meds 1 day off and 4 more days of meds). I am giving her the meds with extra water and acidopholus. She is still eating real good both crix and vegis. Her poo isn't smelling near as bad now as it did! I already went to the sites you listed, but can't figure out the convertion for the dosage she is getting.

Thanks for any extra info.

used in small animal clinics is 50 mg/ml. 12.5% solution would be 125 mg/ml and that is sold in a drug called Bactrovet which is usualy used for large animal medicine.)

A 225g beardie would get a dose of:
0.225 kg X 50 mg/kg = 11.25 mg

11.25 mg divided by 50 mg/ml = 0.225 ml or usually rounded to 0.2 ml

But, I do agree the treatment duration is usually only 3-5 days, then recheck fecal. Make sure you keep your dragon very well hydrated with dail;y soaks while on Albon and I would add a probiotic (acidophillus) during treatment as well to promote the maintenance of healthy gut flora.
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Stacey

I have tried all the tricks and he doesn't drink water. He gets his water by me wetting the crickets, worms & veggies before feeding.

Excuse my ignorance but I don't know what a "healthy gut flora" is or a "probiotic"... veggies & pedialite????

He will alos absorb water via his cloaca (or vent) while in the bath. PLus you can mist him daily with a plant mister. I would not do it in his enclosure as it may increase the humidity too much.

The gastrointestinal tract has many types of bacteria that help the beardie digest and process his food. Antibiotics can kill of the good bacteria with the bad organisms so it often recommended to promote the health of the gut flora by feeding probiotics (see link). Nutribac is often used by many hobbyists.
Nutribac Information Page

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Stacey

is one that more vets are changing over too called the pulse method. It seems to be more efffective in not dragging (no pun intended) the dragons down.

I can not tell you the last time I heard a dragon get clear of heavy coccidia with only a 3-5 day duration.

The methods used now are:

For first findings:

1. 10 days straight
2. 14 days straight
3. Five on, one off and five on

For treating high resistan coccidia that did not clear the first time:

1. 3 days on and then everyother day for 2 weeks
2. 5 days on and then everyother day for 10 days
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www.reptilerooms.com

that site, now recommends the 10 days in his new book and also Klingenberg uses the 3 days on, and then everyother day for two weeks.

They and many owners were finding that the 3- 5 day routine in bearded dragons was only making higher resistant to meds coccidia and was never clearing them.
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www.reptilerooms.com

Hey, when is the new Mader coming out? Last I heard was late 2004.
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Stacey

I haven't had many outbreaks with coccidia and when I have I've just used her drug dosages and have been fine. But I've never had a really bad case of coccidia before that needed Albon for that length of time. It's good to know though in case I do in the future. Thanks again!

Veronica
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Beautiful Dragons

My vet explained that the oocysts life cycle is 8-10 days so it is his policy to treat through the full life cycle. This makes sure no fertile oocysts can be expelled in the fecal matter and re-infest the dragon. Does this sould right?