Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted here a week or so ago about my beardie not eating much, with the slightly runny fecal matter in the afternoon. I took him to the vet today with a little fecal sample, and yep, he has it. A rather large amount, according to the vet. So, I have the meds and I get to feed him with a syringe, since he isnt eating on his own.
If any of you have had to deal with this, any suggestions? Things that worked well to promote getting rid of these little parasites? I would appreciate it. With the meds and the syringe feeding, I am hoping for a healthy dragon in the next six weeks.
Thanks!!

what meds did you get? what dosage are you giving? did your vet tell you to give any probiotic or extra liquids like pediatite? Are you going to force feed?
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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

my vet gave me the normal meds, albon. She also gave me baby bird food, which now I am kind of skeptical about. ANy opinions on it? Other than that, she didnt inform me of pedialyte or anything, but I am going to go get some.

I have been going through treatment with my two dragons recently. One is now clear and the other one is being treated by a second round of it. The key is obsessive cleanliness of any and everything in their cage. Remove the substrate and use either papertowels or shelf liner. Everytime your guy poops you need to get it out and change the papertowels or clean/dissinfect the shelf liner and cage.

Also make sure to give Accidiphliz to help restore the good gut flora that the antibiotics (albon) are destroying. Be sure to give daily baths to keep well hydrated since the meds de-hydrate them. It's pretty much a major pain in the ass with two dragons in seperate enclosures to do daily.

Another thing I did was chuck out all of their old furniture and have the bare minimum in the tank. Use a basking spot like a smooth rock that is not pourus and can be easily removed and disinfected. Wood is not a good idea during treatment cuz it is hard to disinfect.

Listen to BigFil, he speaks from experience. The most important thing to do is keep everything HYPER clean. Get rid of any porous surfaces (wood logs, cork or log hides, sand or other loose substrate). Use paper towels for substrate so you can get waste out each time they go and change it. If you want to keep any of your cage furniture soak in a 10% bleach solution and then dry completely. Do not put them back in until the coccidiosis is completely cleared up.
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Stacey

I've been through this, and it's a nightmare, especially if you go through the cleaning religiously and it isn't cleared up until the third round of meds (the vet didn't want to use Albon for some reason...I finally sort of talked him into it on the third round).

I changed paper towels every day, and for every poop. Also sterilized the whole tank and all the furniture whenever she got poop on something besides a towel. Every two days otherwise.

Keep in mind that a cricket on something that isn't completely free of the bugs (or poop remnants) may infect your beardie....feeding outside of the enclosure can eliminate that risk.

Probiotics are a must to get them eating properly again. The meds kill the good gut flora as well as the coccidia and they quit eating. Keep him/her hydrated too...lots of baths and water. I had to feed and water with a syringe too.

Well, I honestly dont mind the constant cleaning of his cage. It needs to be done, and I love him so much that Im willing to do the cleaning and stuff. He is worth it!

I was kind of leary about feeding my dragon, Puff, the baby bird food the vet gave me. So I was thinking babyfood. What kind should I give him? Do I add something to it, like calcium or something? Oh and with is a probiotic everyone is talking about?? Thanks!

Some good baby foods to use would be chicken, squash, sweet potatoes. Those were always the favorites around here when I had to use them. Sure you could add calcium with d3 and a multi vitamin once a week.

Rep-cal beardie pellets are also good to use. What I did was soak the pellets in the pedialite sp?? over night in the fridge or just soak them, and mash them up good so you can put them in a needless syringe to feed them. Add water till you can draw it up the syringe or just pull out the plunger and put it in the back.

You know I've heard quite a few times the baby parrot food was being used successfully at bringing around young non thriving dragons.

As for the probiotics they can be bought in pill form at a pharmacy or Walmart by the vitamins look for acidophillus, but they have to be crushed and mixed in with the baby food etc. I suggest a liquid form made for reptiles called acidophiliz it's got the probiotics and a few vitamins in it, and comes with a dropper top so it's easily administered. Pet smart carries it I know that. Not sure of a place online though sorry.
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Mystical Dragons webshots pictures
Mystical-Dragons Website

thank you! We went ahead and got babyfood. So far, he really likes the squash. He didnt fight the feeding and ate it right up! Thanks for the info about the probiotics..the vet didnt even say ANYTHING about that...or pedialyte..so I appreciate the help!

was recommended by our breeder (Kaytee Exact) and she readily lapped it up. I have since heard that it's not the best choice, due to some ingredients. I don't recall what is was off hand, though.

Nutribac is a good probiotic also, but I had a hard time getting it last time so went with Acidophiliz...got it at PetSmart. FWIW, my first vet didn't mention probiotics either, until I brought it up. That's the other reason he's no longer Kiana's vet.