Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my dragon puked a week ago.then wouldnt eat, just layed around seemed kind of weak. took him to the vet wednesday. they drew blood, no test results yet. fecal showed worms. now on panacur once a week for six weeks. have seen little improvement. barely eats crickets, have been force feeding babyfood per vets instruction. anybody been through similar situation? any suggestions? he's on the right in photo.

you should try para-zap, it great. Dont force feed, it causes more problems than it solves. Keep him hydrated with soaks.if one has worms watch out for all of your others. Para-zap is a great and safe way to treat all your lizards and the one beardie.O and when i was 6 i had my first beardie and it got hook worm, i did all the medicines, got rid of worms and force fed him like the vet said. Well i think all the force feeding tramatized him and he died. Not to scare you but force feeding is bad.
www.parazap.com

I just went throught this with a new rescue beardie...

Panacure will work but it causes them to loose their appetite. When 'force' feeding you should not force their mouths open. You should offer them the liquid food through a syringe by dripping it on their nose--they should lick it up. NEVER try to force their mouths open--especially NEVER pull on their beard to open their mouth! In severe cases you can offer/give fluids by placing syringe in the SIDE of their mouth. The use of a 'probiotic' like Acidolpholiz (spelling?) is also benificial any time they are having eating trouble or if they are on meds (especially antibiotics).

To keep your beardie hydrated during treatment soak them daily. Keeping the cage/tank extra clean is a must to prevent reinfection and to keep the parasites from spreading to your other beardies. Newspaper or papertowels as a substrate is best during treatment for easy cleaning. Remove any particulate (sand) substrate until all fecals are clear.

It took 2 weeks before I noticed an improvement. After the treatment with panacure I used Parazap to help her get her appetite back. I will also be using Parazap once a month (for 3-5 days in a row) as a preventative--both of my beardies take/lick the parazap readily (they seem to love the stuff).

it is very dangerous to your beardie to have his mouth forced open by holding his beard. They have very delicate bones in their beard that can be broken if the jaw is forced. To get a beardie to open his mouth--or to "force feed" place the syringe in the side of the lips. The majority of the time the beardie will readily accept any food/drink that is dropped on the end of its nose...allowing the beardie to lick up the food/drink/meds is a lot less stressful on both of you.

My girl went almost a week without eating on her own during treatment. I used acidolpholiz and Parazap to help her get her appetite back. She lost 60 grams during treatment..she was already seriously underweight when treatment began (she was in pretty bad shape). 4 weeks after the panacure and 2 weeks after a round of Parazap she has clean fecals and has gained tons of weight back...she is a bottomless pit! (Well she is a German Giant and they are known for hearty appetites!)

Parazap has ingredients that are 'recognized' to be effective. The majority of the time natural meds are easier on the body. If anything it does increase their appetite. Panacure is a pretty good drug--it works fairly quickly but it does have the side effect of reduced appetite--I think it gives them a big tummy ache.

i agree that its been stressful. he hasnt been cooperating with feeding,as we have tried to get him to lick the tip of his nose but he wont. will try from the side next time. do you pry his lips open or just shove the syringe in?

I only had to "force" her mouth open one or two times--when she was at her weakest and needed more hydration (after soaks). I still didn't force too hard. I used the tip of the syringe to seperate her lips and then tapped against her teeth until her jaw opened. I did NOT use much 'force'. It did not take her long to accept my help and start licking it up.

If your guy is still eating some and is not seriously dehydrated after repeated soakings then don't try too hard to force feed him. He will be fine for a few days without food while his stomache heals from the parasites.

I would still try the Parazap...it is the 'Pepto' for small animals... it helped our Lizzabella to get back on her feet after her mistreatment (she was a rescue) and then parasite treatment.