Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I took my 3 yr old bearded dragon to the vet the other day because he has diarrea pretty bad right now. His stools are always stinky puddles. On the way there, he made a surprisingly firm poop, which the vet checked for parasites. He didn't see coccodia or any other parasites under his microscope. He recommended I feed him more crickets, since I was feeding him crix twice a week and mixed healthy greens and veggies the rest of the week. He has a pretty healthy diet, UV light, good temps, good substrate, etc... he is also very robust, strong, alert, and otherwise healthy.

So I called the vet's office and said that his poopy problem hadn't cleared up. He called back and left a message saying he is considering putting him on general de-worming medication, since there are some parasites that don't always turn up on the fecal. Now this has me a little concerned. Is it OK to put a beardie on medication without first determining what kind of parasites it might have? Does anyone know what kind of medications might be used for this? I need to call him back and find out just what medications he has in mind in a few hours.

Any advice/input/suggestions are appreciated, especially from people who have dealth with parasites before.

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-Andy

Hey, sorry i don't know how to help you with your beardie's sickness but i was just wondering what kind of bearded dragon that is cause i just think its cool looking and i am looking to buy a new dragon and i think that morph is real nice...

Other things can cause diarrhea besides parasites. If the poo is a little smelly, than that's normal. But if it so bad you have to run out of the room, then it's probably parasites. I would get a second opinion on the fecal exam if you can afford it.

What kind of diet is your dragon on? A lot of supers or worm with a high fat content can give a beardie loose stools. Also, there are some fruits and veggies out there that can cause diarrhea if they don't agree with your beardie.

How long has this been going on? The risk you run with diarrhea is dehydration. And beardies are notorious for dehydrating quickly. Make sure your beardie stays hydrated by dripping some water on the tip of his nose every day or every other day, bathing him weekly, mist his greens, and make sure you have a bowl of water available for him in his cage.

If it were me, I wouldn't just put my beardie on meds if the reason wasn't known. You run the risk of damaging the kidneys if the beardie isn't properly hydrated during the treatment, and you lose the beneficial bacteria in the beardies stomach. The sulfa drugs that treat the parasites wipe out the bad parasites along with all of the good bacteria. You will have to replace the good bacteria with a product like NutraBac.

Good luck. Keep us posted. Hope he feels better soon. Sure is a beautiful dragon.

Veronica
Beautiful Dragons

I'm feeding him collard greens, mustard greens, endive, escarole, and dandelion greens, usually topped with either yellow squash, carrots, or green beans. He gets that every day, except twice a week when he gets dusted crickets instead. The only fat in his diet is waxworms and he gets those once a month or so, not enough to cause the problem. He's always had some runny poop, but I was away at college for the last year and my mom took care of him for me, and kept him on the same diet. When I came back it seemed his poop was getting worse so I took him to the vet.

I don't think he's dehydrated. He doesn't show any signs of it (no sunken eyes or face), and he probably gets plenty of moisture from his greens, especially the carrots and squash on top. Maybe this is causing the problem? He has a water bowl which I've NEVER seen him drink from. I give him occassional baths, but he doesn't drink during those anymore (he used to when he was little). Besides, beardies are adapted to hot, dry climates with dry vegetation to eat. But if I give him medication I'm going to give him baths more often, to help flush out his system.

I'm also going to ask about Nutrabac. Where can I get that, how safe is it, and how much does it cost?

Which is more likely to cause runny stools: crickets or greens? Should I feed him crickets more often, like every other day?
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-Andy

It sounds like you are doing everything right. You can get the Nutribac at www.Nutribac.com. It's not very expensive, but it works great. If you can't wait for it to come in the mail, go to a health food store and get some capsules with acidophilus. This is the good active bacteria, like in yogurt. And if you can't get a hold of that stuff, you can always give Yoplait yogurt with active cultures to restore the good bacteria. Just give a little bit orally every day for a week or so. Neither will hurt your beardie.

Good luck and sorry I wasn't of more help to you. But I would definately think about getting a second opinion on the fecal. It sounds like he could have pinworms or something similar to that.

Veronica
Link

np
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-Andy

Don't give him meds unless a change in diet doesn't help eliminate the problem within a few weeks. Also, if you still think he has worms, give him Parazap(www.parazap.com) because it is a natural dewormer that won't kill all of the beneficial bacteria, it just flushes out the worms. Remember that they are wild animals though, and in the wild they would most likely be swimming in parasites so unless the parasites are causing health problems(weight loss, listlessness, etc), I wouldn't recommend using meds from a vet, as they will cause more harm than good.

Hi
i would recomend parazap.
that is a killer for every worm type parasite and give youre beardie more strenght in his imum system.
it also have other nice things .
i would give him 7 days tea 7 days no tea and then again 7 days tea.
most of time worms r the cause other type parasites come up to becuase his imum systyem is weaker becuase he have to deal with more parasites.
parazap is very mild and wil not harm you beardie like medicines does.
so if docter not see any thing and youre beardies have stil runny stool try out parazap.
very great looking beardie btw.
i also recomend good bacterias for him.
go to a drugstore for human and there buy some capsules with achidophulus ,one capsule in glas water and then give him water to him in a dropper.
then the good bacterias wil help him digest better .
maybe a second opinion on a other vet maybe he looking better?
r is he good the vet???
i hope this helps byeee

I am a licensed Vet technician and personaly do fecal floats and exams all day long, just because the vet did not see anything on the fecal sample DOES NOT mean there is nothing there. It could be operator error, or there wasn't any eggs in the part of poop you picked up. My dragon had pinworms when i first got her and her poops were so smelly I thought I had made a mistake and was going to have to get rid of her. After two treatments of Panacure the smell and the worms went away. Panacure will not hurt your dragon if there are no worms.
Coccidia is also hard to diagnose sometimes, the treatment for that is a form of antibiotics and yeah, you don't want to use them unless you are sure thats what they have. If your vet is a qualified herp vet he's probably using the symptoms as a guideline for the treatment. There really isn't anything wrong with that all vets do it to a certain extent.
I would try the panacure or another broad spectrum wormer (I have never used parazap but lots of people here seem to like it)
and if that doesnt clear is up bring more poop in, a fresh diarrhea sample is the best and make sure the vet does a fecal smear as well as a float.
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DogStar

"Many have forgotten this truth, but you must not forget it. You remain responsible, forever, for what you have tamed." --Antoine de Saint Exupery

floats, some need direct smears such as Giardia, it sometimes doesn;t want to float. i would try the panacure as well. just because the sample is clear on the slide doesn't mean your clear. but in my experiance if there is enough worms to make your animal sick generaly not always but most of the time your gonna see them. and sometimes coccidia is a little tough to find but most of the coccidia slides i have persoanly seen have been swimming in the little guys. no way you could miss them.
follow your vet ask him to do a couple more fecals bring in maybe two or three samples if you like and run them all underscope. but hey panacure isn;t the evil alot of folks make it out to be