Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all,

I have an interesting question.
As you all might remember I have a 4yr old male Chinese Water Dragon. He has a cage that he stays in at my parent's house whenever we go down to see them. The cage is aprox. 7 feet tall, 4 feet long. It was all his until my mom adopted a chinese water dragon recently. THe new addition is about 18" snout to tail (and part of its tail is broken off). Its not quite big enough to eat zoophas yet and still questionable sex wise. (We will call it a her for now). The new girl is now staying in the cage Jake used to use whenever we were in town.
When Christmas time comes around Jake is going to need somewhere to stay. I don't think its a good idea to keep the two of them in the same cage, so the new girl will probably be moved into a smaller cage while Jake is there. I'm worried if it is safe to keep Jake in the big cage after she has been in it. If we clean out the floors and rid the cage of any fecal matter, do you think it will be safe for Jake to stay in? I don't know if this other gal has any parasites or anything because she hasn't been to the vet yet. Its a difficult cage to clean... is there something I could get and spray in the cage to disinfect it, something that would NOT have to be rinsed out? (I would have to climb in the cage to clean it by hand, and I would rather not if I can avoid it). Need some advice please.
Thanks
Tania
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~~Tania~~
Jake (Chinese Water Dragon)
Peter (House Gecko)
Mosley (Maltese Shi Tzu Mix)
RIP Mary (House Gecko)

I use 2 spray bottles. 1 is for hydrogen peroxide. The 2nd is for vinegar. You can spray either first, but I do the vinegar first because it takes a while for the odor to dissipate. The combination of the 2 forms a powerful disinfectant (peracetic acid) which has a limited active life. Wipe down those surfaces that you can reach and use a fan to blow out the remaining odor and dry the unreachable surfaces. It is extremely difficult to remove all of the possible contamination if your mom's dragon has parasites, but this will work as well as anything. DO NOT combine the 2 and spray from the same bottle. the reaction happens too quickly and by the time you spray it's no longer effective.
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dianedfisher@yahoo.com

My 3 CWD-Avanyu, Tripod and Drago

Ummm, how about having the other wd get a checkup for parasites??? Might be best for all.

They live out in the boonies and are having trouble finding a rep vet nearby. I'm preparing for the worst case scenario.
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~~Tania~~
Jake (Chinese Water Dragon)
Mosley (Maltese Shi Tzu Mix)
RIP Mary and Peter (Med. Geckos)

Here's the thing - did you know any old vet can do a fecal exam?? Doesn't need to be a reptile vet - they can be far and few between.

I took Charlie to a reptile vet, who charged me $45 to say "Yep, s/he looks bloated, yep, skinny too." Period. I drove an hour up, and an hour back to hear that!!

I then figured out, finally, that parasites could be the problem. I called the local vet and asked if he could examine Charlie's "poop" for parasites. I thought, should it matter what KIND of "poop" it is??? The secretaries thought it was a hoot, but yep, Charlie did have parasites! A five min drive, and $12!!

The problem is that even healthy Waterdragons can have parasites. The presence of parasites alone are not enough of a reason to deworm. Its been shown that heathly load of certain intestional parasites may even be benefitical to their health. And the wrong dewormer, can cause more harm then good. The microflora can be wiped out, or the kidneys or liver can be damaged. If your waterdragon, is very thin lethargic or under a great deal of stress, you can deworm him with panacure(febendazole) mixed with Flagyl(Metrondiazole). Both of these medications are very difficult to overdose, and when mixed together are more effective then when taken seperately. Both are available over the counter and are inexpensive. Panacure(febendazole) is sold in many forms, for cats,dogs, livestock, and horses. Flagyl(Metrondiazole) is available as a fish medication for treating hole-in-the-head disease at any petstore. This combination will safely take care of 99% of parasites, if your lizard is infected with a tapeworm, your screwed. If your lizard is very weak or has a very high load of parasites, deworming can be fatal, as the decomposing parasites put off a lot of toxins. A more natural solutions is to allow the waterdragon to fast, which is their natural way of controling parasites anyway, or to increase fiber in the diet,basically any greens or vegitables.

Sorry Rick, I got a little confused on this one.
The lizard appears to be healthy and doing fine. Do you recommend that we try the solution in case there are parasites or that we let nature work it out?
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~~Tania~~
Jake (Chinese Water Dragon)
Mosley (Maltese Shi Tzu Mix)
RIP Mary and Peter (Med. Geckos)

Sorry, I was trying to make to many points.

1. A healthy lizard doesn't need to be dewormed even if parasites are present.

2. You can do serious damage or death with the wrong dewormer, so going to a Cat/Dog vet who hasn't the slightest idea about Herps isn't a good thing.

3. If you do need to deworm, there are over the counter methods are probably the same that your vet would precribe, and are safe to use routinely.

4. If your lizard is really weak and has a large parasite load, deworming can be fatal.

5. There are natural alternatives for controling parasite loads. Adding more greens to the diet, and fasting. People, often make the mistake of force feeding a lizard that is fasting as a result of a heavy parasite load.

Thanks for the information.
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~~Tania~~
1.0 Chinese Water Dragon - Jake
1.0 Maltese Shi Tzu Mix - Mosley
RIP 1.1 Med. Geckos - Mary and Peter

Do I just buy hydrogen peroxide and the white vinegar like I would from the grocery store? I don't have to dilute anything?
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~~Tania~~
Jake (Chinese Water Dragon)
Mosley (Maltese Shi Tzu Mix)
RIP Mary and Peter (Med. Geckos)