Parasites? How dangerous?!

Hi all,

I took my 8 year old beardie to the vet on Monday morning. Before this in the Friday evening he had thrown up blood with undigested locusts. I thought he could be impacted so gave him a bath and tried to make him poo. He eventually did and everything was normal, he was active, no sunken eyes, no loss of appetite, nice bright orange cover. As at the time I assumed he was impacted, I kept him on soft foods and blended some banana and mango with calci dust up. I took him to the vet first thing Monday to ensure that everything was okay anyway after two days of nothing but normal behaviour really, he did not seem uncomfortable in any way. Temps in viv are all normal too. So I assumed that after this it could be parasites.

The vet visit confirmed this, I explained the above and he agreed with me that the two conclusions I had come to see the two he was thinking of, he gave him a visual examination and felt his belly and could not feel anything in his stomach that would suggest impaction so we deducted to get a stool sample for him and check for parasites.

That evening, I gave him another bath and he pooped again, this time the poo had a foul smell to it and was runny, I collected what I could of the samples and did notice possible pinworms or some kind of parasite in his stool. I have taken the sample to the vet to get testeted and am waiting on results.

The only thing I’m worried about is if it is parasites - which I’m quite sure it is, how serious is it? I know In humans pinworms aren’t very severe but I’m concerned about Dobi as what sort of parasites could cause him to be sick with blood? If anyone could let me know I’d appreciate it. He’s my buddy and I love him so much.

Additionally, he had an X-ray in January as I was concerned about MBD and his bone density is very good, the vet even sent it to the city university as an example of a healthy beardie x Ray. He has also since put a bit a of weight since January and so no weight loss is observed.

Many thanks.

Pinworms are common and not harmful in low amounts. In higher amounts they can be treated fairly easily using Panacur. Coccidia is also fairly common but a bit more serious and harder to get rid of (Ponazuril works well against it). In both cases, cleaning and sanitizing any surfaces that come in contact with poop is important to prevent re-infection. Using F10 disinfectant after cleaning is very helpful. For Coccidia, you need to disinfect using steam or ammonia if you don't have F10. Bleach is not effective against Coccidia. Hopefully the vet can identify the cause of the issue and treat appropriately. If you keep everything well sanitized then it shouldn't be a big problem long term.

Hi,

Thanks so much! Results came back and he has been prescribed Panacur and another antibiotic that I can’t remmeber the name of right now, I’ve stripped the viv and am planing to do a big deep clean of everything this evening.

Thank you again,

Lyd