Parasite recovery -- hiding and napping a lot? Help! :)

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Targ

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Hey beardie friends, thanks for taking the time to read through this. Scooter is about a year and a half. I rescued him off Craigslist back in February, and he has sprouted like a bean - grew a bunch. For the past several weeks, his poops have been RANK. Like, smelling up the whole house almost! Poop was also very runny. However, he seemed to be completely fine, appetite and sleeping just fine. About two weeks ago, he just wanted to be in his little cave without the lights on for two days. The first day, I thought hey maybe he wants a "down day". After he stayed in his cave all day again for a second day, I took him to the vet immediately.

Physical exam went great, vet & techs commented a few times on how healthy he seemed. I urged them to check the stool & brought a sample in. Sure enough, he had a TON of coccidia. I was given gutomine to give to him daily as well as ponazuril to give (two doses, wait two weeks, two more doses). He did fine for a day or two after that, but quickly started hiding in his cave again. He would be up for about half a day, and then poop out completely at around 11am-12noon and hide/ sleep for the rest of the day. Not sleeping, but laying there with his eyes closed.

I called the vet back and told him about the behavior, and they told me to bring him back in. They re-checked fecal, and the coccidia is completely gone (yay, but still finishing his doses) and nothing else is showing up. I talked with the vet a bit and we agreed that he just really doesn't feel good - perhaps tired from all the straining from the poop, perhaps dehydrated from the parasites, etc. They were able to give him some fluids and Vitamin D I believe? They said he may be lethargic but that he would start to come around. This was last Thursday. Since coming home, he was fine for about 2-3 days and then after... he just started "giving up'' at about half the day and going to bed, hiding in his cave and scratching etc. until I turned his lights off.

This morning is the third day in a row of him hiding. However, today, instead of waiting until about mid day, he isn't even wanting to be in the lights or anything. He is in a big blankie on my bed just enjoying the dark and chill. He is still active and has an appetite, I was able to feed him a bunch of crickets yesterday, even had some kale and other veg. I have made sure that his bulbs aren't burnt out or potentially too hot/ have ruled out lighting.

I think I am going to call the vet again when they open this morning but I'm not sure what else they can do. Should I ask for a blood test? Should I try and hydrate him with water via dropper? Baths? He has been a champ through ALL of this, takes his meds and is a very good boy. How can I help him feel better? Any suggestions are WELCOME.

tldr; Beardie in recovery from parasite, but sleeping lots. Been to vet twice.

Thanks for everything!
 

CooperDragon

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I'm glad to hear the meds worked against the coccidia. Hopefully that doesn't return and he starts feeling better from that soon. His behavior is also consistent with brumation so the sleepiness may be coincidence. My dragon is behaving the same way. going to sleep earlier and sleeping for sometimes days at a time. It's possible that Scooter just wants to go down for some level of brumation too. Monitor his weight because that should remain fairly stable.
 

Targ

Member
Original Poster
Hey Cooper, thanks for the response.I have an update!

I was also curious about brumation, but it's so early in the year. He started sleeping more again, and I went back to the vet for the third time for blood work (so expensive!). Turns out he actually has a viral infection and was also severely dehydrated from the parasites making his poop really rank. I got meds for him and we are taking those every day. It's only been a few days, but he *seems* better for now. I am feeding him water in a syringe every day and we are going heavy on the baths. Any tips besides using a spritzer? When he sees the syringe he gets upset, lol.

I think that between the coccidia and the viral infection he just wanted to try and sleep it off. He seems to be doing much better now. His appetite is good and he's even eating his veg. Thank you!
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
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Poor guy. Hopefully the infection will go away soon. My guy stopped trusting syringes after meds too. Spraying their nose with water or using a dropper will do the trick too. Just enough to get them to lick up the water. Sometimes they will drink from a bowl if you flick at the water to create some movement. In severe cases, fluids can be injected under the skin but this should be reserved for critical cases.

As far as brumation goes, the season/weather doesn't seem to be the trigger. They go into brumation at all different times of year. My guy has been trying to go into brumation for over a month now (a little earlier than usual but not by much). Given his recent illnesses I would keep him hydrated and awake for now. You don't want him to go into brumation with illness or parasites if possible.
 
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