Coccidia is back now what?

My beardie had a positive test for coccidia, which was an ordeal to get in the first place with the vet having very limited experience with reptiles. Eventually the vet gave me albon to treat, I followed the directions and super sanitized his tank every poop as well as gave him a bath. I treated for almost two months before he seemed heatlhy and "normal" (although never having a fully healthy beardie I guess I am not sure what that is). He's still fairly skinny and some days has no appetite and now I am SURE it's back almost 3 months later. Over the last few weeks I've noticed the awful smell coming back and his last poop was a runny stinky mess. The thing is I'm now living in a small town which is a ways from any vets at all, and even if I drove him two hours to a vet, they still know nothing about exotics. I was wondering if there is anywhere to order albon or other antibiotics to treat and skip the needless vet expenses. Also I know I've read about home testing kits, are there any that are reliable? I still have a little bit of albon left in the bottle but not enough to treat it properly. He was a nightmare to deal with giving him antibiotics, not to metion it really set him back in getting used to being handled (he's only about a year old now) so I really want to make sure it's done right this time.

I would highly recommend Toltrazuril. I got it for my babies after a 21 day round of Albon didn't quite do it. They are just about in the clear of it and the Toltrazuril is far easier on them from what I have heard. If you have no herp vet in the area (which I do not) then that may be a great option. You can order it online from beardeddragon.co. The dosing is a bit tricky and you need to know how much exactly he weighs in grams. It was recommended to me by one of the most awesome people on here, Tracie. She was so helpful when my babies were first diagnosed and I was so stressed as to what to do.

I also HIGHLY recommend the professional cleaner from beardeddragon.co which I got when my steamer broke. It has made life easy and I like the fact it is a killeverythingcide. hahahah...

Take EVERYTHING out of the enclosure if you haven't done so already. Use paper towel for substrate and change it out every time he/she poohs. I changed it daily even if they didn't pooh on it. Disposable boxes for basking spots, so if they pooh, off to the trash with them they go.

Take all branches you have, wash them off of any fecal matter (I'd use the cleaner on it and then rinse well) and then bake them for 20-30 minutes at 225* or so. Then don't put them back in until they get a clear fecal exam.

Hope this helps...

Marcy

Thanks that was EXACTLY the type of product I was looking for. I ordered up some of the disinfectant and acidophilus too and hopefully I can finally have a happy healthy beardie. He's just so skinny right now too, I think the Albon was just about as hard on him as the parasite and it didn't even get it out of his system properly. I was pretty paranoid about keeping his cage clean last time but This time i think I'm going for the disposable cage accessories and I have a really nice new log for him so i think rather than bake his old one again it's going in the trash. Thanks for the help!

Glad I can help... I know how stressful it is. Mine went through the Albon too.

Marcy

laurela":yaembk47 said:

Thanks that was EXACTLY the type of product I was looking for. I ordered up some of the disinfectant and acidophilus too and hopefully I can finally have a happy healthy beardie. He's just so skinny right now too, I think the Albon was just about as hard on him as the parasite and it didn't even get it out of his system properly. I was pretty paranoid about keeping his cage clean last time but This time i think I'm going for the disposable cage accessories and I have a really nice new log for him so i think rather than bake his old one again it's going in the trash. Thanks for the help!

Click to expand...

Mine LOVED the Acidopholiz... the dropper is a glass dropper so use a plastic syringe to feed it to him. Also it is recommended that with the acidopholiz to give 6 hours post meds. (I gave it to them ever day while on meds, not just on med day) and that you keep the tank warm at night. I used an under tank heater mounted on the side above where they could reach in their tanks to keep the temp up at night. You could do a ceramic heat emitter. That helps the probiotic work and keep good flora in their bellies from what I have been told. My guys appetites returned with the help of this stuff I am sure... so I think it helped a lot.

The disposable accessories are helpful... I save every soda box and use those as basking spots and hides.

stressed gimpy by ynevar, on Flickr

Good luck and I hope it goes away. I can't wait to be done with the pinworm treatment and have enclosures back to normal... AAH!