Concerned about parasites

Hi I posted previously about my Dragon Bronson http://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=203973

He had been having on/off runny poops. Sometimes with blood.
About a month ago (around the time of my original post) I took him to the vet. (apart from suspected parasites he is completely healthy) He stayed over night. They wanted to see if he pooped in that time, so they could test it. He didn't, so I brought my own in. They said it was "contaminated" and for me to just post it to them.

I haven't done this 1. Because I don't know how to send poop in the post and 2. Because of money. The initial vet bill almost got us evicted.

I want to express that I have severe OCD and anxiety and the thought of parasites is driving me insane. I am terrified, let me just be clear: TERRIFIED of catching something from him.
I always wash my hands and get my partner to clean him out because I don't want to catch anything.
My partner lets him run around on the carpet, presses his face to the glass, uses objects that have come in contact with him and then doesn't wash his hands. I can't stand it. We are literally screaming at each other about parasites!

And I haven't even had the dragon tested yet!

I've never owned a Beardie, my partner got him for me to help my mental illness. It's so bad I can't even feed him without having to wash my hands raw. I can't move my other reptiles in. I cry on a daily basis...

I'm so upset and alone, with no money and I need help and reassurance. I'm so scared of catching these things. Can is spread to surfaces? If my partner touches the viv then touches me can I catch them? What are the symptoms of parasites in humans? I've seen that some of these can travel to your brain?
I've had diarrhea (I have had a bug) but now I have a migraine today. So then my OCD tells me that I've caught parasites. I'm in a pickle

Thanks in advance for any help, you guys were great on the last post.

There is a site if you are in the us were you can do a mail in fecal check, I forget where but the folks here know it. I can try to find it or you can search the forums archives.

The best I can say is try not to worry, I know that can be almost impossible with OCD, so I'll share some information I hope can reassure.

I personal have 3 reptiles and none have made me remotely ill. One of my snakes did have a contagious parasite, but we never got sick. We don't know how long he had it, but we are always careful with cleanliness. It is very very unlikely for you to catch anything from your reptiles. A lot of the frightening cases are also very small number of people, sometimes only one person ever known to catch it. Many times the failing point for transmission is hygiene. Dirty cages, dirty animals, lack of reasonable hand washing etc. i find great comfort in the statistic that very very few people contract anything very serious from their reptiles when they do thinks right.

There are some diseases that can be transmitted to humans, however it is very rare and good hygiene goes a long way. Parasites are generally transmitted fecal to oral, and while they can get on surfaces it's generally not considered a very likely method of transmission. If you keep your home and your dragons home clean, it's no more likely to get you sick than any other pet.

If you keep the enclosure clean (spot clean the poops, sterilize the spot the general environmental load goes way down. There are some strong veterinary grade disinfectants you can use, and bleach and vinegar also work reasonably well. I use a steam cleaner and f10 (veterinary disinfectant). Steam (+165 degrees) kills and disinfects very well, it also eliminates the need for harsh or fumey chemicals. You can make the setup more sanitary by using paper towels that can be discarded after they are soiled as the substrate, and furniture that can be put in a pot and boiled for sterilization. I do recommend a pot that will never be used for food. You can get a big stick pot for about 10-15$. You could even boil the water on a grill if you don't want to boil the furniture inside the house. Or take the pot outside after it gets boiling.

If you clean his cage well and regularly and he is healthy he may be able to fight off the parasites on his own. Dragons generally have some level of critters in their guts just like us, but stress and dirty cages allow it to build up to levels that make the dragon sick. Treatment is only advised for high loads, since medicines can do more harm than good. The fecal checks how many of what bug he may have, to decide if it needs medicated and with what.

I wash my hands well with antibacterial soap or washless sanitizer between handling any of my animals. It's better for me and better for them. If it would help you, can you get some hand sanitizer and leave it at the cage and have you partner use it after handling the dragon or his accessories?

I hope some if this helps, and again if you keep his home clean, and your dragon clean he will be a safe a pet as any.

Hi Dranya....I remember your other thread. I wanted to say that I really feel for you, I have a certain level of OCD myself, germs + such, and it is something that can really affect the quality of your life. It's difficult when friends + family don't realize how frightening certain activities are for you, and they should show empathy because no one wants to be imprisoned by constant fearful thoughts of " what if" I catch this or that. It's real to you, and fear is like pain.

I do want to say that I've handled reptiles for over 20 years....been scratched, cleaned poos daily, etc. I just wash my hands very thoroughly [ and they do get dried out ] but don't go overboard and rub your hands raw. Every person on this forum performs their hygiene at a different level....some very thorough, some not. Just wash properly + you'll be fine. If you're terrified of cleaning the tank, just buy latex gloves....I buy them but rarely use them , don't like the feel of them. I also regularly clean my cricket bins of cricket poo + dead crix. I let my beardies crawl on my clothes without washing them immediately and on my pajamas sometimes, and then sleep in them....how daring, huh ? Just a tiny attempt at humor, I do have a form of germ OCD as I said.

Please do yourself one favor.....don't, and I repeat....Please DON'T read the horror stories about people getting parasites. This will feed your OCD [ which is a sickness itself, causing distress in your life ] Enjoy your animals and use common sense. Remember, we all have friends or people we know that work in germ laden jobs....in hospitals, nursing homes, zoos, veterinary offices, garbage collection, meat processing, etc. and they survive. Your headache is probably from the stomach bug and/or stress. Don't let the fear overtake you, you will be fine !

Taterbug:
Thanks for such a detailed reply.
I'm in the UK, and I don't know if there is by mail fecal checks but the vet I went to is an exotic vet and they offered it to me. I will sort out a way to get it to them though, I really need him checked.

To be honest me and my partner have been doing good hygine (me more so though lol) even before he had a problem we still washed our hands completely after handling him and changing him. We've never cleaned his stuff in the kitchen etc. It's just times like my partner let him on the bed, then we slept in it for a week or so before I changed it.
Stuff like that feeds the OCD. By the way, I am seeing a therapist, it's really helping and under normal conditions I'm a normal person lol. So thanks for understanding.

We clean his viv and ornaments every few days due to how messy his poops are. He generally walks through it. Then we have to bath him because it's stuck to his underside. With the dry feces coming off in the water in my bath, I spray it down with disinfectant (Dettol, if you have it in the US) then rinse with the shower. Is that enough?

We clean his viv with reptile disinfectant then wipe down with water. We are keeping him on newspaper as well. I've got some vinyl for him when he's been checked.
For nuke cleaning if he does have something, then I would probably use bleach solution. I don't have a steam cleaner, and with my OCD I couldn't put his stuff in my kitchen, even with a new pot used just for that

All in all I keep my home very clean, just as anyone would. I'm just scared that it's 'not enough' and about transferring (like when he was on the bed)

--

AHBD:
Thanks so much for understanding. My family do understand and try to help, it's just when I go in circles and my partner gets tired of me. He's not up to my freakish level of cleaning lol so I get paranoid for him as well. But he has always washed his hands. I'll try to keep reassuring my self that it's all that matters.

This is why I posted here to hear from people who've owned reptiles for a long time. So that does reassure me too. I'm mainly concerned about surface transfer. Like grains of sand got into the carpet before we got him on newspaper, walking on my bed, touching his equipment etc.
Your pajama story made me laugh, I have the same thing with the bed sheets like I explained above.

Thanks again for making me feel better. I know I should have more faith in my hygiene because we do keep him and our selves very clean. I'm avoiding the horror stories lol I wouldn't be able to sleep haha. I suppose I feel so bad because I already have some health problems then I assume the worst. Like I said I'm in a pickle but talking to people like you makes me feel so much better.

I don't bathe my dragon in the tub or sink. I use a little plastic tote just for Pepper, and dump the water down the toilet! When he outgrows it, I'll get a bigger one. I don't want poops in my tub D: disinfectant or not.

I totally understand about not having the reptiles things in the kitchen or around food prep etc. When I do that sort of thing I'll boil water on the stove, and take it outside. I have a bucket that stays in the garage that the water is poured into outside and the pot never even touches the other bucket and the stuff in it.

A little handheld steam cleaner is a great tool, and not too expensive. I like that they sanitize well, but don't give off lots of fumes that need to be rinsed and rinsed. Just something to consider, I'm not sure it's something that would fit for your situation or not.

That's a good idea, I'm gonna get him one of those plastic boxes for his bathing now. The bath was creeping me out. Would it be safe though?
I haven't taken a bath since we got him here. We've only showered. So I don't get worried now is that okay? I've just heard loads of people put them in the bath so by default we just did it too.

I rinse the bath, wipe the poop residue up with tissue and chuck that down the toilet. Then spray and rinse with shower. I have used bleach but I gassed my self so I'm not doing that again.

I'll try to come up with some way of sterilizing them. Maybe I could use my parents house if they don't mind (where my other pets are) me and my partner moved out into an apartment. It's second floor so taking stuff outside is pretty much a no-go lol.

I will take a look at steamers they do seem good, I know DNA denatures around 95C so that makes me feel a lot better haha.

I'm sure your tub is fine some steamy hot water and cleaner and I wouldn't worry.

Yeah, we are lucky in that the nasty cleaning can get done out in the yard.

Probably you wouldn't want to use it for more than the lizard (just a guess) but steamers are great to clean sinks and mirrors too!

Glad Tater was able to help set your mind at ease. If you are looking for cheap and simple testing in the UK, here is the website:

http://www.palsvetlab.co.uk/

They send you the kit to put the sample in and then you just send it back. Its relatively cheap and about as simple as you can get. When you get the results you can post them here and we can go over it with you.