Pin worms for 5 months!!!

So I have two beardies and both have had pin worms the past 5 months. At this point I'm looking for any suggestions possible to get rid of them, as our vet seems unable to successfully. Both of them started off having coccidia, hook worms, round worms, and pin worms and we've successfully treated and eliminated all besides the pin worms. My one even needed special medication for his coccidia because it had become resistant to the medication we were treating it with. I know tank cleanliness is a big issue but honestly if I successfully got ride of their coccidia, hook worms, and round worms then clearly their tanks are being kept clean. My one refuses to even poop in her tank and won't unless I let her run around outside of it, and my other won't unless I'm home so it will be cleaned up immediately (he doesn't like being anywhere near his own poop and will throw a fit if he is). I've been using an ammonia solution specifically meant to kill parasites and cleaning their tanks, bowls, and one basking ramp each after each poop which never sits for even a minute in their tanks. This is at least the 4th or 5th time I've been told their still positive, even after taking them to the vet once every two weeks to get a proper weight and dosage prior to every deworming treatment. This time I was sure they'd be negative since we tripled their treatment from once a week every other week for 3 treatments to 3 doses the first 3 days of the first week then repeated every 2 weeks for 3 treatments BUT STILL THEYRE POSITIVE. By now I'm sure there's something clearly wrong with either the dosage of panacur or the continued prescription of panacur (when it's clearly not working) or the diagnosis because this is ridiculous. It shouldn't take FIVE MONTHS to treat this and have it STILL come up as positive. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Hello,

You have done a fantastic job getting rid of coccidia along with the other worms. However pinworms are so extremely common that they do tend to carry a small amount in their normal gut flora that doesn't usually affect them.
Are you using Panacur for the pinworm treatment? Do you know what the counts are of them also?
Sometimes more meds make it worse as they can become resistant to them from over medicating. You could try taking a break from the meds, then hit it again. If the levels are very low then I would reconsider not doing anymore treatments for awhile to let their systems normalize as long as they are not affecting their appetites & overall health.
It doesn't sound like it is your cleaning methods, but you could try a steamer to try & get things cleaner. Since they don't make a mess in their tank it is not likely a steamer inside of the tank would make all that much difference.

Tracie

Hi Lauren,

We've also had problems clearing pinworms. Cleared coccidia and hooks no problem so take that for what it's worth.

I will say that short treatments seem to do little. Longer the better according to most texts. Fenbendazole or panacure is typical but you might be able to try 5 days of strongid aka pyrantel the rest a week and 5 days of panacure.

My wife and I have found they still shed what could be viable eggs for weeks so you'll want to continue strict poop removal and cage hygiene during and for a few weeks after treatment. This also means frequent bathing, paper towels, boil able items in the cage and steam treatment between treatment cycles.

Honestly we've only been able to pinworm clear one of our dragons who only poops in sink.

The good news is pinworms aren't thought to cause intestinal damage outside of a possibility of rectal issues which I think are rare. Hookworms and coccidia are much worse for them.

Hello,

Any updates for us? I hope things are going better with the treatments. Let us know how things are going.

Tracie