Beardies coccidia won't go away

Hi there,

So my beardie was behaving off a while ago. Hiding a lot, appetite decreasing. Turns out he had a lot of coccidia , so he was treated for a week with septrin.

A month later, he was hiding but also running frantically. Vet said he had more coccidia than before. He was given 2 doses of a different, stronger antibiotic I can't remember the name of.

I took out almost all decorations and kept him on newspaper. He rarely pooped, but I changed the newspaper everyday anyway. I put his 2 rocks and feeding bowl in hot water everyday, and cleaned the vivarium down with hydrogen peroxide everday.

I did that for about 2 weeks. It's a month later since that last vet visit. He got his appetite back for insects, but not veggies. He's hiding a lot lately again. I'm afraid he's got the parasites again (I'll get him tested next time he poops) but I have no idea how. I've tried so hard to get rid of them but nothing seems to be working.. What do I do?

It can be stubborn to get rid of. It's possible it just never went away completely or a contaminated surface caused re-infection. The hiding may not be related to a coccidia re-infection but it's worth testing for again given the history. It was good that you swapped out the newspaper regularly and kept decor to a minimum. Using ammonia has shown to be effective against coccidia so disinfecting with an ammonia/water mixture may be helpful. If the next test shows coccidia still present, Ponazuril may be effective treating it. That seems to have a pretty good track record. It's good that he is eating. How is his weight? Is that decreasing or stable?

CooperDragon":3w0wvzqu said:

It can be stubborn to get rid of. It's possible it just never went away completely or a contaminated surface caused re-infection. The hiding may not be related to a coccidia re-infection but it's worth testing for again given the history. It was good that you swapped out the newspaper regularly and kept decor to a minimum. Using ammonia has shown to be effective against coccidia so disinfecting with an ammonia/water mixture may be helpful. If the next test shows coccidia still present, Ponazuril may be effective treating it. That seems to have a pretty good track record. It's good that he is eating. How is his weight? Is that decreasing or stable?

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I hope it's not related to it, but yes I'll get him checked anyway.
It's pretty hard to get ammonia but I shall try! Any recommendations on the brand?
It's actually sort of increasing atm, which is good.
He's also very lazy. He didn't move from the cool side, where he slept, all day yet warmed up once I moved him. He went back to the cold side and looked sleepy, I had to move him again and this time he stayed on the hot side,,, weird behaviour

The brand of ammonia doesn't matter really. Any generic bottle you can get should do. Just mix it to about 10% solution with water in a spray bottle.

It's also possible that the behavior is him trying to go into brumation. Given the history, it's worth having a fecal check done as mentioned, but it may not be the issue. If he is going into brumation, that's normal. The thing to do in that case is just keep a log of his weight which should remain relatively stable until he wakes back up.