Coccidia relapse?

[Elias710]

Hello.

I have two beardies who have adequate heat and UVB and room to run. About 4 months ago my fiance and I took them to the vet and had fecals done and they were treated for coccidia with Albion and started growing like mad. In the past month or so they have slowed down growing. My female seems to be brumating, so I figured that was why she wasn't growing much (not eating, etc), but my male isn't growing either. I want to get them treated for anything they might have, but the coccidia treatments were so rough on the little guys and my bank account. Does anyone know of any cheap alternatives that might be out there to help my beardies grow some more, and get better if there are any parasites? Is there a place I can have a cheap fecal sent to? The vet here charges $20 per fecal (I really don't want him to prescribe some rough meds like last time).

Thanks!

 

[kariann]

Dragons that are still young and growing don't brumate.
How old are your dragons? Are they housed together?
Did you have the fecals repeated after they finished the first round of Albon? This is important because coccidia has a direct life cycle and dragons easily reinfect themselves by contacting the microscopic eggs that are difficult to clear from their environment. Ponazuril is more effective treatment that does not kill normal bacterial flora and generally requires a shorter course of therapy than Albon. Repeating fecals after treatment is necessary whatever the treatment is.

You may want to post your husbandry info and let some of the gurus here review it. There may be some room for improvment that would help explain why your dragons are not currently thriving.

 

[Elias710]

My dragons live together (we tried them apart but they wouldn't eat) in a 55-gal tote. They will both be one year old in November. We did not have a second fecal done because we couldn't afford it. Their cool part of the tank is between 85-90 and the hot side is between 100-110 during the day. For breakfast they eat a salad of mixed greens with carrots and sometimes different fruits (apple, banana, blueberry). Their staples are meal worms and crickets. I bathe them once or twice a week so they can get water. The vet told us to use a coil UVB rather than the tube UVB so we've got that and haven't seen any eyesight problems (I had heard that coils could damage eyesight). They are on newspaper that I replace when they poop. They are pooping regularly and seem to have healthy appetites. I am trying to get them to eat more salads so we have been feeding them less crickets (not sure if that's a possible cause for less growth, my fiancé thinks it is).

The humidity in the tank is 40%. Is that too high? And how do I lower it if it is?

Thanks!

 

[Elias710]

I am going to try Reptaid. Going to call the vet today or tomorrow to get a fecal done then order some of Reptaid as well as clean out the tank and such. Let's hope it goes well!

 

[healthybeardie]

I know there are people out there a lot more experienced than I am, but I just wanted to bump you up so someone else, more qualified, can comment on your husbandry.

I've never heard of beardies being kept in a tote before?

The UVB coils have been associated with problems. I think the Repti-Sun 10.0 tube UVB source is the most recommended to provide enough UVB.

Mealworms are not good at all. The shell is hard for beardies to digest and there are a lot of better alternatives. Check out www.beautifuldragons.com under nutrition for a lot of great info!

And lastly, it is not a good idea to house 2 beardies in the same enclosure. One will ultimately dominate the other, causing one to not thrive. There are lots of testimonials on here (do a google search and you'll see) of the negative effects of housing beardies together. They are solitary animals by nature and housing them together can be causing great stress to them (which can be contributing to the high coccidia counts).

There is a lot of great information on this site! I hope you will take the time and read up on the above issues and hope your beardies feel better soon!

 

[Elias710]

Thanks for the bump

My fiance and I knew we'd need to start keeping them in something bigger and we didn't want to spend a ton of money on a heavy glass aquarium when we're both still living in apartments, so we got a pretty cheap (compared to a tank) plastic tote. I have heard of some other people who keep their lizards in totes and they're fine.

I have spoken with several breeders and other reptile keepers on the issue of keeping the beardies together and they said they should be fine. I tried keeping them apart for a few days last month and neither would eat.

 

[Ric]

Inexpensive meds and self testing supplies can be found here

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Store.html

I really wish I had had some of these supplies on hand a couple of weeks ago BEFORE I got my beardie.

 

[figpucker]

Ric,

How did you know how much to dose?

 

[Ric]

Basic calculation info
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Drugs.html


Listing of illnesses and drugs used to treat.
http://www.anapsid.org/resources/rxdose.html

And a glossary for understanding the terms and abbreviations.
http://www.anapsid.org/resources/drugdose.html

 

[Elias710]

Thanks, we'll look at that.

The Reptaid came in on Friday and my fiance started them on the treatment because I was out of town. On day two Ellen (who seemed to be doing worse than Elias) ran a few laps around the tank and licked a few things. She usually stays in her hide except to eat. Her colors are growing brighter. It seems to be working