Dealing with pinworms :(

[melissaha]

Yesterday I took my little rescue beardie to the vet for what I thought was stuck shed,he pooped all over the vet so we decided to do a fecal and it came back and he's infested with pinworms
I took out all of his decorations last night but now I'm wondering how to disinfect all of them? I know his cave and bowls can be bleached but one of his logs is real wood drilled into a stone base, is there anyway i can disinfect it without ruining it? (I've heard leaving them outside works and where I live it's -40c today)
If anyone could help me out that'd be awesome in my 4 years of keeping beardies this is the first time any of them have gotten sick

 

[Tonja]

Unfortunately, from all the articles I have read, pinworms cannot be frozen to kill them. It would take much lower temperatures. If you have a steam cleaner you can use that on the furniture provided the steam is hot and not just hot water spewing from the nozzle. Another thing you can do is put your oven rack on the lowest level and turn it on to 250. Put the log on a baking sheet and bake it for 30 min.'s to an hour at 250. At that temp you will not risk a fire as its not hot enough for the log to start one but is hot enough to kill pins provided you leave it in there at that temp for the time I stated. I would also get some probiotic, non dairy soy yogurt is good...feed it to him 2 hours after his meds and for up to two weeks after he's off his meds. This way any good gut flora killed off by the meds is replenished. Use paper towels or newspaper for now on his floor so it can be removed as he poos. Eggs and pins are excreted in their waste and since beardies lick their environment you don't want to keep the cycle going by him possibly ingesting any of the excreted eggs or parasite. Hope this helps.

 

[thelonelyzombie]

It is not good for dragon to have a lot of pinworms. But these types of worms are actually part of their normal flora too. So If you ended up not completely disinfecting every last thing to the level you were hoping for, don't worry too much. Dragon is supposed to have a few pinworms in the feces. But if he has other things like coccidia or giardia these are bad and need more intensive deep cleaning!

 

[Tonja]

Im sorry but I think you have it backwards. Pinworms need to be gotten rid of. Some levels of coccidia are always found in dragons, its when the levels get to high that there is a concern. You should never see pinworms in any living animal. Giardia like pins needs to be taken care of as it can lead to bloody stools and very runny stools, and quick dehydration. I also disagree about the disinfecting, everything needs to be disinfected. Paper towels would be great for a substrate while hes being medicated and up until his secondary checkup so you don't perpetuate the life cycle of pins.

 

[thelonelyzombie]

Maybe you want to PM Tracie or someone with experience with this. Here is a quote I found on BD.org. Neither pin worms nor coccidia are ok in large quantity. But some is ok. I was just trying to put your mind at ease if baking your log/stone didn't get every single last worm.

"Hello,

I agree with your vet, for a minor infection of pinworms she shouldn't need to be medicated at all.
As long as she is eating well, active & basking, it may do more harm than good & just mess up here system more than needed right now.
It is normal for them to have small amounts of normal flora bacteria in their system.
Is her appetite doing well?

Tracie"
From viewtopic.php?f=61&t=170666

 

[Tonja]

Sorry was going by my vet at the university of Colorado. She told me you should never see them in their poop.

 

[Jaskotch]

Im sorry but I think you have it backwards. Pinworms need to be gotten rid of. Some levels of coccidia are always found in dragons, its when the levels get to high that there is a concern.

And I have heard the opposite. I know when I have had fecals done, every time they have come back absolutely clear for coccidia… but every time did show a couple of pinworms. Pinworms are considerably less harmful than coccidia, although under certain conditions, with their direct life cycle, they can get out of control. However, a healthy dragon in an appropriate environment with proper husbandry is not hampered by a few pinworms and won't miss the trauma of treatment for same. One vet I saw recommended treating for the pinworm just because of the potential for problem, and another recommended not, when the worms were in such small numbers.

 

[melissaha]

Thanks everyone I actually got to look at the slide under the microscope and he had quite a few eggs and some actual worms. The vet gave me panacur to give him 4x, once every 7 days and he just got his second dose last night. I havent noticed any change in appetite or energy level other then he goes to sleep a little bit early each night.

Over the next few weeks i'm just going to go between boiling and bleaching his tank decorations which should hopefully get everything.

Also once he is done the panacur should I take him for a fecal again or he should be all better?

 

[Jaskotch]

I think it's a good idea to recheck, but you want to wait some time- can't remember what my vet said, i think it was to wait 8 weeks before recheck. That way you'll know if something in his environment or food is still hinky.

 

[thelonelyzombie]

If your beardie has coccidia or oocysts then she probably needs Albon too. Panacur (fenbendazole) is great for any worm burden but if she has coccidia too then she has a Protozoa (similar to bacteria) that needs medication that is not just for worms. And yes, I agree it's a good idea to recheck the fecal after treatment.