Hi,
I just got back from the vet with my girl, Althea, and she has a flagellated protozoan. He thinks she has hexamita. He wasn't 100% sure because they were swimming around pretty fast under the microscope (he showed me a video of them). I noticed on Wed that she seemed sluggish and she wasn't eating (she normally eats 40-50 adult crickets every day and 50-100 medium reptiworms). Yesterday she seemed a bit more like herself, but still wasn't very hungry (she ate 4 crickets). This morning, she was more like herself, and ate 13 crickets and 13 crickets this afternoon. The vet doesn't want to treat the hexamita because it appears there is a controversy as to whether it is part of the normal intestinal fauna or a parasite. He wants to treat her for a bacterial infection that she could have as a result from the hexamita, rather than treat the hexamita. He gave me an antibiotic and a probiotic for her belly. I'm concerned about this because I want to make her better. Should we be treating the hexamit too? Does anybody have any experience with this protozoan?
Althea is approximately 8 months old (dont know exactly). I've had her for 4 months now and other than a problem with coccidia when I first got her, she's been a great eater and seems relatively healthy. Until 2 days ago that is. She lives in a 40 gallon breeder cage with a reptile carpet as 'substrate.'
Her basking spot is 90-95 degrees, the vet told me to up it to 100.
I just got back from the vet with my girl, Althea, and she has a flagellated protozoan. He thinks she has hexamita. He wasn't 100% sure because they were swimming around pretty fast under the microscope (he showed me a video of them). I noticed on Wed that she seemed sluggish and she wasn't eating (she normally eats 40-50 adult crickets every day and 50-100 medium reptiworms). Yesterday she seemed a bit more like herself, but still wasn't very hungry (she ate 4 crickets). This morning, she was more like herself, and ate 13 crickets and 13 crickets this afternoon. The vet doesn't want to treat the hexamita because it appears there is a controversy as to whether it is part of the normal intestinal fauna or a parasite. He wants to treat her for a bacterial infection that she could have as a result from the hexamita, rather than treat the hexamita. He gave me an antibiotic and a probiotic for her belly. I'm concerned about this because I want to make her better. Should we be treating the hexamit too? Does anybody have any experience with this protozoan?
Althea is approximately 8 months old (dont know exactly). I've had her for 4 months now and other than a problem with coccidia when I first got her, she's been a great eater and seems relatively healthy. Until 2 days ago that is. She lives in a 40 gallon breeder cage with a reptile carpet as 'substrate.'
Her basking spot is 90-95 degrees, the vet told me to up it to 100.