Gizmo and his poop

[Amy2]

Gizmo has been very healthy and growing like a weed, so I have had no worries up until now. The past week or two however, his poop has had a lot of liquid with it. I figured maybe this was just because he eats his salad so well, and I do mist it quite thoroughly. This morning though he had a horribly smelling poop that stunk up the whole kitchen and dining room and it was very watery.
He has still had a good appetite, he eats mainly crickets and dubias for bugs, and his salad everyday.
He is 5 months old, 16" long and 145 grams...as of my last measurement. He is in a 40 breeder with a brand new Reptisun 10.0, His temps are 108 at his basking spot, 95 on the hot side, and 80 on his cool side...depending on the temps in the house.
So, my question is, should I be concerned that he has worms? or could this be completely normal? If I buy the kit from bearded dragon co. with the microscope, would I be able to diagnose him myself if he does have worms or something?
Thank you in advance for answers, I really appreciate any help I can get!!

 

[TheWerewolf]

Yeah, your baby has bugs. Very smelly watery poo is a sign of parasites. It is not at all natural. I can't help you on the beardeddragon.co question but he has parasites and needs a vet checkup. Or you could order the beadeddragon.co float test. Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[Amy2]

Is there a "general" medicine I can order to give to him that treats the main parasites?

The only reason I ask is because I don't want to put off treating him...I noticed while I was on the Beardeddragon.co website that they are only shipping orders the beginning of this week, so if I order the float test, by the time I get the results, I wont be able to order the meds for him...I just don't want him to suffer any longer than he has to. It has to be from those darn crickets!!!!

 

[TheWerewolf]

I can't help you on meds. Maybe look in the 'Dealing with Infectious Diseases' forum for meds. Good luck. One question, where did you get your crickets? Because if it is a untrusted cricket seller then you will get parasites. Trusted cricket suppliers don't have a chance for parasites. (That I know of)

 

[Derobmi]

Have you taken him to a vet before? My vet will do a fecal for $20 as long as it is for an established patient. It's not bad at all because you can just bring it in and you don't need to pay for an appointment.

I don't know anything about the fecal kit that you mentioned, but I have tried doing my own fecal floats with a pretty decent microscope. It is entirely possible that I just suck at it, but all three times I've been wrong. I was convinced that the slide was swimming with parasites, went to the vet and it was just cricket bits. I couldn't find a parasite to save my life and the vet found a thriving colony of pinworms. Twice. I really want to learn how to do it, but in my case, it was a good thing I double-checked my results with the vet.

 

[Amy2]

I will check with my vet first....I would not want to misdiagnose him. He has been acting strangly the past few days too. He doesn't bask like he used to, he hides a lot, and seems to have more stress lines than he used to. I took him outside today to get sunshine on his leash and he kept rubbing his beard in the grass...maybe trying to get the leash off?? When I finally decided it was time to come in, I must have startled him because when I picked him up he bit me!! He hasn't tried to bite in over a month. He is not himself.
I did notice that his beard looks yellow in some areas, I have never noticed that before :? I am so confused! He doesn't seem to have yellow coloring in his bloodline...hmmm. Any ideas??

 

[TheWerewolf]

Yellow coloring could be yellow fungus. Yellow fungus is caused by not letting the dragon fully dry off from baths. Parasites do change a dragon behavior. From what I've heard since I haven't dealt with parasites myself is that they eat less, sleep more and have other behavioral changes. Could you post a pic of the yellow colors on his beard?

 

[Amy2]

Yes, I will post a pic of his beard...maybe it is his natural coloring, Idk...let me know what you think:

 

[TheWerewolf]

I'm no expert but that looks like yellow fungus. Hope someone who knows about yellow fungus speaks up! I do know that it isn't natural coloring.