Isospora amphiboluri questions

[LMS72]

Hi,
I am new to beardie world. I was given an adorable baby beardie as a gift on Thurs 8/11. I specialize in day geckos, and dont know much about these little ones. The store said "she" is about 4-5 months old. I brought a fecal sample to my herp vet on Friday to check to see if she is parasite free and was not surprised to find that she wasn't. She has isospora amphiboluri and according to the vet, ALOT of it. She's very active and curious, so my thought is that it is not affecting her too much, but I am very concerned because she is so young. She hasn't eaten much since I've had her. One meal worm on Sunday and one 1/4" cricket yesterday. I am concerned about this. The vet started her on Albon (0.5cc/day for 21-28 days) yesterday so she's had 2 doses now. (I am surprised how good she is taking the meds, the day geckos absolutely HATE being medicated) So anyway, I have been doing some research on this, and have found that this is pretty common, but also am worried that she will succomb because she is so young.

Any advice, thoughts, etc. that you all could provide would help me out alot. I am a worrier by nature so please ease my mind if you can. Also, have you all had luck treating this? Do you have any idea when she may start eating? So many questions....

Thank you!
Lisa

 

[munchkins9802]

Lisa--she may have relocation stress but also STOP the mealworms at that age. Also what substrate is on the bottom of her cage (BOTH mealworms and sand can cause impaction in young lizards. In addition, medications can make them not hungry as well (as well as whatever the parasites/worms she has). Since she is on the albon, you want to get soy (NON DAIRY) yogurt or some type of probiotic to help her out while on the meds.

What lights are you using for her and how are you taking temps of the cool side, warm side, and basking spot?
Hope this helps some

 

[LMS72]

Thank you for the response. That was my thought, since it was a big deal for her to move from the store to her new cage. I saw it once before in a rescue. Actually, he had coccidia as well. Took me about 5 months and albon off and on to fully get rid of it, but then again, he was a day gecko. Thanks for the heads up on the mealworms, I wont give her any more of those. I have her in a "hospital" cage right now. Bare minimum. I have paper towel down as substrate right now. A reptile carpet was purchased for her, but I prefer to not use it right now since she is sick. Unless it is preferred over paper towels. She has an artificial bridge, which is where her basking spot is, and a small habba hut. That's all for the cage fixtures. I have a TempGun to check the heat in her cage, the basking spot is about 100 degrees and the gradient goes to about 80. She's in a 5-gallon screen cage right now, since she's so small. I have a ceramic heat emitter for her basking spot and a repti glo 10.0 fluorescent light on her. The light and the heat are connected to a timer set to a 13hr day. Her nighttime temp is around 75, ambient. I'm still doing research on how to take care of her so any other cage info would be appreciated.

 

[munchkins9802]

the reptiGLO tubes are known to cause problems--you really want to turn that off and get a REPTI SUN 10.0 TUBE (found for a good price at petmountain.com). Also a 5 gallon is really too small for even a baby beardie. go with a minimum of a 20 gallon long if you can. The paper towels or the carpet are fine just wanted to make sure he wasn't on sand. the CHE is good but not needed unless her temps go below 65 at night. Does she have a bright white basking light in addition to the UVB light
also NO superworms until he is a minimum of 16" long --phoenix worms are fine, so are small silkworms

 

[LMS72]

ok, i'll move her up to a 10 gallon. i dont have anything larger on hand right now. she is only about 5 inches long, i would have thought a 5 gallon size would have been ok for now. i am not a fan of the repti glo, i prefer repti sun, but it was all the store had in a pinch. the CHE is for the basking spot. there are no other lights on currently. she came with another light, i think its a white basking light. maybe i should just use that instead of the CHE?

 

[Kalyn876]

The basking light let's them know where to bask and protects their eyes from harmful UVB wavelengths. You will see a lot more "beardie behavior" with a bright white basking light.

Of course everything I think I know I've learned from others and tried myself lol but I believe a basking light is extremely beneficial.


Kalyn

Edit* I use a CHE for night heating in the winter as my house often gets below 68 degrees. If your ambient room temp is above 68 degrees no need for night time heat.

 

[LMS72]

Thank you Kalyn. I have a basking light, I'll put it on today when I upgrade her to a 10gallon.

 

[munchkins9802]

The CHE will not do anyting for basking it just keeps the cage warm--it is used in the winter typically. A basking light can be as simple as a 60 watt white household (non soft) bulb.
Most stores ONLY carry the repti glo (and the ones that do carry it charge almost $20 more than petmountain.com). get the reptiSun 10.0 from petmountain.com--very reasonable price. The reptiglo tubes have been known to cause eye problems and lethargy that may not be seen. He is better off with no UVB then the ReptiGLo--they can go 3-5 days I believe without the UVB.
The 10 gallon is also a bit small but will do but he will need the 20 gallon long within a few months. The reptiglo you have is it a tube or a coil? part of the problem with a smaller tank is you cant get the gradient temps --cool side vs hot side vs basking surface temp that you need for these guys. 5 inches is small but they need room to run etc. So get the bigger one the sooner, the better

 

[LMS72]

Thank you for all your help. When I got home last night, she was lethargic and didn't look good at all. My heart sank. I rushed out to another pet store and found the repti sun 10.0 and got her a zoo med basking lamp. Within 5 min of me upgrading her to the 10 gallon cage and putting on the new UV and basking lamp she pepped up! What a relief. She took her medicine so well and then I held a small cricket in front of her and she grabbed right out of my fingers! I'm so happy that she is feeling better now. She seemed so much happier. It frustrates me that the pet store my boyfriend bought her from had no clue how to take care of her and gave me incorrect info. I like to buy from breeders after doing all my research on the animal. That way if I have questions, I know I will get the correct info because they have invested in the animals. I've bred day geckos for 10 years now and have been very successful, but a desert dweller is new to my repertoire. I wish I had time to learn about her before I received her as a pet. She is very adorable and has stolen my heart, so I really can't complain.

 

[Sherri]

Hi and Welcome! Does your beardie have a name yet?

The basking temp for a baby needs to be 105-110, they need it warmer. Adults can have 100-105

Just a few things in case you have not had a chance to see them :mrgreen:

At 5 inches (is that body, or body and tail?) if body and tail, it is doubtful she is 3-4 months, more like 1 month or less is likely.
Depends on the care and UVB light that was used.

She can have as many crickets as she wants, 2 or 3 times per day in a 10-15 minute period.

Have you considered other feeders? Check out the *feeders* section here and see all that is available, as a varied diet is good anyway and there are other feeders you may prefer

Also, never leave a cricket in her viv with her/him...they will chew on your beardie at night and create nasty sores :roll:

Paper towels are a great substrate for now while trying to get rid of the coccidia! You likely know this already from treating your day geckos...but only ammonia as a chemical cleaner will kill coccidia...bleach will not do it. Also, if you have a hand steamer that would be my choice, no chemicals at all, steam will kill them as well.

One other imprortant thing....we LOVE pics! :mrgreen: So when you get a chance, the more the better! LOL

~Sherri

 

[munchkins9802]

only question is you got the repti sun 10.0 tube right? (not the coil)

 

[LMS72]

I got the tube, not the coil. I like the tube better.

I measured her today, she is approximately 5-1/8 inches from snout to tip of tail and 2-1/8 inches from snout to vent. She's tiny. So from the sound of it she is alot younger than the pet store told me. Keep in mind that they didn't tell me the proper husbandry for her, so she may just be small for her age because they aren't doing the right thing. If she really is that young, then I am not sure if she is a girl or a boy, and the name I gave her will need to be changed. I really hope she is still a girl. Her name is Althea. I'm going to post a picture as soon a I figure out how.

I was unaware that coccidia was so difficult to be killed. I use chlorhexidiene as my usual disinfectant. Does this not kill coccidia?

I'm still concerned that she is not eating much. She got into the crickets tonight, but when she didn't catch it, she lost interest. Anyone have any ideas on how to make it easier for her to eat? I used to take the baby geckos out and let them run after the crickets in a small container, but Althea isn't really into that. She ate one cricket yesterday, but so far nothing yet today. She did take her medicine like a trooper though.

 

[Kalyn876]

I have read of poeple taking off the crickets back legs, that way they cannot move so fast nor jump out of the way....
I'm not sure if what you have would kill the coccidia...I know as mentioned above that the ammonia and steam works.

The pet store told me the same age for my little one when I got him but he only weighed 2.2g he was soo tiny just like yours!!

Kalyn

 

[LMS72]

I found the link on how to post pictures. I'll work on it this weekend.

 

[LMS72]

One other question, since I moved her to the 10 gallon, and I put the carpet in there (its brown) her color has been darker. I'm not sure if that is a sign of stress, or if it is just her way of camouflaging to her environment. Any ideas?