Kaz - 2 years old - Blood in stool - No parasites

[Menolly07]

Kaz is a two year old dunner leatherback. When I got him he was positive for coccidia and pinworms. Both were treated, and he was cleared. His stool began to become bloody several months later, so we rechecked it and had pinworms again. We treated again and began offering soft bodied feeders (hornworms, silkworms, butterworms) at the vet's suggestion in case carapaces were irritating an already parasite inflamed GI tract, and we kept to a standard vitamin and calcium with D3 dusting schedule. The bloody stool cleared up. He returned to his primary feeder, home bred dubia roaches, still dusting. His greens have been collard most frequently, with occasional bell peppers, carrots and/or dandelion leaves/flowers from my no chemical garden.

The last two days have seen a return of bloody stool and a negative fecal float for parasites. The blood is in small amounts and is bright red. There is no visual cloacal inflammation. I am uncertain of the idea of cysts or tumors being that it is an occasional issue with dragon number two as well. However, I have not ruled it out. Especially given their shared maternity.

Husbandry.
2' x 4' vivarium
Basking spot- 110 degrees f (verified with infrared thermometer)
Ambient hot side- 95-100 degrees f (verified with probe thermometer)
Ambient cool side- 85 degrees f (verified with probe thermometer)
UVB- ReptiSun 10.0 tube fluorescent bulb, checked with light meter and still putting out UVB
Substrate- newspaper

I'm rather at a loss, honestly. Theoretically, any bloody stool is attributed to parasites, substrate or other environmental issues. However, he has no environmental issues and is parasite free. They have NOT yet been tested for adenovirus.

Loiosh, his half brother, has had similar issues off and on. Their half sister has not. All three dragons share the same mother but have different fathers.

...What gives??

I am well experienced with dragon care, medical issues and husbandry, so this is very frustrating.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there.....can you post a pic next time ? How small are the amounts, like the size of a pencil eraser or smaller ? It's possible that if the peppers you feed him were red then it could be from that, also if the roaches eat anything red. Other than that it's possible for Kaz to have small harmless polyps or cysts as humans do sometimes.

 

[Menolly07]

I actually took a photo to show the vet. I'm definitely keeping cysts/polyps in mind. I'll likely be asking for an xray. I also know a great, but VERY BUSY, exotics vet I may be able to get an ultrasound from.

 

[AHBD]

So he doesn't eat anything red ? It does look like blood, so probably good to have it checked out. It may be that once they have scarring from parasites that the intestinal tract is sensitive to rough foods like the roach legs + other parts. Is he doing well otherwise ? By the way, a poster named Kendra made a thread in the general forum about pet health insurance and it sounds like it could provide substantial savings for vet visits. You might see if you could benefit from it.

 

[Menolly07]

Nothing red in his diet for sometime. He's doing just beautifully otherwise. Good energy, he's active, glass dances, eating like his age requires. He takes in a few roaches a day but mostly is collard greens at this point. He poops daily, which not all dragons his age do, but it isn't unheard of.

I'm going to go the xray route first, as that doctor is easiest to get into. Then I'll see about an ultrasound since that MIGHT show scarring if it's extensive enough.

It's just so weird because he's been back on roaches for months at this point, and the bleeding cropped back up yesterday with the photo being from today's stool. That's two days, two bloody.