Moderate case of pinworms

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katk

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Hi, I've posted a bit recently about my dragon brumating. Tofi has been semi-brumating off and on for about two months now- not wanting to wake up, barely eating and barely pooping. I took him to the vet a couple of weeks ago and she said that he looked really healthy, weight was healthy, etc. and that he probably is brumating. She did say that if he pooped I should get a fecal done. The following week he decided to wake up, bask and eat. After feeding him some hornworms he pooped the next day, so I took it in to the vet for a fecal. The vet texted me today to say that he has a moderate case of pinworms and she has left a prescription for me to pick up. I haven't been able to talk to her about it, so here are my questions:

Do dragons get pinworms often? How can they be prevented? Did I do something wrong or am I feeding him the wrong insects? What should I be doing now?

He eats salad (chard or mustard greens usually) mixed with shredded carrots, which he doesn't like to eat much, so I always add some insects dusted with calcium and vitamins. For insects he eats dubia, hornworms or mealworms. There have been a couple of times where the dubia bin got some fruit flies and there were some tiny maggots, but I always cleaned it out right away and didn't feed him the dubia for a couple of days afterwards.

His set-up: 55 gal tank, 10.0 T5 reptisun UVB tube, white basking light. Temps are ~95 and ~80 during the day. (Digital probe). Reptile carpet for substrate.

I would appreciate any advice!
 

CooperDragon

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Pinworms are fairly common and low numbers can often be managed by the immune system of a healthy dragon without intervention. If the levels are higher, they can usually be treated easily with a couple of Panacur doses. Since Tofi is in brumation, you may want to discuss with your vet about if treatment should be started now, or if you should wait until he starts to wake up and his metabolism returns to normal. For now, I'd just keep a log of his weight so you can make sure it's remaining fairly stable. If it is, then he is probably OK, but look out for significant weight decrease over time.
 

katk

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Original Poster
Thanks for your reply. He has been in this off/on semi-brumating pattern for nearly three months so I was beginning to worry. His weight has been stable but his behavior concerns me. I did pick up the Panacur medication and gave him his first dose yesterday. Last week he started to wake up (or so it seemed); he would bask for half the day and had more of an appetite. We did a deep clean of his viv on Saturday and gave him a bath, which kind of stressed him out so he moved back to the cool side. After I gave him the meds yesterday he fully went into his hidey log and has been sleeping in there ever since.
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
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The on/off behavior is fairly common based on reports from folks on the site and it can last anywhere from a few weeks to several months. My dragon tends to go into brumation for 3-4 months at a time but I've read about some of them going down for 6 months in some more extreme cases. It really varies between dragons and can vary from year to year. As long as his weight is remaining stable and he's just looking a bit groggy vs sick (dark beard, sunken eyes, etc) then I'd just let him do his thing. Eventually he will wake up and is likely to be a bit hyperactive for a while. That's how it goes for me at least.
 

katk

Member
Original Poster
Okay, thanks that's really good to know. I had no idea it could last for that long or that on/off was a pretty typical pattern. At least I know now what's happening in his gut and I've gotten him some meds and did a thorough cleaning of everything. He just looks sleepy so not too worrisome in appearance. I do see him sitting there with his beard puffed up sometimes (not black) so I'm guessing he's just stretching it out or something. I guess I've covered my bases and I can just let him be..
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
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Yeah beard puffing can be to loosen shedding skin, or often just done as part of a grumpy morning/sleepy routine. Puffed out black beard is usually hormone related/aggression/territorial signal. Sounds like everything is OK in your case, but let me know if you have any other questions.
 
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