too many worms in beardie's gut!

[Sarah26]

Hello,

My 7 months old bearded dragon has stopped eating for the past 1 and a half month, and I have been very worried, but told that that is not an odd behavior, I force fed him and hoped for the best, until his stool started to look so out of shape for a whole week. I booked a vet appointment right away, took a fecal sample, and the vet called me the next day to tell me my dragon not only has cocidia, but pinworms, flagilites(I don't know the spelling of most)... Among other parasites, and there are eggs too!

He is on different medications + a probiotic, and hopefully on the way to a full recovery... The question is, HOW? WHY? and WHERE from?

I keep his tank squeeky clean, and him too! i asked the vet, and he said that my dragon has most likely had this before I got him home since it has manifsted to this stage.
I had him since March and he has been eating till 2 months ago...

How can I prevent such a fiasco from ever happening again?
I HATE to see him suffer!

Please do advice!

Thank you

 

[Gail]

It can take a long time for parasites to become a problem so it it most likely he had them before you got him. Pin worms can come from crickets or at least thats the general belief, one more reason for me to never feed a nasty, smelly cricket.