My apologies to those annoyed by thread resurrection. Obviously, I am not one of them... Some threads need to be brought back every now and again.
The topic of medicating for parasites interests me in general, but especially now because I've had just enough experience to raise all manner of questions...
This is likely to be a long post, but you never know what seemingly random info might be helpful. Here's the little info I can provide, and I'd love to hear thoughts. I'm a little over a year into keeping uros, and have had 13 total Uros in my collection, starting last October. I have fimbriatus, henkeli, sikorae and sameiti, but the sameiti is very recent so I have no real experience with them specifically. I have lost three animals-
one female fimbriatus-
Uro death- curly tail, ground dwelling, lethargic I now think she died from a calcium crash or old age.
a male sikorae, who died from complications related to prolapsed hemipenes.
Uroplatus sikorae: Everted Hemipenes?
Then recently a male LTC Fimbriatus imported in 2008. I'll share about him below.
In the summer, I got a pair of imported henkeli and a female fimbriatus. They came to me LATE on a hot day and I didn't think any of them would make it, but they're all still alive. I kept them in minimal enclosures and hydrated the crap out of them for several weeks before having any fecals ran. When I did have them done, the male henk came back positive for coccidia and pinworms. He WAS NOT doing well- regurged even thought I gave sparse, small food items, tail like a pin. Here's a pic of him during the treatment-
HM100 :: Sick with Coccidia picture by pakinjak - Photobucket
He turned right around after treatment with panacur and albon, and is the only animal I own that has tested positive for parasites so far. After quarantine, I introduced them to the herp room, still keeping them separately in case something popped up.
The female henkeli laid a clutch of fertile eggs while in quarantine, and more after. I have a total of four eggs incubating from her now. How she could retain sperm for 6 weeks and then start to lay is beyond me, but that's a topic for another discussion.
About 2 weeks after bringing the imports into the herp room, I put the new female fimb with a LTC male. He tail curled, then died a week later. I never got a fecal or did a necrospy, though now I wish I had. The female is acting fine, and I got one stuck egg about 3 weeks ago. My theory is that he came down with something from the female that she is handling well... but it's just a theory. He was doing well until I put him in with her.
About a week ago, I noticed a CB sikorae hanging head up in the daytime (I'm learning this may be a sign of them not feeling well) and then on the ground some, in addition to looking generally out of sorts. I noticed her not hunting for a week or so, too. I've got her separated now, am misting the heck out of her and giving her warm water soaks every night. She's never laid eggs, so I wonder if she's having egg related difficulties, and then there's the old coccidia possibility.. since everything I've read says it's pretty much impossible to get rid of. Then there's the possibility of impaction, since I force fed her a little dubia three nights ago to get a fecal to test. She hasn't passed it yet, and I'm considering trying a drop or two of mineral oil to maybe loosen her up, but I haven't done it yet since I don't really know how safe that is. If she's eggbound or impacted, she's likely a goner... it's weird to be hoping an animal has coccidia, huh?
This morning, I noticed a regurged cricket in her mates enclosure.
I have a pair of juvie henks and a juvie sameiti in quarantine, then the imported henk pair (doing fine together now) and a CB fimb female (doing fine). I'm going to get a fecal from SOMEBODY, and get it tested and I'll let you know what happens.
My room goes from about 69 to 76F, and a little warmer in the tubs because I use cfl's for lights and they raise the temps a few. Minimum humidity overall is about 55%, but the tubs are wetter and I use a humidifier to raise the whole room to 65-70 periodically.
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