I just got back from a new vet with my ill female P.standingi. She has gotten a bit thin and has had diarreah off and on for a couple weeks now. The cloacal wash identified nematodes and eggs, and alot of them. I am very worried about her. The reptile parasite book only made my worries worse. The book indicates that they can travel and cause lesions and impactions in other areas of the body. Has anyone had experience with this? This seems very serious to me. The vet gave her a dose of Panacur, which seems to be the best at treating this parasite. I've had experience with flagellates and coccidia (which was very difficult to treat) but none with this. Please help ease my mind. :sad:
Nematode problem
- Thread starter Lisa0216
- Start date
I gave her some mealworms yesterday and she ate them all up, which was a good sign. She also had a normal bowel movement (she has been off and on with the diarreah). Her personality is the same as usual, so that makes me feel better. Unfortunately, I went to a new vet. I moved pretty far from the vet I used to go to, whom I loved and was awesome. This new guy didn't really provide much information to me. I think she is the first gecko he's seen. He's been practicing on reptiles for 25 yrs so I was a little disappointed that he couldn't really tell me much. Maybe I will buy some panacur and give her another dose next week. He is on vacation next week so I have an appointment for the following week.
Glad to hear that worms aren't as serious. Hopefully it wont be too difficult for her to rid herself and bounce back to her normal weight.
I'll keep you posted.
Thank you!
Glad to hear that worms aren't as serious. Hopefully it wont be too difficult for her to rid herself and bounce back to her normal weight.
I'll keep you posted.
Thank you!
I'm not sure if the vet mentioned this, but when dealing with "alarming" parasites you will also need to give the tank a thorough cleaning or the "alarming" parasites will always come back no matter how many times you treat your gecko against them.
Most plants can be washed in a 10% bleach (to water) solution. Tanks should be washed in 20% (to water). Bamboo should be replaced, as well as any background that is not easily cleanable, soil should be disposed of or baked. Make sure you rinse everything off very well (and that any smell of bleach is gone) before setting the tank back up.
Also did your vet say specifically which Nematode your gecko has and how heavy a load there is?
Since your gecko has fallen ill with quite a few different things, you may want to review your husbandry care or shoot the person you got the animal from.
I say "alarming" parasites above because you can never truly keep a reptile parasite free, there is always going to be something there. To keep a reptile truly parasite free you would not only have to keep them in a sterile environment to do this, but feed them with sterile food.
One way to ward off the parasites from becoming "alarming" ones is to breed your own feeder insects, or buy them from very reputable companies only (avoid pet stores as they just toss new insects in with old without a care in the world). It is also good to keep any feeder insects as clean as can be with regular cleanings of your containers along with proper sterilization techniques when adding more.
Care should also be taken, to always wash your hands before and after dealing with your animals and further practice this good hygiene before entering any other tank.
Last but not least, it also helps to keep your animal as stress free as possible and quarantine any new animals until you are certain they will not pose any danger to older animals.
This bit of information is something I have learned from conversations with various breeders, vets and labs. This is something I wish i knew ages ago, as many books make things out to be like nothing ever exists unless your animal is WC.
I am sure I will shoot myself later for going this far in to detail of why I said what.
Most plants can be washed in a 10% bleach (to water) solution. Tanks should be washed in 20% (to water). Bamboo should be replaced, as well as any background that is not easily cleanable, soil should be disposed of or baked. Make sure you rinse everything off very well (and that any smell of bleach is gone) before setting the tank back up.
Also did your vet say specifically which Nematode your gecko has and how heavy a load there is?
Since your gecko has fallen ill with quite a few different things, you may want to review your husbandry care or shoot the person you got the animal from.
I say "alarming" parasites above because you can never truly keep a reptile parasite free, there is always going to be something there. To keep a reptile truly parasite free you would not only have to keep them in a sterile environment to do this, but feed them with sterile food.
One way to ward off the parasites from becoming "alarming" ones is to breed your own feeder insects, or buy them from very reputable companies only (avoid pet stores as they just toss new insects in with old without a care in the world). It is also good to keep any feeder insects as clean as can be with regular cleanings of your containers along with proper sterilization techniques when adding more.
Care should also be taken, to always wash your hands before and after dealing with your animals and further practice this good hygiene before entering any other tank.
Last but not least, it also helps to keep your animal as stress free as possible and quarantine any new animals until you are certain they will not pose any danger to older animals.
This bit of information is something I have learned from conversations with various breeders, vets and labs. This is something I wish i knew ages ago, as many books make things out to be like nothing ever exists unless your animal is WC.
I am sure I will shoot myself later for going this far in to detail of why I said what.
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I've been keeping P standingi for 10 years now. She is one of my hatchling's who is now almost 7 years old, so I know where she came from Everything has been going well with all of my animals for a couple years now, no issues at all, which is why when I started to see her getting thin, I got worried. At first I thought she was fasting because she was going to shed, then she never rebounded from it. I moved away from the vet I used to see (who was great), so I found a new one to take her to closer to home, to avoid the stress of a long car ride. This guy supposedly has seen reptiles for >20 yrs; however, I wasn't impressed. He was not very helpful and I regret not taking her to our old vet. He told me there were alot of worms and eggs, but couldn't tell me what kind or how she could have picked them up. My thought is the crickets. I buy them in bulk from Flukers, so maybe I will change my vendor. Any suggestions?
As far as husbandry goes, I clean all the gecko cages every 3 months, which includes removing all the logs, plants, etc, and disinfecting everything with chlorhexadiene. I remove all the substrate and replace with new as well. Plus, I remove all waste from the cages daily, or when see it. I plan on giving her cage a good cleaning as soon as she gets her second treatment next week.
She has been off and on with her bowel movements being normal and runny for a couple months, which thru me off.
Have you dealt with nematodes before? Are they difficult to rid?
Everything has been going well with all of my animals for a couple years now, no issues at all, which is why when I started to see her getting thin, I got worried. At first I thought she was fasting because she was going to shed, then she never rebounded from it. I moved away from the vet I used to see (who was great), so I found a new one to take her to closer to home, to avoid the stress of a long car ride. This guy supposedly has seen reptiles for >20 yrs; however, I wasn't impressed. He was not very helpful and I regret not taking her to our old vet. He told me there were alot of worms and eggs, but couldn't tell me what kind or how she could have picked them up. My thought is the crickets. I buy them in bulk from Flukers, so maybe I will change my vendor. Any suggestions?As far as husbandry goes, I clean all the gecko cages every 3 months, which includes removing all the logs, plants, etc, and disinfecting everything with chlorhexadiene. I remove all the substrate and replace with new as well. Plus, I remove all waste from the cages daily, or when see it. I plan on giving her cage a good cleaning as soon as she gets her second treatment next week.
She has been off and on with her bowel movements being normal and runny for a couple months, which thru me off.
Have you dealt with nematodes before? Are they difficult to rid?
I've been keeping P standingi for 10 years now. She is one of my hatchling's who is now almost 7 years old, so I know where she came from
As far as husbandry goes, I clean all the gecko cages every 3 months, which includes removing all the logs, plants, etc, and disinfecting everything with chlorhexadiene. I remove all the substrate and replace with new as well. Plus, I remove all waste from the cages daily, or when see it. I plan on giving her cage a good cleaning as soon as she gets her second treatment next week.
She has been off and on with her bowel movements being normal and runny for a couple months, which thru me off.
Have you dealt with nematodes before? Are they difficult to rid?
Definitely sounds like it might be a good idea to change vendors and that the problem is more on the end of the crickets.
It's been many years since I lived in the USA, any cricket Vendors I knew back then sadly do not exist today due to the cricket viruses.
Might want to ask in the feeding section of the forum for some recommendations. Or perhaps Elizabeth will chime in at some point here.I have only ever dealt with Nematodes in dart frogs before, but that was 3-4 years ago. The frogs had hookworm. After the suggested treatment and mega tank cleaning they were gone. Have not dealt with anything else alarming thankfully.
The important thing in effective treatment I believe is knowing the exact thing you are dealing with. That is the unfortunate thing with having fecals tested by most vets instead of a lab. While it may be slightly cheaper at a vet, a lab is often the best choice.