Worms

[cvalda]

Billy had a poop today that was FULL of worms.

I took a poop sample of his to the vet a week before last Thursday or Friday, and it was clean.

He had mini-pumpkin on the weekend... does that count as regular pumpkin?

He had a soak on Tuesday and had normal looking poo in the water.

Then today he pooped and it was FULL to the brink of worms. (BLECH!)

He's been more active today, too, actually.

Is this him getting cleaned out because of the pumpkin? How'd he get worms in the last week, anyway???? Should I try to find more pumpkin this weekend??? Is that enough of a treatment, do you think??? Or do I need to take more poop in to the vet?

 

[Jacqui]

I would guess the pumpkin got them on the run. As Anja and I said in another thread it's not a killing wormer. It's more a preventative. You do need to take a sample into the vet. Did you happen to think to save the one showing the worms?

Why it didn't show up in the vet's test could be several reasons. Perhaps the load wasn't great enough, perhaps they were not in I guess you would call it the right cycle, maybe there just happened to have been none in the part of the stool they sampled.

Even with a clean fecal and even after worming, you will still have some. Some is good. They have their place. It's when they get too well established or your animal is stressed and they go into maximum reproduction or if they (or another health problem happens and the worms make it worse) start wearing down the animal's health and quality of life that it becomes a problem.


I would most certainly take another sample in and tell the vet what you found in the stool today.

 

[Cam]

When our Rankin Beardie seemed to be not himself it took three fecals over the course of 2 weeks before any worms were detected (pinworms and coccidia). Now we also switched the vet for the 3rd fecal so perhaps the other vet missed the larvae.

Do any of you have the equipment to do your own fecals for your herps? On the "Beautiful Dragon" website she has all the gear. And in just a few checks it would pay for itself.

Are you able to see all worms once they are in the adult stage without the aid of a microscope?

 

[wayne.bob]

Cam what is that website. i want to see what it has.

 

[Cam]

I do not know how to direct link these, but this is the site...
the first address is the microscope specific one and the second link is the home page. I have ordered the syringes etc when we have needed to medicate our beardie and gecko and corn snake in the past. Her site has great info and she is a good resource as well.

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Microscopes.html

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/home.html