Reptile Rooms - Health & Medical

Treating Highly Resistant Coccidia ()
Published: June 18, 2008

Updated January 29th 2006

This routine was originally given to us by our Vet in 2000 after three failed treatments for coccidia, some of it is published by Roger Klingenberg (original method at end of article) but we have added ideas that are helpful to bearded dragons and aid in support with the treatment. Also, unless the animal's health is compromised a round of the recommended below cleaning methods should be tried to lower parasitic loads before drugs are administered. After further studies we are convinced that Albon nor any drugs should be used on reptiles (especially bearded dragons) without follow up probiotics.

Count of coccidia does not matter as much as if the dragon is showing signs of compromised health or not. Coccidia and even pinworms are considered normal in bearded dragons and may even be beneficial in helping their system to establish properties that avoid other major problems later in life, such as diabetes or autoimmune system diseases including arthritis. So you can see, you DO NOT want to treat them if the animals is otherwise healthy. Just go with good cleaning and let his system take care of the parasite balances, you can create more problems in the long run if you treat an otherwise healthy dragon, including messing up enzyme levels so bad they can never recover from that.

Here's the list of several suggestions:

Get cage to basic, paper towels or newspaper, throw out and change as soon as you see him go, if they do not go in a day, change them anyway, just before the beardie goes to bed and when he wakes up in the morning (you may be changing them 3 times a day.
Remove all furniture... use only a clean, smoothes basking rock, no cracks or porous areas, remove it nightly and soak it in Nolvasan, Quat cleaner, or bleach water (1 part bleach to 30 parts water), rinse well, then leave to air dry at night. Also noted further down the page, if you have a good quality steam cleaner, that can be more effective than any of the cleaning solutions mentioned (including bleach water). You can also use cardboard furniture that can be throw out each night (shoe or checkbook boxes with holes cut for entry ways, paper plates for salads, etc). The tank also needs to be wiped down daily, soak the bottom of it where there is silicon in the cracks for 20 minutes minimum.
Use lids for water and toss them out daily, never leave them in at night when lights are out.
Do not feed the dragon in his tank, use a separate tub and then toss out any crickets he does not eat, don't ever put them back in the cricket tubs. Consider them infected if they have come in contact with the beardie.
Anytime you pick him up, wash well with soap and hot water, before you pick him up again, even between putting him in a tub to feed and then picking him back up to put him back in the tank.
Do this during treatment and continue it till you have at least clean fecals and ask the Vet to check the fecals in two areas.
Replace the good bacteria (probiotics) in their digestive systems that the medications are also killing off. We suspect that this helps avoid the blooming of yeast in the them that may be the cause of later fungal infection internally and externally. (SEE RELATED ARTICLE ON YELLOW FUNGUS)
Keep them well hydrated during treatment, there is an article I wrote on my website that you can see for keeping them hydrated and another for bathing that links from that article

Babies & Avoiding Dehydration

Bleach water, Nolvasan or Quat cleaners are not going to kill coccidia oocyst, but hot water will, hot water will also kill flagellates when other cleaners will not. So if you have a steamer at the house, that is more effective than a cleaner or bleach water. The cleaners like Nolvasan and bleach water, will kill some bacteria, fungus and virus that the dragon may be more susceptible to while on meds, or in an otherwise immune weakened state, but is ineffective to the coccidia. If you do not have a steamer, take almost boiling water in a pan and wipe the tanks down with it, also soak the basking areas and other furnishings in it. (tongs or gloves work so you do not burn or hurt your hands. I add some antibacterial detergent, although there is no proof that it cleans them better, it does not hurt.

For highly resistant coccidia, where the animal's health is compromised, we follow this along with Albon 3 days on, then every other day for 2 weeks, a fecal, then if needed repeat the same cycle till we have a clean fecal, then stop the meds but continue the sparse enclosure and cleaning until a second fecal is clear.

You can always reduce the threat of re-infection by never feeding in their enclosure and paper towel training the beardie. Once they learn you remove a paper when soiled, they will start going on a paper no matter what substrate you put them on later, at least ours do, they dislike their excrement usually and in the wild are rarely exposed to it. This is also great if you want them to free roam when adults. Coccidia can be reduced to minimal levels with cleaning alone, giving the beardie time for his own system to deal with it.

I know, a lot of work and expense too, but it works. The longer they are on a meds and being re-infected, the greater the chance for a higher resistance to the next treatment.

Note: other illnesses lowering their natural immune system can also led to constant coccidia. If this happens, you might want to discuss with your medical staff other test that may detect something else going on like a blood test, gram stain or virus.

Note: during cleaning alone treatment or medicating and cleaning treatment, DO NOT allow the dragon to drink his bath water, they can carry oocysts on them and once in water they float and the animal drinking will pull them right into the dragons mouth and start the whole cycle over again inside him and you will NEVER get it under control that way.

Klingenberg's Method

Sulfadimethoxine is given orally, daily for three days, then every other day until the coccidia is eliminated.
Cage should be simplified to bare essentials; use newspaper or paper towels as a substrate, discard and wood cage furniture or rocks with cracks & crevices that cannot be thoroughly cleaned and use cardboard and paper cage furniture that can be discarded daily.
Clean the cage daily or even twice daily if possible with a soapy water/bleach solution (one part bleach to 30 parts water) can be used to clean.
Change and thoroughly clean water bowls twice daily.
Insects in the cage that are not eaten in 24 hours should be discarded, and not recycled.
2-6 weeks of treatment may be necessary for success, follow up fecal examinations should be done after treatment.
Fecal exams on any new dragons should be performed prior to introduction to a treated collection to prevent re-exposure.

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