Caught Herbie sleeping again… help!

[Beman]

So here is the thing with cleaning and stripping stuff down to the bare minimum. This is the best way to prevent them from reinfection. The oocysts from parasites come out in the fecal when they shed them. So if fecal lands where they drink or eat and then they go back later and lick from that spot they have reinfected themselves.

essentially any plants lower than the basking branch are a potential poop catch. So if you leave a plant like a small pothos in for water and hiding you want this to be higher up in the cage towards the basking branch so they are not pooping on it.

Now this one is easier to clean for you do not have to go crazy with heavy chemicals but you do want to clean and you do want to keep spot cleaning.

 

[elizaann2]

I had to do the same thing when my panther was diagnosed with Entamoeba Invadens. Its rough but worth it for sure. If you need help/suggestions on how to do this you are welcome to reach out to me anytime.

 

[ChamelaChameleon]

Yes the sticks were left in place. The plants remainded outside of the cage. I washed the branches everyday, for 2 weeks. I also washed the plants several times. The plants were returned after the 2nd clear fecal exam. Daily cleaning is require. For me my guy had a poop spot. He pooped in the same place. He Never pooped in the plants. Back right corner was his spot.

 

[ChamelaChameleon]

So when you say that you left everything bare for a month, how does your chameleon drink? Do you still have sticks in there?

I left the sticks in the cage. I used the little dripper. He drank directly from the hose.

 

[herbiethechameleon]

Hey guys! Herbie doesn’t seem to be getting better, I just want to make sure that this is good to get rid of those parasites

 

[ChamelaChameleon]

My guy was prescribed Metronidazole. Its really hard on their organs. It got rid of Giardia. Carmelo made a full recovery. Make sure Herbie is well hydrated. Nighttime Fog,Fog, and more fog.

 

[herbiethechameleon]

gotcha! thanks!

 

[janjan20]

Reading through this thread…a lot of great info given! Just my 2 cents, if it makes you feel any better 3 out of my 4 chams recently had Giardia. They were fine with the meds.

Just my opinion, I don’t know if the vet recommended this, but I would not give those meds simultaneously. I gave the doses of the metro (for Giardia) first. Then after that treatment was done I treated for pinworms. Also, for the pinworms depending on the count and bc of the life cycle, he may need another round in 3weeks. I am currently dealing with re-treatment and was not aware that should be the protocol.

 

[herbiethechameleon]

Reading through this thread…a lot of great info given! Just my 2 cents, if it makes you feel any better 3 out of my 4 chams recently had Giardia. They were fine with the meds.

Just my opinion, I don’t know if the vet recommended this, but I would not give those meds simultaneously. I gave the doses of the metro (for Giardia) first. Then after that treatment was done I treated for pinworms. Also, for the pinworms depending on the count and bc of the life cycle, he may need another round in 3weeks. I am currently dealing with re-treatment and was not aware that should be the protocol.

Oh yeah, was not aware of that either! I'm already almost done with both of them though, so probably shouldn't stop one of them right? He's on his third round (3/5) of the metro and then had 2 rounds (2/3) of the pancur

 

[janjan20]

Yep, just continue bc you are just about done lol.

 

[Beman]

Reading through this thread…a lot of great info given! Just my 2 cents, if it makes you feel any better 3 out of my 4 chams recently had Giardia. They were fine with the meds.

Just my opinion, I don’t know if the vet recommended this, but I would not give those meds simultaneously. I gave the doses of the metro (for Giardia) first. Then after that treatment was done I treated for pinworms. Also, for the pinworms depending on the count and bc of the life cycle, he may need another round in 3weeks. I am currently dealing with re-treatment and was not aware that should be the protocol.

Um the forth one that decided not to play "let's get parasites" should get an extra silk worm.

 

[janjan20]

Um the forth one that decided not to play "let's get parasites" should get an extra silk worm.

It was old cham man Basil lol!

 

[Beman]

It was old cham man Basil lol!

He is just such a good boy not jumping on the parasite train.

 

[herbiethechameleon]

Hi everyone! Just another update! This is Herbie's third poop since I've finished his treatments and I took his poop in today for a fecal and they told me he is parasite free. I froze the other two samples thinking they would be able to screen those too, but apparently not...lol. BUT, just in case they were wrong, I sent his fecal out to a reptile parasitologist at Maine University (found him through a friend of a friend) and he is writing up a report. I've still been catching him with his eyes closed so I wanted to eliminate every possible thing just to be sure, and since we know these vets aren't always the greatest. I am thinking that Herbie is just stressed though, so I have been giving him space! Will now be repotting all of his plants and cleaning everything again to ensure no reinfection!

 

[Steve A]

Hi everyone! Just another update! This is Herbie's third poop since I've finished his treatments and I took his poop in today for a fecal and they told me he is parasite free. I froze the other two samples thinking they would be able to screen those too, but apparently not...lol. BUT, just in case they were wrong, I sent his fecal out to a reptile parasitologist at Maine University (found him through a friend of a friend) and he is writing up a report. I've still been catching him with his eyes closed so I wanted to eliminate every possible thing just to be sure, and since we know these vets aren't always the greatest. I am thinking that Herbie is just stressed though, so I have been giving him space! Will now be repotting all of his plants and cleaning everything again to ensure no reinfection!

It seems like this has been going on for a while....

I apologize if you went over this already but just in case (I don't have time right now to go through the entire thread, I am so sorry lol); How dark is his night time area? If he's going down into his enclosure to 'rest' for the day until it's time to go to sleep, and it happens to be pretty dark, I wonder if he's just naturally going with the flow.

Do you ever catch him closing his eyes when he's NOT specifically in his resting area, where there is clearly light?

 

[herbiethechameleon]

It seems like this has been going on for a while....

I apologize if you went over this already but just in case (I don't have time right now to go through the entire thread, I am so sorry lol); How dark is his night time area? If he's going down into his enclosure to 'rest' for the day until it's time to go to sleep, and it happens to be pretty dark, I wonder if he's just naturally going with the flow.

Do you ever catch him closing his eyes when he's NOT specifically in his resting area, where there is clearly light?

No worries! I don’t think I’ve answered that before, but he is not going into his sleeping area to sleep. It will be places like his basking spot or this other spot he has that he likes to try and hunt for isopods (there are none there anymore since it’s not a bioactive anymore but he got lucky ONE time). And in my opinion it’s very light, he is by a window that I have open and his UVB is pretty bright as well so it’s not like there are dark areas or that maybe the room is dark

 

[Beman]

Hi everyone! Just another update! This is Herbie's third poop since I've finished his treatments and I took his poop in today for a fecal and they told me he is parasite free. I froze the other two samples thinking they would be able to screen those too, but apparently not...lol. BUT, just in case they were wrong, I sent his fecal out to a reptile parasitologist at Maine University (found him through a friend of a friend) and he is writing up a report. I've still been catching him with his eyes closed so I wanted to eliminate every possible thing just to be sure, and since we know these vets aren't always the greatest. I am thinking that Herbie is just stressed though, so I have been giving him space! Will now be repotting all of his plants and cleaning everything again to ensure no reinfection!

So you want to do multiple fecals spaced out a few weeks in between to ensure there is no sign of them. Since they shed in cycles it is very possible to get a clean fecal when a cham actually still has a parasite load.

 

[herbiethechameleon]

So you want to do multiple fecals spaced out a few weeks in between to ensure there is no sign of them. Since they shed in cycles it is very possible to get a clean fecal when a cham actually still has a parasite load.

Okay! So maybe take in another fecal in the next 2 weeks?

 

[Beman]

Okay! So maybe take in another fecal in the next 2 weeks?

Exactly. Then wait 3 more weeks and do another. After these three if all come back clear he should be good.

 

[herbiethechameleon]

Soooooooo Herbie has been a bit constipated so his poops have not been flowing like they used to and I haven’t been able to get another good sample to take to the vet. Currently waiting on the next poop but he seems to be pooping once per week. He really scared me today though because I caught him under a plant doing his resting/sleeping thing and I just feel so defeated