DE for chameleon?

[Kodos2150]

I just get really annoyed when people act like "it's natural" is equal to "it's safe"....

i agree.... botulinum toxin is natural but its not safe lol.

I can understand people wanting to avoid medicines and use holistic methods for treating people and animals. Chameleons can be a very tricky patient to treat due to their amazing ability to hide almost all illness and the way they stress out. Personally I wouldn't use a method to deworm my chameleon that isn't tried and true such as fenbendazole and metronidazole. I just wouldn't want to risk the unknown and possibly disastrous side effects.
The "cheaper" method to treatment may actually be the more expensive down the road!

 

[justjumpit621]

Yeah the drying may be an issue, but I would still like to consult some vets to see if they have heard of it. It is only deadly at a molecular size (like small organisms) so it isn't supposed to affect larger living organisms like pets and people, but I have been making sure my pets who are getting it stay nice and hydrated.

 

[Elizadolots]

Here's a bit more from that "absorbent products" site.

This is where the caution comes in with regard to using DE with reptiles. While the product may not severely harm a reptile, it can cause their skin to dry out. As well, it may be harmful for your reptile to breathe the product in to their lungs.

Due to these reasons the use of food grade diatomaceous earth on and around reptiles is not suggested.

So, they don't recommend using it anywhere near your reptile...they don't even imagine a scenario in which you would attempt to feed it to your reptile.

I'm willing to be labelled a simpleton on this issue. If the people who package and sell this product say "don't even use it in the room with your animal" I'm certainly not going to turn around and FEED IT to my animal.

**edited to add**

In googling around, I came up with this: http://thereptilereport.com/diatomaceous-earth-as-dewormer/

How cool is that?

 

[HolyToledo]

Wear a mask and goggles when you mess with that stuff.

I know someone who did a bunch of research and decided to use it in the bedding and on the food of their critters. When they were spreading it, they breathed the airborn dust and were sick for almost a month with bloody noses and sinus problems. We even got some of it just cleaning the cages that it was put in. And the critters they used it on got bloody noses from breathing it, some got very dehydrated and died and some even went blind (maybe they got some of the dust in their eyes?). The birthrate dropped dramatically after treatment and the offspring that did make it were scrawny and mentally affected in a large number of cases.

It wasn't chams or reptiles, it was feeder rats but the losses were devastating and they really felt bad causing the critters that much pain and suffering and was an expensive experiment that was supposed to be such a good thing. It took quite a while before they got back up and running full speed after that. And because of all the problems that I saw for myself, I don't think I would use it on any of my pets until quite a bit is known about it and its after-effects on future generations...

 

[justjumpit621]

Wear a mask and goggles when you mess with that stuff.

I know someone who did a bunch of research and decided to use it in the bedding and on the food of their critters. When they were spreading it, they breathed the airborn dust and were sick for almost a month with bloody noses and sinus problems. We even got some of it just cleaning the cages that it was put in. And the critters they used it on got bloody noses from breathing it, some got very dehydrated and died and some even went blind (maybe they got some of the dust in their eyes?). The birthrate dropped dramatically after treatment and the offspring that did make it were scrawny and mentally affected in a large number of cases.

It wasn't chams or reptiles, it was feeder rats but the losses were devastating and they really felt bad causing the critters that much pain and suffering and was an expensive experiment that was supposed to be such a good thing. It took quite a while before they got back up and running full speed after that. And because of all the problems that I saw for myself, I don't think I would use it on any of my pets until quite a bit is known about it and its after-effects on future generations...

Do you know what brand they used? The food grade is what you can use, but there is a white form of it that they use to kill bed bugs and ants that I don't think is safe. I will just stick to using it on my larger mammals anyway, they seem to be doing fine with it.