[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Hi All,
I just got the test results of two fecal samples of two different female adult leos that i got come in today. They have pinworms. Treatment for them will begin tomorrow afternoon by a specialist reptile vet in my area
no such thing as a reptile specialist.
. I have read that in almost all herbivores such as an iguana that pinworms are present,
largely true
which is known to be helpful for them in breaking down cellulose etc,
not known, thought by a few interesting souls, but unlikely in any event.
and that it's not harmful if there isn't a huge abundance of pinworms in them
fairly true
. Therefore I was wondering if the pinworms in my leo gex are detrimental to their health or not. The vet says they should be treated for it, but i'm not sure if they're just money hungry or whether if they're telling me the truth.
Depends - there are instances where pins can be a problem - they have a direct life cycle and can build in numbers. As long as you are not draconian about it treatment is not unreasonable.
A little about my two leos. One's a normal phase female adult leo, the other is a patternless adult female leo.
They have lost a lot of their appetite for a while now, their stools are runny, and they're almost always in their hide caves.
I would strongly urge you to ahve a modified ascid fast stain run on the feces 1, 3 or even 5 times.
One is alone in a 33 gallon tank, and the other in a 10 gallon, all with paper towel as substrate, a couple of hide boxes with one being humid hide, 24hr heat source at 88*F on warm side and 80*F on cool side. Fresh water given daily and their cage cleaned and thoroughly disinfected weekly.
If you are finding pins, and especially when treating them I would clean like a feind, as in daily. It will help somewhat - but they are very very hard to eliminate.
Any help as to whether if pinworms are detrimental to leo gex's health would be great.
A few, seen now and again are unlikely to cause a problem. Stress or disease or buildup of numbers couls account for some pathology. it would not be a bad idea to do a few more fecals and determine if this is the only problem.
The vet is also suggesting blood work just incase this is not the cause of the leos prob
Not an easy blood draw.
. Which made me doubt her opinion as to whether if the pinworms are really that bad.
How did you connect her desire for a blood sample to the pathogenicity of the pins?
Keith
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