Coccidia and how to fight it

So, you got your new baby chameleon. He is scared of you and doesn't eat.
“Oh well,” you think. “He must need some time”.
A month passes, but your baby is not growing or shedding and his lack of appetite is rather disturbing. At this point you probably go online and start asking whether it's ok that your baby is eating 2 bugs a day and not growing. Don't even waste your time, better get some tubs and send his poo to the vet asap. In a couple of days the fecal comes back and 'surprise!' your cham has coccidia and probably some kind of worms (they tend to like each other for some reason).
That's roughly what happened to me and my Veiled Bishop. I got him from a local reptile breeder. He must have been 7-8 weeks old. At first I thought he was a slow grower, but a month later his size had not changed and his appetite had not increased. He was about 2” snout to vent, barely eating pinhead crickets. He looked good though, very alert and active, no visual sign of parasites. However, he did have coccidia and pinworms.

GENERAL INFO
Coccidia (Coccidiasina) are a subclass of microscopic, spore-forming, single-celled obligate intracellular parasites belonging to the apicomplexan class Conoidasida (from Wiki).
Coccidiosis is an intestinal disease that affects several different animal species. Coccidia is one of the most prevalent protozoal infections in North American animals, second only to giardia. Eimeria and Isospora are the two genera that are often referred to as "coccidia." These two genera contain a large number of species that infect a variety of animals throughout the world.
The diseases caused by these microscopic protozoal parasites are referred to collectively as coccidiosis, and they vary tremendously in virulence.
Some species cause diseases that result in mild symptoms that might go unnoticed (i.e., mild diarrhea) and eventually disappear, while other species cause highly virulent infections that are rapidly fatal. The causative agent is a protozoan that has the ability to multiply rapidly. The major damage is due to the rapid multiplication of the parasite in the intestinal wall, and the subsequent rupture of the cells of the intestinal lining. Several stages of multiplication occur before the final stage, the oocyst, is passed in the feces. Oocysts are extremely resistant to environmental stress and are difficult to completely remove from the environment. Oocysts are frequent contaminants of feed and water and when the sporulated oocysts are ingested by other animals they start the life cycle over in the new host (from http://www.beaglesunlimited.com/health/coccidiosis-diagnosis-treatment-and-prevention).

Reptiles with intestinal parasites can display some/all of those symptoms:
  • Poor appetite
  • Weight loss
  • Lethargy
  • Vomiting or regurgitation
  • Abnormal or very smelly stool
  • Diarrhoea

Now, I can't stress enough how important is it to get a fecal done when you get a new animal!!! I learned it on my mistakes and I'm really glad it didn't cost my baby his life.

TREATMENT
The veterinarian will probably prescribe your little guy Baycox (ponazuril) to treat coccidia and Panacur for worms. You have to strictly follow your vet's instructions. In my case, we had problems administering drugs to Bishop. He would vomit a couple of minutes after ingesting the meds. Apparently it is quite common with Panacur. I had to take him to the hospital and leave there for a couple of days. Furthermore, administering the drugs orally made him terrified of me, because we had to pry his mouth open. It took 2 months for him to stop running away at the sight of us.
The trick with injecting the bug/worm with the meds wouldn't work on a chameleon that doesn't want to eat, but you are welcome to try. Some chams would drink from a pipette, but if you are not that lucky, you will probably have to administer the drugs orally. The best way to do it is to wait until your cham starts hissing at you and then quickly squeeze. Unfortunately sometimes its not enough, and then you have to open his gob with your fingers. It can be easily done, but you need 2 people for that. One person has to hold the chameleon and open his mouth by gently pushing their finger through the front of the lips and the 2nd one should administer the meds. (If you can't safely push your finger through, you can use a soft cuticle pusher like the one in the picture. It has a soft rubber end which you can safely use. Just make sure to clean it and be gentle).
506-834-thickbox.jpg

After that you have to observe your chameleon and make sure he doesn't vomit it out. If he does, you will probably have to take him to the vet.


While the treatment works, it is desirable to move your chameleon in to a quarantine enclosure. I used Open Air Vivarium by Lucky Reptile.
lucky_reptile_openair_vivaria_large.jpg

It is cheap, easy to assemble/disassemble and clean. The furniture in your quarantine enclosure has to be reduced to the absolute minimum. I had a small plastic plant in the top left corner where Bishop could hide, and 2 vines going across the viv. Your cham is not going to like that and you will probably feel bad about it, but trust me it's for the best.
Now, if you are not from those people who clean the poo the minute they see it, you will have to become one. IT IS IMPERATIVE TO REMOVE FECES AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! Your chameleon could easily get reinfected if for example a cricket eats the poo and the cham eats this cricket.
image002.jpg

Keep your chameleon well hydrated. Apart from mistings and a dripper I would always keep 2 silkworms on the vines. Even a sick cham wont turn those down.
Weight your cham at least once a week. Bishop was terrified of me after his ordeal, so I couldn't so it more often, but it would be good to know if your buddy is putting on weight. Also record all his food intake.

CLEANING
Coccidia is VERY hard to kill. Bleach and common detergents won't work. There's only a couple of things which do – ammonia and very hot temperatures are among them. I prefer to use both. I ordered 20% ammonia solution on ebay, which was rather cheap. You can also use 40 volume peroxide which you can find at a beauty supply store. It is best to get the liquid and not the gel version. You have to dilute ammonia in water and soak contaminated objects for about 30 min. Be careful when handling ammonia and make sure to use only cold water when mixing or washing it off. I would also recommend to use a mask and keep all windows wide open. Anyway, make sure to rinse your stuff thoroughly meanwhile boiling loads of water in pans/pots etc. When the water is bubbling away, pour it over your objects. I have to repeat this, make sure that ammonia has no contact with hot water, it can be very dangerous for you.
You have to do this procedure at least once a week to EVERYTHING which came into contact with your chameleon e.g. feeding dishes, transportation cage. Apart from a weakly major clean you have to do at least 1 minor. The good thing about Open Air is that it's very easy to take apart, and if you have very little stuff in, it will take 30 min at most. I used Vetark Tamodine-E for this purpose. Moreover, I wiped the enclosure (especially the bottom) every day during hand misting sessions. And if Bishop's wastes touched vines, I would take them out and disinfect.
If you read around, some blogs would recommend cleaning every day. It is probably a good idea, but in my case it was impossible (e.g. working shifts, having little time in between, etc). The method I used seemed to work just fine for Bishop.
Regarding your old enclosure, you can either chuck it all out and buy everything new, or you can do the ammonia/hot water procedure.
It may sound like an overkill, but trust me, even if you follow these instructions it doesn't guarantee your cham would get rid of coccidia. It is very hard to kill and it could be lethal to young animals. Although adults can live for years without experiencing any discomfort.

I'm not a vet, so I don't know what cycles of the treatment your vet would prescribe. What I do know is that you want 2 clean fecals before you move your cham into his normal vivarium. You will have to wait about 4-5 weeks from your last treatment to send the 1st fecal, and if it comes back clean, another 2-3 weeks until the 2nd one. If your 2nd one also comes back clean, congratulations! You wee fella is free of parasites! Now make sure to maintain a clean enclosure and clean poo as soon as you see it.
Bishop looks like a 4 months old Yemen when he is 6 mo. But the main thing – he is eating, growing and shedding. He probably will be a runt, but he s alive, and I'm really proud of him for battling those nasty parasites. Good luck to you and your little guy too!

p.s. all comments and suggestions are more than welcome!
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Comments

I have found 40 voulme peroxide to be an excellent way to clean for coccidia. You can find the 40 volume peroxide at a beauty supply store and it's best to get the liquid and not the gel.
 
Very nice job!
Your blog will help people to understand the seriousness of coccidia and how difficult they are to eradicate unless extreme measures are taken.
You might add that while Baycox (toltrazuril) is the standard medicine in Europe, in the USA Ponazuril is used instead. The medicines are similar and both actually kill coccidia.
I have also read of many people using Bene Bac (the one for birds), as a way of helping their chams to recover their natural intestinal flora while treating for coccidiosis.
Glad you made this blog:)
 
This link has been extremely helpful! I have been worried about my adult male veiled. But he doesn't have any diseases from what I can tell. No symptoms of anything. He just has problems eating. I need to find a local Cham vet to do a fecal.
 

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