Self Parasites?
- Thread starter creddjobs
- Start date
A clean chameleon can not give its self parasites ...... Parasites can come from a dirty cage not cleaning sticks and baking them before outing them in not backing the dirt before repoting your plant not washing your plant and contaminated feeders.... I am not saying that any of these things can give your chameleon parasites but simply that if it is not clean or not coming from a clean place then it could happen ...
jannb
Chameleon Enthusiast
I always thought the second dose was to kill any eggs that might have hatched since the first treatment.
DekuScrub
Avid Member
i keep having these crazy dreams about parasites burrowing into my flesh.
theyre always miniscule, about the size of a newly hatched sea monkey. and the move the same way.
last night they were burrowing through the glass in my windows and if they got through i would douse myself in this solution that would kill them.
but if i smushed them as they were comming through they would turn into this chrysalis state, emerge winged, on the other side of the glass. mate and lay more of the glass burrowers.
so it was like kill one make many, hydra effect.
really freaked me out.
theyre always miniscule, about the size of a newly hatched sea monkey. and the move the same way.
last night they were burrowing through the glass in my windows and if they got through i would douse myself in this solution that would kill them.
but if i smushed them as they were comming through they would turn into this chrysalis state, emerge winged, on the other side of the glass. mate and lay more of the glass burrowers.
so it was like kill one make many, hydra effect.
really freaked me out.
creddjobs
New Member
Thanks for the info guys. I was just trying to get an understanding on how they get those nasty pests. I was worried because I have not cleaned Koopas cage with any chemicals. I just been cleaning up the poop daily and wiping the cage with water. I plan on doing a deep cleaning this weekend since he is getting better with coming out the cage.
RealIzeRecognIze
New Member
Wait so a parisite can burrow into there feet? Mines been scratching her back feet.. I always keep the cage clean tho and no substrate
xanthoman
Avid Member
raining on the parade again/reptile pathogens/safety
coccidia are adhesive, thats how they get around. pinworms can actually enter through the pads of the feet, or most areas of skin or any mucous membrane.
with most pathogens, a daily complete cage/equip sterilization is a necessary component of treatment, without it they will just continue to re-infect themselves, even with treatment. maybe even infect yourself.
its important to bear in mind, and i think many keepers overlook the risk because they have never seen or dealt with it first hand, but many, even most, reptile pathogens are zoonotic, meaning transmissible to humans. that can be an easy thing to dismiss when you are dealing with something you cant see.
an afternoon of looking through a microscope will likely change all of that.
see cryptosporidium, see also strongyloides stercoralis , both common in both humans and reptiles. they often use the same meds to treat whether human or reptile, so at least if you get infected/diagnosed, you can probably use your meds to formulate a dose for your cham lol.
http://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/pbs/zoonoses/
imo, anyone handling any animals but especially reptiles should be aware of the risk and have guidelines established for such. coccidia travels by adhesion. if you handle something with a high coccidia load. then you have coccidia on your hands, if you open the fridge, you have it on the fridge door, if you wash your hands in the sink, you have it in the sink (+ on faucet handles.), and like the very well informed MR DAVE WELDON SAYS, "you dont want this stuff in your kitchen sink" lol.
if you handle coccidia and then handle other animals or equipment, it can start the cycle throughout a whole collection. it will be on light switches, door handles, everywhere. it may still be on your hands after several washings, or even days later. even if you wear gloves, you would likely get it on your hands while taking your gloves off. if you touch your hands to your mouth or any mucous membrane, you could infect yourself. not all coccidia/reptile pathogens are zoonotic, but its a good example.
it should be noted that most forms of coccidia associated with reptiles are not usually zoonotic, but even still, a little common sense should prevail when handling any suspected pathogen.
any fecal float that is done without proper prep isnt worth poo. so, my advice would be to
1. do a little research/self education of proper handling procedures for infected materials.
2. disinfect your cage and equipment, so you can safely prep for a viable fecal float to submit to a vet. you can speculate all you want, but the only way to really know is to submit a properly taken sample for fecal float.
3. imo, all new animals should be tested, and again at least every 18mths regardless of supposed origin or history.
i have posted several times my procedure for hygienic soil, and taken a fair amount of flak over it. people can dismiss it all they want, but there is a reason for doing it.
UNSTERILIZED, UNPASTEURIZED SOIL ALMOST ALWAYS HARBORS PATHOGENS. thats not an opinion, thats a scientific fact. i'll be posting some more on this later this summer. jmo
coccidia are adhesive, thats how they get around. pinworms can actually enter through the pads of the feet, or most areas of skin or any mucous membrane.
with most pathogens, a daily complete cage/equip sterilization is a necessary component of treatment, without it they will just continue to re-infect themselves, even with treatment. maybe even infect yourself.
its important to bear in mind, and i think many keepers overlook the risk because they have never seen or dealt with it first hand, but many, even most, reptile pathogens are zoonotic, meaning transmissible to humans. that can be an easy thing to dismiss when you are dealing with something you cant see.
an afternoon of looking through a microscope will likely change all of that.
see cryptosporidium, see also strongyloides stercoralis , both common in both humans and reptiles. they often use the same meds to treat whether human or reptile, so at least if you get infected/diagnosed, you can probably use your meds to formulate a dose for your cham lol.
http://www.vetmed.wisc.edu/pbs/zoonoses/
imo, anyone handling any animals but especially reptiles should be aware of the risk and have guidelines established for such. coccidia travels by adhesion. if you handle something with a high coccidia load. then you have coccidia on your hands, if you open the fridge, you have it on the fridge door, if you wash your hands in the sink, you have it in the sink (+ on faucet handles.), and like the very well informed MR DAVE WELDON SAYS, "you dont want this stuff in your kitchen sink" lol.
if you handle coccidia and then handle other animals or equipment, it can start the cycle throughout a whole collection. it will be on light switches, door handles, everywhere. it may still be on your hands after several washings, or even days later. even if you wear gloves, you would likely get it on your hands while taking your gloves off. if you touch your hands to your mouth or any mucous membrane, you could infect yourself. not all coccidia/reptile pathogens are zoonotic, but its a good example.
it should be noted that most forms of coccidia associated with reptiles are not usually zoonotic, but even still, a little common sense should prevail when handling any suspected pathogen.
any fecal float that is done without proper prep isnt worth poo. so, my advice would be to
1. do a little research/self education of proper handling procedures for infected materials.
2. disinfect your cage and equipment, so you can safely prep for a viable fecal float to submit to a vet. you can speculate all you want, but the only way to really know is to submit a properly taken sample for fecal float.
3. imo, all new animals should be tested, and again at least every 18mths regardless of supposed origin or history.
i have posted several times my procedure for hygienic soil, and taken a fair amount of flak over it. people can dismiss it all they want, but there is a reason for doing it.
UNSTERILIZED, UNPASTEURIZED SOIL ALMOST ALWAYS HARBORS PATHOGENS. thats not an opinion, thats a scientific fact. i'll be posting some more on this later this summer. jmo
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