We are the proud owners of 2 bearded dragons who happen to be sisters that we adopted in December of 2021. I have mysterious issue with one of them, and that is Ms.Nessie.
Nessie is just about 14 months old and she has bad diarrhea for quite some time now. When we first noticed a runny poop back in April we immediately got it tested for parasites. It came back positive for a whole lot and we started her on medication for it. After the dose was over she still was having the identical same bad smelly poops so we got it retested again. The parasite count was significantly lower but still a little higher than normal. We started Nessie on a different medication to see if that would help. As you can guess, it did not. We got it retested AGAIN and also had a physical exam and this time despite the poop being smelly enough to clear the vet tech room, it came back clear and normal for parasites. Her physical exam showed no issues, has a perfect body score of 5/9, and seems perfectly healthy. The vet suggested to started her on probiotics to see if that would help, and it has not.
Despite all of this Nessie is a very happy, energetic lady who loves to eat her greens, veggies, occasional blueberries/strawberries and dubias. I have tried so many different variations of different types of greens or veggies to see if it would help and nothing has improved the poops. It’s also worth noting that when we first adopted them in December we had blood tests done for both of them and nothing showed up out of the ordinary for Nessie.
The great thing about having 2 bearded dragons is that our other beardy Ms.Iggie also had the same parasite issue, but was completely fine after the first round of medications. Iggie is a special bean who might have some kidney issues so we recently gotten a blood test for her that showed nothing out of the ordinary despite the kidney thing. We feed them the exact same things and they have practically identical set ups.
I guess my question would be going forward what we should be testing for. Money is starting to get tight due to all the testing for both Nessie and Iggie and I want to make the smartest move to help Nessie have normal poops once again and Im getting extremely worried that this problem is not improving. Blood test, culture, ultrasound, let me know!
If you took the time to read this I thank you! As an avid reader of these forums for months Im hoping someone here has some insight that can help our little girl!
Set up info:
4x2x2 Zen Habitat
Zoo med T5 10.0 36inch UVB bulb
100-105 warm side / 75 - 80 cool side
Nighttime temp 70
Humidity 30%
We have a CHE installed on the right side of the tank but is only used for the cold winter nights.
Everything has been disinfected with diluted F10 since the parasite issue.
WARNING: graphic poop photos are attached
Nessie is just about 14 months old and she has bad diarrhea for quite some time now. When we first noticed a runny poop back in April we immediately got it tested for parasites. It came back positive for a whole lot and we started her on medication for it. After the dose was over she still was having the identical same bad smelly poops so we got it retested again. The parasite count was significantly lower but still a little higher than normal. We started Nessie on a different medication to see if that would help. As you can guess, it did not. We got it retested AGAIN and also had a physical exam and this time despite the poop being smelly enough to clear the vet tech room, it came back clear and normal for parasites. Her physical exam showed no issues, has a perfect body score of 5/9, and seems perfectly healthy. The vet suggested to started her on probiotics to see if that would help, and it has not.
Despite all of this Nessie is a very happy, energetic lady who loves to eat her greens, veggies, occasional blueberries/strawberries and dubias. I have tried so many different variations of different types of greens or veggies to see if it would help and nothing has improved the poops. It’s also worth noting that when we first adopted them in December we had blood tests done for both of them and nothing showed up out of the ordinary for Nessie.
The great thing about having 2 bearded dragons is that our other beardy Ms.Iggie also had the same parasite issue, but was completely fine after the first round of medications. Iggie is a special bean who might have some kidney issues so we recently gotten a blood test for her that showed nothing out of the ordinary despite the kidney thing. We feed them the exact same things and they have practically identical set ups.
I guess my question would be going forward what we should be testing for. Money is starting to get tight due to all the testing for both Nessie and Iggie and I want to make the smartest move to help Nessie have normal poops once again and Im getting extremely worried that this problem is not improving. Blood test, culture, ultrasound, let me know!
If you took the time to read this I thank you! As an avid reader of these forums for months Im hoping someone here has some insight that can help our little girl!
Set up info:
4x2x2 Zen Habitat
Zoo med T5 10.0 36inch UVB bulb
100-105 warm side / 75 - 80 cool side
Nighttime temp 70
Humidity 30%
We have a CHE installed on the right side of the tank but is only used for the cold winter nights.
Everything has been disinfected with diluted F10 since the parasite issue.
WARNING: graphic poop photos are attached
