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Vet visit

RaeAnn

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
859
Today we noticed a small white worm that was alive in Spyra's poo. Luckily today was also the day we had to take a feces sample to the vet. She was completely in the clear with pin worms and hookworms. The vet was however fascinated by this other odd white worm. They explained that they had not seen a case of tape worm in a bearded dragon in 22 years! Though it does happen they told us that it much more rare to see compared to other parasites in the species. They are not 100% sure if it is a tape worm species or not and would like to investigate it further.

For now they deemed Spyra a healthy young beardie and they do not want to overload her system with more medication until they are 100% sure they know what they are treating and have a safe and effective way of doing so. With that being said we are going to bring in more samples of the odd little worms the next time we find them. They are going to study them free of charge and hopefully determine from there if any steps need to be taken. As of now she is no longer on medication and all seems well [emoji4] fingers crossed that it stays that way [emoji1319]


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RaeAnn

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
859
Me too! I don't want to be one of those annoying people that challenges a Dr. But I really do think it is tapeworm. I have said this from day one as it is small little white segments that look like rice which does not resemble any other parasite other than tapeworm.
I respect the vet a great deal and am glad he cares enough to not put her health at risk without knowing for sure what he is dealing with first. However, I also know tapeworm is nothing to really play around with. So I'm hoping another good sample will convince him to take some sort of action.


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Eavlynn

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
978
A tapeworm should be easy to identify under a microscope, even if it's just a small portion of the organism. Checking the stool for eggs is a good way to diagnose tapeworm, since you usually won't find the actual worm in a fecal. If she does have tapeworm, she'll get praziquantel, and it will be a downhill slope for the pesky parasite. If you're concerned, you can always go for a second opinion and have another fecal run to look for the eggs.

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PatsyB

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Staff member
1,000+ Post Club
Beardie Club
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9,390
Location
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Do you feed Spyra crickets? It's going to sound strange but when I used to feed Dexter crickets she had a poop that had little tiny white pieces of what looked like rice in it. I looked it up and there were stories of bearded dragons pooping out the cricket eggs when they eat a female cricket that was full of eggs. Her next poops after that were fine.

Cricket eggs look like little pieces of rice.
 

Eavlynn

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
978
Cricket eggs:
3534a7bddc91fa7e7a5cc57e3f333671.jpg


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Eavlynn

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
978
I keep them next to a heat lamp until they start to hatch. Works like a charm :) and I don't put air holes in my containers so it retains moisture, that way they don't dessicate.

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RaeAnn

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
859
It does look a lot like cricket eggs however we have not fed Spyra a cricket in months. Also these things move.


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RaeAnn

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
859
A tapeworm should be easy to identify under a microscope, even if it's just a small portion of the organism. Checking the stool for eggs is a good way to diagnose tapeworm, since you usually won't find the actual worm in a fecal. If she does have tapeworm, she'll get praziquantel, and it will be a downhill slope for the pesky parasite. If you're concerned, you can always go for a second opinion and have another fecal run to look for the eggs.

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When we first took Spyra in they identified hookworm, pinworms, and a 3rd worm that they weren't sure about. He went ahead and prescribed panacur which killed off everything except for this 3rd worm. Panacur isn't effective against tapeworm so that furthered my suspicion.
The vet seemed slightly uncomfortable treating tapeworm he openly admitted he has not yet seen a bearded dragon with it. so I think that was the biggest reason behind him not taking an immediate course of action. I'm just hoping we can work with the vet to give her a proper diagnosis and the correct treatment. He's really our only hope since the only other vet around that actually sees reptiles told us to feed Spyra pizza [emoji23]


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RaeAnn

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
859
Sadly no. He also tried to tell us she had maggots. He was the worst vet lol


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Eavlynn

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
978
I'm not sure that the word "vet" is the best description for that man. Perhaps "moron" or "blazing idiot". I thought the vets I saw were bad lol.

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RaeAnn

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
859
Lol we were so upset than but now we look back and get a pretty good laugh out of it. He had mental issues! At one point he yelled at Spyra because she wouldn't open her mouth? I'm like yup go ahead and yell that'll definitely make her listen to you bc she clearly speaks human and know exactly what your saying lol. I did leave a nasty review just to warn others


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Eavlynn

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
978
Wow, I don't even know what to say about that. I think at that point I'd just take my dragon and leave. I couldn't even justify paying for an appointment like that.

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RaeAnn

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
859
Maddie was just like you. She went off and told the receptionist (who was also uneasy around the vet) how she felt. I on the other was a little scared I'm not going to lie. He was very aggressive toward us. When was leaving a review I noticed quite a few others said the same about him. One guy even claims he through his dog and told him to get the h**l out. Not something you hear about every day


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Eavlynn

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
978
That's absolutely horrid! I feel like there should be a committee you could file a complaint with. Start an investigation, maybe have his license pulled.

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RaeAnn

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
859
We did, we got his name and turned him into the state board to be investigated. He didn't harm Spyra but still his practice was unethical in so many ways. I'm as laid back as it gets I don't do confrontation at all, but man if he would thrown my animal..it's great for him that didn't happen.


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