Oh boy! My geckos got worms!

[gothra]

Just after I posted about Bambi, I decided to take a look at my geckos poops tonight. I did one floatation, mixing whoever's poo I can collect tonight, and I managed to get Bambi's, Marly's, Gel's and SiuFu's. I found 2 types of parasitic eggs, I think one type is pinworm (I found 4 of those) and another one I'm not too sure but am guessing hookworm (only 1 present). Can you please identify for me?

I'm gonna go to the vet tomorrow or the day after, and get them some medicine.

Is this pinworm egg? My microscope is at 100x.

Could this be a hookworm egg? also at 100x. It has a very thin shell and 3 circular nucleus inside. I only found one of those in there.

Sorry for the quality of the pics, my microscope is not capable of camera attachment.

 

[ByRandom]

This is the best source I could find in short notice for photo comparisons.

http://www.thegeckospot.com/fecal.html

Hope that helps somewhat.

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Bonnie, whether it's hookworm or pinworm oocysts, Panacur should do the trick!

 

[gothra]

I really don't understand how they got worms. They had parasites in 2004, the vet gave them all three types of dewormers (panacur, metron, and flagyl); follow up fecals showed that they're all clean. After that, I do randomly pick 2-3 samples and get that to the vet to check once or twice a year, the report always comes back negative. The most recent ones, I took Bubu's and Gel's to the vet in October, nothing was found there also.

I feed them in a dish overnight and I take away and wash the food dish everyday. I also spot clean as soon as I see a poop. I even stopped giving them crickets since April this year! The closest reason i could think of, is that our house had a major renovation from Feb to April; and I took all my geckos with me to temporarily stay at my parent's house for about 2 months. Some of them might be too stressed out, and the "survivor" pinworms or whatever worm increased in numbers.

 

[gothra]

An update: I took Bambi to the vet today, I showed the vet the above photos and she couldn't identify that 2nd pic as well (there are many unknown areas in the field of reptile parasites). Anyway, I was given Panacur to treat all my leos, 50mg/kg once every 2 weeks for 6 weeks (total 3 times). Does that sound right? I remember seeing dosages given once every week for at least 3 consecutive weeks in books, which is better?

I brought in Bambi, because she ain't eating and has a big belly. I'm not sure if she's ovulating or what, so I got the vet to have a look at her. The vet checked her physically, then did an ultrasound. She suspect Bambi is having pre-ovulatory follicular-stasis (however you spell that...), she could surgically take out her ovaries, but would like to wait a little longer to see how Bambi goes before making such decision.

I honestly think I'm cursed, I do not understand why my females had to suffer from follicular-stasis, first is Nana, then now Bambi. Is this suppose to be a common problem in leopard geckos??

 

[Golden Gate Geckos]

Bonnie, I'm so sorry you are dealing with all of this! The only think I can think of with follicular stasis would be that if your females ovulate and are not bred to allow the follicle to develop into an egg, it reaches a point where it can no longer be reabsorbed. Was your vet able to shed any light on why this happens?

 

[BalloonzForU]

Bonnie, I'm so sorry you are going through this. It very well could have been the stress of moving for two months.

ummm as for the pics, awesome. How did you take those without an attachment?

 

[gothra]

Bonnie, I'm so sorry you are dealing with all of this! The only think I can think of with follicular stasis would be that if your females ovulate and are not bred to allow the follicle to develop into an egg, it reaches a point where it can no longer be reabsorbed. Was your vet able to shed any light on why this happens?

I asked her how I could prevent that in the future, and shes says there really is nothing that I could do to prevent it. For example, it could be the climate here (sub-tropical, too humid) being too different to leopard gecko's native land...etc. Every small things will add together, and result in the body condition.

With the parasites, its only very low count, panacur will do the job. The most important thing my vet wants me to do is to put all my geckos on diet, and make them do more exercise. She says they're "too too too too fat". I think "too fat" might also have contributed to Bambi's condition (Its my guess, my vet didn't say that).

ummm as for the pics, awesome. How did you take those without an attachment?

Well...you need very steady hands...:main_cool3: Zoom in closest at the eyepiece, the camera won't be able to focus, but you can use the focus knob of the microscope to help. When a clear image is in view, you need to snap the pic quick. Otherwise a slight movement of the hand will out focus again.