New Owner with LOTS of questions!

Your diet likely won't affect if there are parasites or not. I would give him 2-3 weeks to acclimate and then when he poops just stick it in a baggie and take it to the vet. Some people use a product called ParaZap to help elimate or at least keep parasite numbers in check. An indicator there might be an overload of parasites is not gaining weight. If you have a gram scale you can weigh him every week or so just to see the progress. We got our female in August at 125g, she is now slightly over 300g.

Hello,

I hope things are going well. I agree, give him a couple weeks at least to get all settled in before getting a fecal done. Stress really causes their levels to get high sometimes.
The tank, itself, will be the main cost, along with the lighting, etc. Don't forget to post pictures!


Tracie

Ya pictures!

Stress and diet won't affect whether or not he has parasites. If I'm going to have a fecal done, I do it as soon as possible after they come in, to prevent any possible transmission to other animals in my collection. While you don't have this to worry about, you do want to look at the fact that any parasite load he may have is hard on him, and the stress of shipping and setting up in a new home can make it even tougher. I'd say you've had him there plenty long enough to schedule getting one done, IMO.

Be sure to ask your vet how they would like to do it.....while some will let you get away with collecting the poo in a baggie and bringing it in, (cheaper and easier) most vets will want to see the animal on the initial consultation for the new animal.

I agree w/ "cat_72" With a new owner and depending on experience ,that an initial visit to the vet for a look see would be a good idea . Just be sure its a reputable 'REPTILE' vet, or it can be pretty useless going. A lot of vets will say there is an expected or exceptable level of parasites in most reptiles. Stress definitely gives the little parasites an upper hand for a while. My thing is get them as clean as possible up front then assume they will pick up some parasites from food, or fecals etc. somewhere along the way. As long as they seem to be doing well, IE: eating ,behaving,coloration, weight gain etc..then I just get a fecal done randomly after that to check in. Keeping their cage clean goes along way to keep a healthy critter. Cleaning their greens real good can be helpful too, as they often carry small parasites, which we humans also ingest by the way. But the insects carry things too. The veterinary predisposition that there is a normal or exceptable level of parasite load is common and I think mostly correct. How ever I will say that we have brought several reptiles home w/ No parasites at all showing in their tests. Repeated tests have been the same! Lucky I guess? Though we also have had some bad experiences as well. Tracie (Drache 613) can attest to that! This a good place to get help and advice for your Beardy. Your in super good hands w/ Drache. She and Angie really pulled us through some rough stuff. There is a lot of good info. in these threads. If you have time read back through some other threads. A great Beardy site also good people, www.beautifuldragons.com. Also check out the thread here , in "Dragon discussion forum," "reps.and Herbal remedies? new beardy w/ bloody fecals??" (Started By bullfrog. ) You'll find lots of info., there reading thru our trials! and some good and yummy foods and herbals for your beardy. Super good info. there from Drache and Angie. Congrats on your new baby! ...G

Hello,

Yes, I do agree as well! My concern is always new owners, which in no way is their fault, go to a vet which may or may not be a reptile vet, gets a fecal done & the vet immediately medicates for what may be an acceptable level.
Relocation stress will allow their immune system to become depressed & any parasites present in too high of numbers already will become higher & take over.
I feel though, given time in alot of circumstances, that it is usually best to wait for a 1-2 week time period before medicating for parasites or worms, if they have just aquired it to let him settle in. Unless of course, it is an absolute emergency.
Sometimes it is good to do a before & after fecal just for comparison sake.


Tracie

Tracie, what do you consider an "acceptable level" of parasites??

Thanks for all your information! Here's ANOTHER question! Sorry. As Gizzard is now being fed his veges and moist pellets in the morning and his dusted (either with calcium and/or vitamins) about two hours after that, when we feed him a couple more crickets in the afternoon, do those late feeding crickets need to be dusted as well or is he getting enough of the calcium/vitamin mixture from the morning crickets?

I'm having a hard time with the little cricket box I bought too! I have an orange cube in the watering "bowl" but we seem to always spill the water and it is a mess. I'm going to the pet store tomorrow to buy a bigger cricket keeper, make one myself or something. I read online where someone made a cricket keeper out of a deep tupperware bowl but I still hate those things and use the tubes to shake them into the dusting bowl. Any suggestions?

I've also been seeing these verticle reptile cages made from net and all the advertisements say that the dragons like being verticle. Do you guys have a horizontal tank set up like I do? I keep wondering what to do when he gets larger as I've got a 40 gallon tank right now.

Those net cages will NOT hold the heat dragons need, and they are much better off with the floor space as opposed to having height. Dragons are terrestrial, not arboreal critters, lol. Aquarium type tanks are MUCH better choices than anything like those net enclosures.

I don't put any actual water in with my crickets. I use a "gutload" food, such as the gutload from ProGeckos, and then put in orange quarters, apple quarters, or potato slices for a mositure source. I also throw in the occasional greens and such that my dragons eat.....stems of the collard or mustard greens, etc. What your crix are eating are only going to benefit the dragon, as he will be eating it too when he eats them! My crix are kept either in a 10 gallon aquarium or Rubbermaid tub with a screened lid and egg crate (you can put paper towel tubes in there in place of those plastic cricket tubes, and just throw them away and replace when they become soiled). Just make sure it is well ventilated.

So, the orange cube that I put in the water dish is to be "instead" of water? I've been putting water in there as well. I have a small aquarium left over from a fish our cat ate years ago so I'm sure I could make a cricket habitat out of that but how do you get your crickets out? Just reach in and grab a few? We've already found a couple of crickets in the house so I can just see me scream when I'm trying to grab a cricket and then let them all loose!

I keep seeing all these "gutload" things and can you tell me what that means? We've only been buying about 20 baby crickets at a time and I'm cleaning the whole little cricket habitat out after filling it with the new ones for cleanliness sake.