Anti-Parasitic Agent, Thoughts?

There's a thread in the leopard gecko forum discussing the use of crickets versus mealworms as a staple in the diet of those particular lizards... An argument (The only one I really saw that had validity) AGAINST crickets was the more frequent parasite loads that they can and sometimes will carry...

A certain level of parasitic gut fauna is natural in any living animal, they pick up parasites with their food, the parasites feed for a bit and are passed in the animal's feces. In captivity of course there is a limited area where the animal can move around and thus come into contact with their own defication on a much more regular basis than a wild animal, even if they are kept clean and well maintained. This reintroduction of parasites is what really causes the problem, a parasite here or there is generally no big deal, the animal can regrow tissue faster than it can consume it or ingest more of it's own food and still maintain a healthy nutritional level... When the parasite load is never really expelled and is constantly reintroduced it can overwhelm an animal and cause some fairly serious problems.

Now... On to the actual subject of this thread...

Tropical fish hobbiests have been using dried garlic for decades to help combat similar (and even more extreme, since parasite reintroduction is easier in a liquid environment AND parasites do come straight out of your tap) problems... Having a quaranteen tank for potential feeder fish or breeding their own feeders and feeding dried, crushed, Mrs. Dash consistency (but NOT Mrs Dash, which is a mix of... garlic like food seasonings) garlic flakes to the feeder animals (and sometimes directly to whatever was intended to eat them) for a period of time in advance of feeding them off. While it's certainly not as effective as a massive dose of panacur or flagyl in clearing the intestinal tract, it's use is preventative rather than as a cure for a problem that has already developed.

I can't offhand think of a single reason why this shouldn't work on feeder insects that have a higher chance of carrying a parasite on to a herp. It's not intended as a gutload, so it can be fed 48+ hours in advance of the insect going into the herp's enclosure, the insects will consume it, it'll do it's thing on most of what they may be carrying, they'll pass it and be ready for gutloading in the 24 hours prior to being fed off. Again, it's not a surefire 100% effective anti-parasite medication and there are going to be particular parasites which would be unaffected by giving your feeder insects nasty breath but those same parasites would be unaffected by MOST treatments or preventatives and it'd still be clearing out a high percentage of the nasties that your average feeder insect might be carrying.

I would test this concept myself but... I frankly have no real idea of how to check a cricket for parasites and I doubt any cricket suppliers would have any "Guaranteed Infested" that they could sell me. If any if the hardcore invert lovers happen to know of a way to determine the parasite load of a cricket, beetle, roach or... Whatever... I'd be interested in learning so I can verify that garlic is effective in lowering the loads when it comes to insects as well as fish (and that garlic isn't toxic to crickets, I don't believe it would be but checking never hurts).

I have often wondered the same thing. I hate that our feeder insects we purchase pass on such nasty parasites to our animals. I have tried to come up with different ideas on how to "deworm" feeder items. But most things that kill parasites will kill insects..


I dont know if you have ever performed fecal exams yourself, but in case you have not or someone reading this has not I will tell you the process. One of the ways you can perform a microscopic fecal examination (besides a direct smear of feces on a slide) is called a fecal flotation, where FRESH feces(atleast a gram or so of feces) is placed into a small container and then a flotation liquid (Fecasol or like product) is poured into the container with the feces and filled to the rim. The slide coverslip is then placed on the top of the container with the fluid touching the coverslip. Then wait atleast 10 minutes. Hopefully, if parasites are present, the ova and/or larva of parasites float to the top of the container and on your slide coverslip where you can see them under the microscope on your slide. ANYWAYS, The long-winded point I am trying to make is I do not see why you couldnt crush up a cricket or other feeder insect and place them in the container instead of feces to check for parasites. Instead of a fecal flotation, an insect flotation. Maybe I will try that!!

Shannon Richards LVT
&
Christian Wright
C&S REPTILES

Nice!! Thank you so much for bringing this up!! A few of my leos seem to be perpetually sick lately and I'm frustrated. I'm about ready to give up on all of them and just stick to snakes. But, I do love my leos and I keep hoping this will get better.

I've seen a couple "natural" parasite treatments at the pet store but they don't say how much to give your animal or how often. I don't like that. How do you know you are doing it right?

When I worked at a vet office I set up and read fecal floats and I agree that it should work to smash a cricket or two. That's a great idea!!

I can't recall who told me this information, but they did an independant testing of many cricket farms online. reptilefood.com and armstrongscrickets were 2 that had "clean" bugs ( that they tested anyway) . No coccidia, or parasites. Other companies did not fair so well. Take this as hear say, because I can't document it. I remember heeding this information because PorkChop was my first captive herp. I wanted to do everything as "right" as possible for him.

I can say that my Dragon only eats crickets from both of those companies and just had a fecal check done this week. He's completely clean ,, no parasite/coccidia infestations. I'll contine to get my crickets & worms from those sources