• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

cocidia.....

R

robin d.

New member
Joined
Feb 14, 2003
Messages
3,710
Reaction score
5
Points
0
Age
90
Location
San Antonio, Texas
ii thought this might be a good discussion...
now as i understand it bearded dragons can harbor cocidia with no ill effects,,, unless of course the imune sytems get supressed and the cocidia is able to take over,
(dont know how accurate this is its just what i have heard)
NOW, you hear alot bout leos with cocidia especially coming from petco, petsmart and even some pet stroes and even breeders. now can leos harbor it the same way? or is it a different strain?... as i understand it albon is the drug that is used to treat it but lets says a leo does have cocidia can it be cured? or even ever bred?... i hear alot of information but i would suspect that most is misinformation so i am asking you guys... some of the best of the best.... justyn,marcia,jon and kelli and others hey seamus i know you alot about stuff like this shoot even tanith if she happens to read this....
comments, info...
 
I think in free ranging animals it doesn't cause much of a problem since there's no reinfection (infects through fecally contaminated food/water or just exposure to infected feces), but in captive animals it becomes a problem since the parasite load gets magnified. Coccidia does eventually lead to death if the load gets too high, as an aside, Crypto is a type of coccidia.

Whether a coccidian infection is curable or not I think depends on the type (i.e. crypto is not curable, but less virulent strains are). Animals can harbor coccidia and not show any signs of overt sickness for a while before they die from it so that might be a reason not to breed those animals.

It's sorta like AIDS, long incubation time, and when it comes down on the animal it comes down hard.

-Dave
 
The coccidia normally in question when talking of a coccidia infection in reptiles is Isospora ssp.
It is very common in several types of reptiles, bearded dragons and leopard geckos in particular. It's so common in beardies that they have their own species of it, Isospora amphiboluri. I have experience with the parasite in dragons myself and it's a real pain in the rear to get rid of.
I would emphasize that while many breeders state that coccidia is a normal part of gut flora and does not need to be treated, this is not the case. I think this is so commonly stated just to give a justification for not treating a very hard to treat parasite.
While they can harbor a certain amount of coccidia in the wild, as Dave stated, captive conditions create an environment which greatly increases the parasote load.
Coccidia has a direct life cycle and can quickly lead to a superinfection. It infects the lining of the intestines and will lead to gastrointestinal pain, diarrhea, malabsorption, and fluid loss.
Left untreated, it will lead to anorexia, weight loss, and secondary nutritional disorders.
Dr. Roger Klingenberg DVM believes that coccidia is one of the leading causes of death in bearded dragons and veiled chameleons.

Treating coccidia is an intensive process. It's best to move the animal to newspaper substrate and remove cage furnishings to facilitate minimal daily cage cleanings. Fecal matter cannot be allowed to remain in the cage because this will only lead to reinfection.
Sulfa drugs, usually Albon, are used for treatment, which can take anywhere from two to eight weeks.
Albon itself is a harmful drug, and extreme care must be taken to ensure the animal remains hydrated during the medication period, especially for extended periods. Albon has the potential to cause renal damage, so it's all the more important to get the treatment completed as quickly as possible through diligent cleaning routines.

Following a strict medication protocol, coccidia can be eliminated from an animal, but I personally would want a minimum of 3 negative fecals over the course of a month or two before I was convinced I had gotten rid of it.
Klingenberg also states that hatchling lizards appear to pick up the parasite without being exposed to the parent's environment. This would suggest a transfer of the parasite from the mother to the egg, thereby greatly increasing the rate of infection of the population in general.
This may contribute to the prevalence of coccidia in certain mass produced reptiles such as beardies and leos.
I'm not sure if it remains true, but at one point in the recent past, one major leo breeder was the main supplier for Petsmart.
 
I know for me, personally, if I ever saw a coccidia spore (even one) on a fecal float I did on any of my leopard geckos I would be devastated. That is NOT something you want in your leopard gecko collection, it spreads very quickly and like Clay stated, it is a pain in the butt to eradicate completely. In fact I would bet that it would be nearly impossible to erradicate it completely from a larger collection of geckos.

As far as the coccidia being a different strain in bearded dragons, that is what I have heard. What I am unsure about is if a bearded dragon with coccidia can infect a leopard gecko? This is why I have decided not to work with bearded dragons, i am so paranoid of the coccidia they carry.

It is very possible to cure an animal with coccidia, but the more animals you have the harder it would be to rid a collection of it of course. But it is curable, just not easy to do so. Certainly the animal(s) with coccidia should not be bred until it is completely coccidia free for, say, 6 months. IMO.
 
KelliH said:
As far as the coccidia being a different strain in bearded dragons, that is what I have heard. What I am unsure about is if a bearded dragon with coccidia can infect a leopard gecko? This is why I have decided not to work with bearded dragons, i am so paranoid of the coccidia they carry.
Click to expand...
Coccidia is normally considered fairly host specific. However, I can't see it being very difficult for the parasite to move between reptile species. I am unaware of any study having being done to determine what sort of risk that is. I would bet it actually occurs with some frequency.
I don't blame you at all for not risking it by keeping beardeds.
 
Back
Top