treated with fenbendazole became anorexic but regained their appetites after a few days. The author has noted that bearded dragons can go off food dramatically when put through consecutive day dosing, with the longest period of anorexia being two weeks. As bearded dragons often have both pinworms and coccidia, it is not unusual for them to be treated with both sulfadimethoxine (Albon) and fenbendazole at the same time, leading to questions about which drug could be causing the appetite to be suppressed. In any case, both drugs have caused appetite suppression when used separately, so perhaps a noncritical bearded dragon should be treated in stages to minimize appetite disruption. For
bearded dragons that won’t eat, force-feeding appears to kick-start most into eating again. Employ force-feeding early and continue force-feeding until the dragons feed on their own.
In some rare cases, parasites appear to be resistant to fenbendazole. In this situation, the author suggests using ivermectin, which may require more doses over time. A small study (Klingenberg 1993) demonstrated this in ball pythons. Fenbendazole eliminated nematodes in fewer doses than ivermectin did (see appendix III). Corwin (M. Corwin 1994, pers. comm.) reported that this was also true when treating nematode parasites of monitor lizards.
Excerpt from the book Understanding Reptile Parasites
by Roger Klingenberg with permission from its publisher, Advanced Vivarium Systems, an imprint of BowTie Press. Purchase Understanding Reptile Parasites
here.
