# Parasites on My Bearded Dragon?



## weister42 (Apr 30, 2006)

I received a pretty full-grown bearded dragon about a month ago and I just recently changed his substrate from sand to paper towels, I did that because I heard sand is bad for him(impactions) but according to his previous owner Fred has been living in sand his whole life. Anyways a few days after I completely cleaned the sand out I noticed stuff crawling on the tank walls, some are red and some are black, obviously parasites of some kind. I feed him mealworms and cut green beans, he's really picky about vegetables for some reason. I also let him run around my apartment after I give him a warm water bath. Here's the dude...happy and all.



















He also likes dry warm air...and music I guess, since he pops his head sometimes with bass.



















I don't know where these parasites come from but my guess is 1 - from the live mealworms and 2 - the fake log that has been sitting outside for two days drying. Is it normal to have a FEW parasites on a bearded dragon, much the same as say, a giant millipede? Are those bugs hazardous to human? How do I get rid of them?


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

WELL.

It might be 'natural' in the wild. But definitely not something you want. It's really hard to guess what these are but the first guess is always MITES. You want to check over the beardie and make sure he doesn't have any issues or visible markings. Search Google Images for some good pics. Just type in 'reptile mites'.

If they are mites you definitely want to isolate the beardie from any other reptiles you have. Otherwise you're looking at a LOT of work.

They could also be other bugs that infested the sand if it hadn't been changed for a while.

Check out the images on Google first and go from there. Process of elimination... There are sprays and products though that you can get to rid yourself of mites. So don't be too worried. They're just expensive.


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

One other thing... Regarding the food.

That's really not a complete diet at all.

When you say meal worms do you mean the little guys? Meal worms hold almost no nutrition. They're mostly shell and hard to digest. The whole impaction thing is debateable regarding sand, but you're kind of doing the same thing by feeding only meal worms. I know my beardie has major issues with them and regurges them if he eats too many - but that's probably due to his impaction issues when he was young. (He was a rescue that I took in that had been severely impacted due to improper care and almost died.)

A better meal would be super worms. They're larger and better for them. As well. Silkworms are fantastic and most beardies LOVE them. They're expensive but worth it from time to time. And horned worms - _but only captive propogated ones_ - are fantastic but again expensive. (Captive only because in the wild their main food sources are toxic to reptiles.)

Then there's always crickets. But those need gutloading - meaning you have to feed them some good foods full of good nutrients - before feeding them.

What other greens have you tried to feed? The beans really should be supplmented with something else.

And are you using any calcium with D3 or multivitamins to dust the food?

There's a great site with info here that you can check out as well.


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## weister42 (Apr 30, 2006)

Mettle said:


> One other thing... Regarding the food.
> 
> That's really not a complete diet at all.
> 
> ...


Okay I'm pretty sure it's reptile mites, how did he got them I have no idea but I'm gonna clean his cage today.

When I first got Fred I tried feeding him diced carrots, deshelled green beans, corn and steamed green bean, and he only ate the steamed green beans. The previous owner told me he fed him crickets and some sort of pellet food. I kinda found out about the mealworm issue after I purchased 1000 of them, at least he loves to eat them. I can't buy crickets because the only pet store in my area is Petco and their crickets are too small for him to eat, so it just ends up living in his cage. I almost punched some kid working at Petco because he was a rude mofo so I don't go there anymore(if you live in my area you'll know, everyone hates Petco). He's walking well and everything so he's not sick, yet.

I'll keep you guys updated.


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## weister42 (Apr 30, 2006)

Okay I cleaned his cage and gave him a bath and I haven't seen a single mite, the tank is empty without the log that he usually sits on. I'm going to feed him mealworms tomorrow, again without the log to see if the mites came from that.

Also is broccoli a good veggie for him?


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## ...Jay... (Nov 2, 2006)

I've heard that broccoli and califlower have something that binds to calcium, so people dont use it.


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## weister42 (Apr 30, 2006)

Jayson745 said:


> I've heard that broccoli and califlower have something that binds to calcium, so people dont use it.


I see, well him and his cage is still mites-free so I'm guessing it came from the log which has a hollow core that I can't get into, it's one of those fake plastic ones.

Is pellet food good and what's a good brand?


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

You should also be feeding things like mixed greens... collard greends, dandelion leaves, mustard greens, that sort of thing. Try and stay away from lettuces. They're not that nutritious. Especially iceburg lettuce. That's junk.


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