Anti parasite medicine for newts?

[keithp]

I was wondering if there is anti-parasite medication you can buy for newts. My newt eats live foods, and the place I got him from was very dirty and he is possibly wild caught, so I was thinking about treating him for internal parasites, just in case he has any, or find a preventative.

 

[Mark]

Various internal parasite treatments are discussed in detail in this thread: http://www.caudata.org/forum/f1173-...tium-spp-etc/57531-panacur-flagyl-tigers.html

Other than some suspicions about the newts origins and previous housing what makes you think you should treat for parasites? Are they ill or severely underweight? Any unexplained deaths? I personally would not treat for parasites unless I had good reason to suspect they were the cause of illness. Using treatments preventively may upset natural gut flora unnecessarily. Perhaps it would be better to conduct a faecal examination before considering treatment?

 

[tmarmoratus]

Mark is right on the money. Unless you know for sure your newt has parasites, you could be doing more harm than good. In some ways, it's comparable to putting a person through chemotherapy despite not knowing if the person has cancer. If you're worried about parasites, test for them first.

 

[herpvet]

I was wondering if there is anti-parasite medication you can buy for newts. My newt eats live foods, and the place I got him from was very dirty and he is possibly wild caught, so I was thinking about treating him for internal parasites, just in case he has any, or find a preventative.

Hello,

I fully agree with the comments about not treating him without checking for parasites, but would also just like to add in another caution. For some parasites, if he does have a heavy parasite burden, treating with anti-parasitics can kill him as all the parasites die and set up a severe reaction/release toxins inside the body. So in some cases concurrent antiboitics and anti-inflammatory drugs would be advisable.

Bottom line - you are always best to get professional advice, and appropriate tests, before treating amphibians (or any animals), if at all possible.

Hope this helps,

Bruce.