My Frilled Dragon was diagnosed with giardia at the herp vet today. I have started flaxyl treatments and will continue over the next couple weeks in 5 day increments.

I was wondering what the best ideas are on disinfecting his cage would be? Also what the best everyday cleaner would be? I use a mix purchased at the exotic reptile shop i got the frilly at in the first place. Any help would be appreciated.

i would take everything out and use an antibacterial cleaner that is ok for herps (someone should chime in) idk about land enclosures i just clean my aquatic turtle tank with vinegar. clean the tank, and all the furniture and put down paper towel until your dragon is better.

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you can wash everything out with a 1 part bleach to a 10 parts water solution and rinse well.

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Thanks for your input. I replaced his substrate with cypress mulch as well. Disinfecting all the large driftwood and trees I have in the cage is not something I do more than once every 6-8 weeks. I wipe down the walls, disinfect food and water dishes, and replace the substrate often. Is it safe to allow the frilly back into his cage right away? Or should I wait until all the treatments are done? I have him in his old 29 gallon aquarium for the time being and he is about 18 months old/20-22 inches long w/ tail. I just moved him to his new permanent cage about 6 weeks ago and would like to avoid stressing him out anymore than i have to. Any help would be great. Thank You.

I don't know exactly about girardia, but I just got through treating my bearded dragons for coccidia. I didn't put their permanent cage furniture back in until I got the "all clear" from the vet on their fecal samples. I am actually waiting to hear on Bearded Dragon #2, hopefully today. I just kept them on news paper and was vigillant about changing it out as soon as I noticed they had soilled it. Then I would wipe the whole area with vinegar/water mix, wipe again with water only and then dry. I also soaked all of their furniture in vinegar/water and rinsed well. My one Bearded Dragon was really sick, though, so I was super careful. I don't know what you can do about the trees etc., our enclosures were very boring for 2 weeks I'm not sure what else to tell you, I am a novice. Hopefully someone more experienced will chime in. Good luck to you!

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The one thing I can tell you is HYGIENE is of teh utmost importance. You can get giardia from the lizard, and from what I hear that is extremely horrid. I would use the bleach solution daily, on everything, then use papertowels or something that is easilty removable as the substrate.

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And I have never heard of anyone using water and vinegar to sterilize anything!
Water and bleach yes.

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This is actually an old home care treatment for medical equipment. Soaking for 15 minutes in 1 part vinegar to 2 parts water is supposed to kill the bacteria that may accumulate on it. The vet thought that would be sufficient to control the coccidia...... it worked as we are oficially coccidia free! I guess I don't know if it is effective for giardia. Just sharing what worked for me

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Vinegar's highly acidic, the primary acid being acetic acid (though other acids can also be present), with a pH usually between 2.4-3, depending on the acid content. It's often used to clean or disinfect a lot of things as an effective "home remedy". My dad uses it to clean grimy cabinet handles and coins by letting them sit in a bowl of it. It'll make an old nasty penny look like new It's also possible to use vinegar as a weed killer for certain plants.

For disinfecting, it's probably not as effective at wiping out everything the way bleach does, but it's safer for certain things (especially amphibians). And apparently it's enough to kill coccidia too Again, I'm not sure how effective it is against giardia either though. The best vinegar to use for cleaning purposes is white vinegar. Balsalmic probably wouldn't work as good, and is best left for salads

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