Parasites and fecal tests

What keepers can see

Mites, ticks, and a wasting animal are visible. Most intestinal parasites are not. Weight loss, a bad smell, or loose stool can be parasites, or it can be the wrong temperature, stress, or a different disease. Collect a fresh stool in a clean pot and take it to a reptile veterinarian rather than guessing a product.

Quarantine is the other half

A fecal test during quarantine protects the animals you already have. Treat the new animal's enclosure as dirty until you know the result. Do not tip that substrate into the garden if the species is one that could survive outside.

Medicines

Ivermectin and other livestock drugs have killed lizards and tortoises at doses people copied from cattle charts. Only a veterinarian who sees reptiles should choose a drug and a dose. Finish the course they prescribe. Do not "worm" the whole collection because one animal looked thin.

Mites

Mites spread on hands, tongs, and tubs. Treat the animal and every enclosure it touched, and keep it isolated. Predatory mites are one tool some keepers use. Foggers and insect sprays in the reptile room are a poisoning risk.

After treatment

Weigh the animal and bring a follow-up sample if the clinic asked for one. A single negative test is not a personality. It is one result.