internal parasites? need some help

[clint6969]

my biggest worry is getting a internal parasites ,i want to know how they get them? and what to do to limit infection.i will take a snake to a vet if sick but i cant afford to keep taking it and spending all that money. any help will be great thanks fellow keepers

[Homegrownscales]

Internal parasites are decently easy to get rid of. They can happen in snakes and it's something to be aware of. The most common sign is eating and still losing weight. Thus a digital scale Is a necessary object. Another very common sign is very runny extremely mucousy, smelly poop. Or seeing visual worms in the feces.
An easy way to find out whether you have parasites or not is to bring a fresh fecal sample to a vet and have them test it. This is a very inexpensive test but must be done within 24 hours of the poop.
But if you buy cb and practice quarantine you definately are limiting your chances of parasites spreading. They are relatively easy to get rid of. This generally involves an oral dewormer, the vet will instruct on how to Give it and a dosage. Also if a positive fecal is given you'll need to immediately change any bedding to prevent reinfection after a poop.
Anyways hope this helps.

[clint6969]

how do u snake get them?

Internal parasites are decently easy to get rid of. They can happen in snakes and it's something to be aware of. The most common sign is eating and still losing weight. Thus a digital scale Is a necessary object. Another very common sign is very runny extremely mucousy, smelly poop. Or seeing visual worms in the feces.
An easy way to find out whether you have parasites or not is to bring a fresh fecal sample to a vet and have them test it. This is a very inexpensive test but must be done within 24 hours of the poop.
But if you buy cb and practice quarantine you definately are limiting your chances of parasites spreading. They are relatively easy to get rid of. This generally involves an oral dewormer, the vet will instruct on how to Give it and a dosage. Also if a positive fecal is given you'll need to immediately change any bedding to prevent reinfection after a poop.
Anyways hope this helps.

[dr del]

Hi,

Internal parasites shouldn't really be that big of a concern if you take a few basic precautions.

The main source of internal parasites would be from another infected snake - probably though exposure to poop or through the waterbowl.

This shouldn't be a problem if you buy captive bred snakes from a good breeder and only keep one snake per enclosure.

There are a few parasites that can be caught through an infected feeder animal - but again this is fairly rare.

Feeding F/T should eliminate this risk entirely but it's not common enough for me to say it should be the recommended method of feeding. Buy good healthy feeders if you feed live and you should, again, be perfectly fine.

If you buy in Captive Farmed or Wild Caught snakes then they should be checked ( and, if needed, treated ) before the quarantine period ends if you think there is a problem.

Once a snake is in your collection then good quarantine, good husbandry and good quality feeders should really mean you don't have to give much worry to internal parasites at all.

A fecal float isn't really that expensive ( and they don't need to see the animal unless they find something ) so, if it really bothers you, then by all means test a sample from a snake if you have reason to suspect a problem. But you don't really need to do one regularly for every animal or anything like that.


dr del

[clint6969]

thanks great info

[Domenic]

Hey about the parasites I'm having a problem with my snake. She's 5 years old and only 300 grams i feed her every week large mice should i go to the vet?

[dr del]

Hey about the parasites I'm having a problem with my snake. She's 5 years old and only 300 grams i feed her every week large mice should i go to the vet?

I would.

I would also review the husbandry and make sure everything is setup right and maybe even try her on weaner rats.

Have you had her for 5 years or did someone give you the age when you got her?

[Domenic]

Thanks! I just scheduled an appointment. I got her from pets mart as a 2 month year old. I think she was taken from the wild so theres a pretty good chance she could have one.