internal parasites? I'll know for sure tomorrow...

[nevohraalnavnoj]

Hi everyone, I did a search and found a previous thread about internal parasites. I have some additional questions:

My male 4 month old BP had what looked like a tapeworm outside his feces, so I took it to the vet. The vet wasn't there, so a tech looked at it and said she thought there was "something" in there, but she couldn't be for sure. The vet will call me tomorrow with the official results.

So if it comes back as some type of worm parasite, should I treat my whole collection? They are all separated, but I haven't been using any kind of aseptic technique in between handling them. So they may all very well have it. Do people here worm preventatively when they get a new snake? Should I get a floatation kit and microscope so I can do my own fecals? I have 4 BP's and will be adding about 4 more, so $35 per fecal is going to add up. What type of meds should I keep on hand for the most common parasites and at what doses per gram/kg are they used?

I also have a bearded dragon, should I treat her too? I am ordering "understanding reptile parasites" as we speak.

Thanks!

JonV

[mlededee]

did it look like this?:


that is a tapeworm, expelled by one of my snakes. luckily, they are not easily spread from snake to snake unless the snakes are kept in the same enclosure (they are transferred in via eggs in the feces) or you share prey items (put a live rodent in with one snake, the rat comes in contact with the feces, is not eaten and you give the rat to another snake).

i wouldn't necessarily recommend treating all your snakes as a preventative measure. there is no reason to treat a snake for something it doesn't have. if you suspect they might have something or want to know for peace of mind, just get fecals done on all of them. $35 per fecal is high--perhaps your vet would give you a discount on a group of fecals?

[nevohraalnavnoj]

I remember reading that post regarding the parasite infested snakes from ed clark. yuck.

the stringy things in the fecal did not look anything like that. they were white, no thicker than a piece of fine thread. i was just cleaning my bearded dragons cage and i noticed some white thread things in her feces as well. perhaps i just over reacted and these white thread like things are part of the urates. or perhaps she has something that i gave to the snake as well. i never shared food items/ never shared enclosures or anything like that. so i hope i'm over reacting. I will know for sure tomorrow.

JonV

[Brimstone111888]

You say it is white and very fine? Could it possibly be rodent hair or even partial rodent hair?

[nevohraalnavnoj]

Hi guys and gals, I really need your help deciphering this one/deciding what to do.

I got a message from the vet on my phone saying "There are two types of parasites present in the fecal". After calling back and talking to someone who had no clue what was going on, she managed to track down the vet who did the fecal. Turns out there were two tapeworm eggs present in the fecal (NOT two types of parasites). I asked if these could have been partially digested eggs present in the snakes food, and she said "They are snake-specific tapeworms". Do those even exist?? Now, I am at a loss.

I have seen the facility where these snakes came from, and it is top notch super clean. All snakes are kept separate and well taken care of. My snakes here are kept separate and well taken care of. All my snakes came from the same breeder, at almost the same time, all are captive bred/hatched. It's not like I had some WC bp here infecting everyone.

The vet keeps saying "Bring him in so we can take a look at him". And all they are going to do is look at him, say he looks healthy, and if anything, prescribe some panacur.

Should I
A) just not worry about the possibility of two tapeworm eggs since they were probably from his food.

B) treat him (and other snakes?) with panacur just to be sure

C) wait and get a fecal done on my bearded dragon to see if it's possible if she gave the BP tapeworm?

Any thoughts here would be appreciated. I have 4 BP's, soon to be 8, so taking them all in, getting fecals, exams, and prescriptions from the vet is gonna hurt the bank.

JonV

[nevohraalnavnoj]

You say it is white and very fine? Could it possibly be rodent hair or even partial rodent hair?

The vet called me back and said no tapeworms were present, just two eggs. So that white stringy thing I saw must have been something totally different...maybe just some part of the poo or something. So no worries about that.

[Brimstone111888]

Snake specific means that those type of tape worms they found only live in snakes. So the possibility of it coming form food is out of the question. I would get him treated and let the place where you got him from what you have found. You maybe could get reimbursment for the meds and fecal from the breeder, if they stand behind their snakes.

[mlededee]

reptile specific tapeworms do exist--that is what my snake had, but they can still be transferred via a shared prey item that has come in contact with infected feces or water. if it were me, i'd get fecals done on all of the animals, including the beardie, and treat as necessary. if you absolutely can't afford that, perhaps talk to your vet about treating all of the animals on the basis that the one snake has tapeworms/tapeworm eggs and they all came from the same source. tapeworms aren't transmitted that easily if good husbandry is practiced, but without fecals you really can't know for sure if the rest of your animals have anything or not.

[nevohraalnavnoj]

thanks for the input so far guys. i never shared any prey items, so i would be dang surprised if that's how it occurred. i am gonna get a fecal done on the beardie, and maybe do another bp as well. keep the suggestions coming.

JonV

[nevohraalnavnoj]

okay, just got back from the vet. the fecal says "numerous oval shaped eggs" which it says are roundworms in parenthesis. it also says "one elongated egg" with nematode in parenthesis.

ha! and this cracks me up. they kept telling me how these could not have come from any food source because they are "snake specific" and then it says "tapeworm egg--unable to identify other than tapeworm" Doesn't sound very snake specific.

My thought is to get some deworming pills and treat him myself. I really don't get the impression that anyone there knows what they're doing.

Anyone dewormed snakes before?

JonV