WHAT is this horrid mess?!?

Ok heres something I have experience with :D:D

It is a tape worm. Me and Adam had to do some research on them when one of my CH girls did the same thing some months back. I had one of my girls treated and was told by my vet that

1: They are not caught from feeders. The worm that infest mammals is different than that which infest fish, turtles, and reptiles and are not inter species exchangeable.

2: They are not harmful to humans, just gross

3: They are transfered buy direct contact with feces that carries the parasite eggs. I.E housing animals in one tank and they get on each others poop.

4: These tape worms match their hosts metabolism so for them to present themselves in the feces means the snake has been infested for some time. (bet this was one of your best feeders, never missed a meal but never really gains any weight. Mine was)

5: QT till treatment is done

6: your vet will do a probe kind deal and remove as much of the worm as he can then give an oral wormer. You'll have two rounds of wormer and loads of pooping this gross snot looking stuff out. And one hungry snake when its done

I think I got it all Any specific questions I will try and help!!!!!

sounds like great fun! well, this girl came to me shipped in the same bag with 2 other snakes so i guess i can go ahead and treat them too--same source, same bag...yeah. what about the rest of my collection? these girls live in the same room and rack system as the rest of my snakes do at this point (got them almost a year ago). would it be adviseable to treat all the snakes or perhaps take a few random fecal samples in for testing?

in any case, we are off to the vet in a few minutes. hopefully he can advise.

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Originally Posted by mlededee

sounds like great fun! well, this girl came to me shipped in the same bag with 2 other snakes so i guess i can go ahead and treat them too--same source, same bag...yeah. what about the rest of my collection? these girls live in the same room and rack system as the rest of my snakes do at this point (got them almost a year ago). would it be adviseable to treat all the snakes or perhaps take a few random fecal samples in for testing?

in any case, we are off to the vet in a few minutes. hopefully he can advise.

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From what I was told the rest of your collection should be fine. It is passed by poop to snake contact, feeding in an infected poop covered tank ect. Some how the egg or a segment got in or around the snakes mouth. But if you want to take a couple of samples to be sure to calm your nerves.

I would have the other two treat with out a doubt. !!!

Best of luck let me know how it turns out. :D

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

1: They are not caught from feeders. The worm that infest mammals is different than that which infest fish, turtles, and reptiles and are not inter species exchangeable.

2: They are not harmful to humans, just gross

3: They are transfered buy direct contact with feces that carries the parasite eggs. I.E housing animals in one tank and they get on each others poop.

4: These tape worms match their hosts metabolism so for them to present themselves in the feces means the snake has been infested for some time. (bet this was one of your best feeders, never missed a meal but never really gains any weight. Mine was)

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This isn't quite accurate. The vast majority of tapeworms are required by their lifecycle to move from one species to another.

For example the common dog tapeworm passes through an insect (the flea) before it infects the dog.

In all the species I can find, none are directly transmissable between hosts of the same species.

An example of a single species that infects mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and crustaceans:

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SPIROMETRA MANSONOIDES

S. mansonoides more commonly infects cats and bobcats, but can also infect dogs and raccoons. Its life cycle and eggs are very similar to Diphyllobothrium. It is found in the southern United States in Florida and along the Gulf Coast.

What is the life cycle of S. mansonoides?

The adult worms, which are around 25 cm in length, are found in the small intestine of the definitive host. As with D. latum, eggs are discharged through a small 'uterine pore' in each segment.

After the eggs are passed, and become infective, they are eaten by the first intermediate hosts which are copepods, a type of freshwater crustacean. The S. mansonoides embryos develop into second stage larvae inside the copepods.

The copepods are eaten by birds, snakes, reptiles, amphibians, or rodents. The third stage S. mansonoides larvae develop in these second intermediate hosts. Definitive hosts become infected by eating the infected snakes, rodents, or other second intermediate host.

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It is not only logical, but extremely probable that ball pythons in the wild acquire tapeworms through prey. It is unlikely that those species of tapeworms are found in captive-bred prey sources.

;)

Well just passing on what I was told good to know. :D

great info people!!!

let us know how it turns out!!

okay, well back from the vet with less than happy results. :( the nasty thing in the photo is a tapeworm. the vet was rather impressed by it and told me that it is quite uncommon that snakes actually expel a tapeworm like that and that it had to have been caused by something else or some other irritation.

so onto the fecal, which confirmed the tapeworm and also strongyloides. i got to view both under the microscope (i love my vet). then he showed me the heavy infestation of coccidia on the slide. COCCIDIA! (so now i'm flaming mad.) he said that the coccidia would have caused irritation to the tapeworm causing it to come out like it did and that he was concerned by the large number of them present in the fecal sample.

the vet wanted to know where i got the snake and if it was from a place that buys wholesale and resells wild caught or large numbers of snakes... well, unfortunately yes she did. the snake came from ed clark along with several others in a trade deal i did with him about a year ago. at the time i was not aware that he resold or did wholesaling and was told that he produced these snakes himself (maybe he did, who knows?). when talking to me about his snakes he said, "all my stuff is as clean as you will find," and at the time i had no reason not to believe him. i never had a fecal done on the snakes i received from him as i trusted him. i have had several fecals done on other snakes since then, all of which were clean. the vet said that since i practice good husbandry and don't share prey items or house snakes together that my other snakes should be okay, however, i will be taking random fecal samples in for testing for the next few weeks as i can get them.

i got panacur for the tapeworms and strongyloides and albon for the coccidia and will be treating all of the snakes that came from ed. if any of the other fecals test positive those snakes will receive the same treatment regimen.

let this be a lesson to us all, to be extremely picky about the source of our animals and to have fecals done no matter how much you trust(ed) the source. these girls all eat great but are on the small side for their age and now i know why. i feel like i have neglected them for not having found this and treated them sooner. be careful, be aware, and be responsible for your animals' welfare!

Wow... :omg:

atleast you know the cause and the course of treatment from here on out! Hope those worms decide to take off pretty soon and the treatment goes as planned!

Em,

While it may seem extreme to some, I would post this on the BOI. Those girls have obviously had this condition for some time to be that infested. You don't necessarily have to make a 'bad guy' thread, but it might be nice to get the information out there... just so people are aware.

Have you checked in with Ed about it??? I'd be curious to see what he has to say.