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

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

did it look like this?:
http://www.cookreptiles.com/photos/bp/grossness.jpg

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?

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

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

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

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brimstone111888

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

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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.

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.

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.

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

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

well now that's totally different from what they told you before. ask them for panacur--that will treat the roundworms. when i had to treat my snakes the dose was 1ml per 1kg of snake, once when you get the medicine and then again in 2 weeks. if you tell them the weight of the snake(s) you want to treat they should be able to tell you the exact dose(s).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mlededee

well now that's totally different from what they told you before. ask them for panacur--that will treat the roundworms. when i had to treat my snakes the dose was 1ml per 1kg of snake, once when you get the medicine and then again in 2 weeks. if you tell them the weight of the snake(s) you want to treat they should be able to tell you the exact dose(s).

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I think I can get panacur online from petmeds.com. Should I go with panacur or this one from petshed.com

http://www.petshed.com/products/category702.asp

Another user had good success with the aformentioned one, as it contains OXANTEL, PYRANTEL, and PRAZIQUANTEL. ?

Thanks,

JonV

i got my panacur straight from my vet, so i really don't know what to tell you about those other meds. you might pm user satanicintention and ask her advice--she's educated in such things. :)

Panacur won't do anything for the tapeworms.

Why don't you want to get the meds from your vet? They aren't expensive whatsoever(maybe the Drontal Plus-praziquantel).

You're going to need to weigh the snakes on a gram scale and get exact weights, calculate their dosages, crush pills up, mix with water, and use a red rubber feeding tube(from the vet) and a 3ml+ syringe, to get it down.

If you had 20 snakes, I might understand where you're coming from financially, but if you have less than 5, I would say just support your vet's business and get the meds from him.

I noticed from one of the original post that the breeder had CB and CH. CH means they came from Africa and were shipped with 100's if not 1,000's of other snakes, so parasites are very possible and not necessarily the breeders fault. treatment is not that expensive and not dangerous to the snakes. I think your vet is the most qualified to perscribed amounts. Just because they found eggs only doesn't mean there isn't a worm in there. They ususally don't come out too easily.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 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

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Why are you doubting the vet so vigorously? They've gone to school for this stuff, just because they dont put the scientific name of the infection on your printout doesnt mean that she doesnt know what she's talking about. If your so interested on prescribing medicine yourself, why not get a second opinion first?

There are alot of different types of tapeworms. You can't expect anyone, even the vet(besides a parasitologist), to know which tapeworm it is. They are all treated the same though, with praziquantel, and the vet will be able to prescribe deworming medication for your snakes.

When doing fecals for hours at a time.. You get an eye for it. But still.. Sometimes it's incredibly hard to determine whether that TEENSY coccidia oocyst is actually a cryptosporidium oocyst.. There are also alot of different types of roundworms, hookworms, and other parasites that can easily be confused with one another.

I would trust your vet. They know what they are doing.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SatanicIntention

There are alot of different types of tapeworms. You can't expect anyone, even the vet(besides a parasitologist), to know which tapeworm it is. They are all treated the same though, with praziquantel, and the vet will be able to prescribe deworming medication for your snakes.

When doing fecals for hours at a time.. You get an eye for it. But still.. Sometimes it's incredibly hard to determine whether that TEENSY coccidia oocyst is actually a cryptosporidium oocyst.. There are also alot of different types of roundworms, hookworms, and other parasites that can easily be confused with one another.

I would trust your vet. They know what they are doing.

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I guess I have gotten a weird vibe from them for two reasons. The first was that one person told me "these are snake specific parasites". And then I looked at the actual sheet from the fecal float and it said "tapeworm eggs-unable to identify further" which didn't sound very snake specific to me. Lots of animals have tapeworms. I had a fecal done on my bearded dragon and a vet tech called me and said "I don't see any thing in there, but that doesn't mean there isn't anything". Well then why did I pay $25 for a fecal?

JonV

I'll make an appointment and take him in.

JonV