Precautionary dewormings

[Armiyana]

Hello all~

A couple of months ago, I lost one of my favorite snakes. His diagnosis prior to death was flagellated protozoa. He passed less then a week later and the necropsy revealed necrotizing colitis and bacteria.

I've been raising my own feeders, so I'm concerned that they are the carriers. I've made sure to freeze off any of the ones I euthanize for feeders since. Going to do a round of dewormings on them. I've been keeping an eye on my collection of reptiles as well.

There haven't been any other snakes with symptoms like my male. The last female I paired him with has just laid eggs yesterday, so now that she's done I've been thinking of deworming her.

He could have been a case of a poor immune system or some underlying autoimmune issue... But I'm thinking of treating my collection with panacur/Fenbendazole just in case.
I know how much they hate being wrestled for it, so I wanted to see what others thought about injecting the medication subcutaneously into a small prey item before feeding it to them? I know a couple of my younger snakes would have no problem taking 3 very small meals in a row. I feel like this would be the best way to get the snake to take the proper dose with the least amount of stress.
Has anyone had to do this before? Or am I possibly overthinking and just treating the rats should be enough?

[Bogertophis]

I'm so sorry for your untimely loss.

I've always done it that way- put the med into the feeders- easy & no stress. And in the past, I have treated new snakes preemptively with Panacur with no harm & good results. It's very safe when used as directed.

[Armiyana]

It's rough. He was my first fancy male BP. And a total sweetheart.
I actually have a niece of his being delivered tomorrow. I purchased her before he passed. She looks nothing like him. Lol.
And I'm really hoping that one of these 3 eggs here is a little enchi crystal like him at the least. A boy would be even better.
I still have 2 of his daughters from 2 years ago as well. So I have a little part of him still!

The wrestling for meds is so frustrating on both sides. So anything to make it less stressful will be great. And so far everyone (aside from currently gravid gals or the 2 I just got eggs from) is still eating well.
I had one girl regurge... Which was a bit odd as I haven't had one in years. But I'm hoping it was just a fluke. She's thick and happy otherwise.

[Bogertophis]

I wish you every success, truly. You deserve it.

[Malum Argenteum]

Terminological point: this isn't deworming.

Some questions: Was the parasite identified to species or genus? Might be worth figuring out if it is actually carried by rodents. Also might be worth some screening of both rodents and snakes.

Was fenbendazole the drug recommended by the vet? Why not metronidazole?

A comment: since (most? all? the interesting ones here, at least) protozoans have a direct life cycle, general biosecurity is going to be pretty important -- wash hands between handling snakes, disinfect bowls and enclosures, etc. Even hindsight things like looking closely at QT procedures. Probably this is obvious, but worth mentioning anyway.

I have never dosed in the ways you're describing, but as long as you are certain that the snake will eat the dosed prey items it would be a great delivery method. If you're using Pancur paste, injecting SQ might be difficult (needle clog). You might consider using an oral dosing needle to fill the prey item's stomach through the mouth.

I agree that Panacur is really safe, and shotgunning it isn't too problematic. I'd personally try to get very clear on whether it is going to be effective, though, in order to know how much confidence to have in the shotgunning procedure.

[Armiyana]

It was the medication recommended by the vet. And it looked to be effective because at the time of the necropsy, which was after 4 doses, there were no parasites to be found in the small intestine sample or the colon sample sent to the lab for further testing after the gross necropsy. The sample they were IDed in was a fresh one from the snake during his initial exam.
The vet themselves is the major exotic specialist in the area. Just a bit of a drive.

I have powdered fenbendazole on hand currently, so it's just a matter dosage calculations and of mixing it with some sterile saline before injection into the prey.

It's been a wild couple of months here so I hadn't scraped up poop to get tested from the rats. Honestly though, it's not bad just to do since panacur is such a safe med, I just wouldn't euthanize any for feeding for at least 2 weeks after they're treated. Which will take time anyway. The reason I even have the powder on hand is because of kitten rescues and an opossum rescues they all get treated regardless when I have them. I just never really thought about treating my initial rat colony. Which is kinda dumb in hindsight.

The BPs... It difficult finding poop they haven't just plopped on the heat pad that is still viable to send in the cases of the girls my male was with that were moved to quarantine.

[Armiyana]

And yeah... Technically it's not deworming. But it's habit from when I was working vet tech and even the vet hospital we went to still termed it deworming even though it's technically antiparasitic.

Also, Panacur is effective on some species of protozoa. It's used to treat giardia and it this particular vet's treatment of choice for it. Much easier to work with than flagyl