Rusty, it looks like you posted while I was writing mine up.

I had heard that you DEFINATLY didn't want to use Ivomectin with any type of turtle but have you seen problems with snakes? Do you think it was excess dosing? I get the idea that most of these meds (the common ones, Panacure, Flygil, and Droncit) are very safe at several times the needed dose with the possible exception of Flagyl (was told it could be bad with a gravid female). However I know when we worked with Ivomectin on cattle we where very careful with it so I guess it wouldn't surprise me if it was a little more dangerous. I notice that it's what's in the HeartGuard for dogs and heart worms. At any rate, I got the idea that my vet wasn't using Ivomectin because it didn't seem effective against tapeworms and not for safety reasons but then I'm sure he has very specific doses so maybe the risk is in overdose.

Ironhead,

Lots of people do just treat them blindly and it appears that if your doses are correct or anywhere close to correct you will probably be ok. However, if you only have a small collection and don't strongly suspect parasites (like know that they are imported), and don't already have the medicines then maybe it would be cheaper to start off with the fecals. Maybe do one animal at a time (assuming caged separately) and hopefully you will make it all the way through your group without finding anything.

However, so far I've spent a lot on fecal exams just to learn that even my captive bred animals often have parasites. I'm suspecting feeder rodents and am starting to wonder how common parasites are in commercial rodent colonies and hence in captive bred reptiles. I’ve already heard of a different supplier than mine being rejected as a zoo vender due to endemic parasites in their rodent colony. So far it seems to be a dirty subject that I can't get many to talk about publicly but I did have one large breeder (corn snakes mainly) who seemed to just take parasites as a fact of life and plan on rotating through his colony shot gunning groups ever so often with meds. At least he was treating them, some my just blindly ignore the possibility with captive bred animals. However I'd love to be able to get rid of them all once and for all and be able to confirm a clean colony but am not sure how hard that would be (figure I'd have to breed my own rodents starting with new equipment and certified parasite free lab stock). Apparently it’s not economically feasible to treat an existing rodent colony for all possible parasites.