Parasites... Again...?

RandyRhoads · 06-12-13, 08:42 AM

I'm confused at how this may have happened. It's been a good number of months since I received a clean bill of health and negative fecal sample for my c. oreganus. Last night it pooped a big watery poo with some blood and a bunch of possible eggs ( they look like big granules or sand ). Up until last night they were all normal with no signs of anything. What could be going on, or caused this?

bcr229 · 06-12-13, 09:34 AM

Urates in it also, perhaps?

Will0W783 · 06-12-13, 09:48 AM

You need to have a fecal sample run again, to be safe. Honestly that does not sound good at all. Have you brought any new snakes in since the Oreganus received a clean bill of health? If you can email me a picture of the poop I can try to help you further, but I would be concerned about parasites again.

I can't remember how you've been housing them, but the most likely scenario is that parasite eggs remained in the enclosure and reinfected the snake. This is why it's vital to sterilize enclosures frequently when you are deworming animals. How often did you change substrate while you were treating the animal?

RandyRhoads · 06-12-13, 10:50 AM

I have a video of it ill upload hen I get home from work. I house them on newspaper. Sterilized completely with bleach while treating and changed paper immediately after defication. I have had absolutely no new snakes or even contact with anyone else with snakes.

Should I start another fenbendazole treatment or wait for the fecal test?
What a bummer....

Will0W783 · 06-12-13, 11:16 AM

I'm not sure about whether to start fenbendazole or not. It's rough on crotalids.

Will0W783 · 06-12-13, 11:18 AM

It's the blood in the fecal matter that I find most concerning. A bit of worms can be handled by the snake's system short term, but if there was blood in the feces it suggests that there is intestinal or rectal hemorrhaging, which is not good. I'm so sorry Randy. My advice would be to get another fecal test done ASAP. Hopefully that will give you more to go on- remember that fenbendazole does not kill ALL types of internal parasites. Sometimes you might need Flagyl or another type of dewormer. Keep me posted, and best of luck. I'll be rooting for you and your snakes.

RandyRhoads · 06-12-13, 02:00 PM

Thanks. I think I'm going I start treatment. Got off the phone with the vet and they said it being from last night is too late. Who knows when I can get the next one in within hours. Makes me wonder if the last one really was even negative. I'm sure it was more than 24 hours old and he said that was fine.

Funny last night I wa just admiring how beautiful and healthy they looked. Then it pooped ..

Ahh the joys of WC snakes...

Will0W783 · 06-13-13, 10:22 AM

I'm sorry Randy....wild caught snakes are tough to acclimate. I'm currently dealing with 4 fresh imports I got from my mentor. One of them is not regularly eating on his own and requires force-feeding every several feedings to get the dewormer into him.

When dealing with fecal samples, if you collect it from the snake's cage shortly after it was pooped out (i.e. the sample is still nice and wet) and place it in a Ziploc baggie with a few teaspoons of clean water. Put it in the fridge and you should have a few days to get it to the vet. You have to get the sample from the snake pretty quickly though. If it dries up, the parasites will die or leave the poop and the sample will give a false negative.