I really don't think "shotgunning" is a good approach...

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Posted by oldherper on April 16, 2003 at 08:40:35:

In Reply to: Medicating? posted by HerperNate on April 15, 2003 at 11:08:20:

If you are talking about fresh wild-caught imports, then yes...you may want to just treat them all when they come in. Imports, especially from tropical climes such as Southeast Asia, tropical Africa, South America, etc., tend to be living courses in Parasitology when they come in. But even so, they should be quarantined and screened by a vet before they are added to the collection.

If you are talking about established members of your collection and the prospect of treating them at particular intervals as a prophylactic measure, I don't really think that's a good protocol. I think a better approach is to screen certain animals on a regular schedule. By that, I mean pick an animal in your collection and take a fecal sample to your vet for analysis. Then, if there is some pathogen or parasite present, if can be specifically identified and a specific med administered for it. Panacure is commonly used as a vermifuge in reptiles and Flagyl to treat protozoan, amoebic or flagellate infections. However, there are some of these pathogens, sometimes found in reptiles, against which the above mentioned medications have no titer. One of the meds used in that case is Ivermectin. However, you have to remember that these preparations are all toxic to one degree or another to the host animal (the animal you are treating). Ivermectin, for instance can be deadly to some species, notably Drymarchon. Dosing is relatively critical in all cases and is especially difficult in smaller specimens. For instance, if the recommended dosage for a preparation is 1 mg per kg of body weight and the preparation comes in a strength of 10 mg per ml, and you have a snake that weight 40 grams, would you be able to accurately dose the animal?

Snakes are essentially gut-sterile at hatching. They pick up internal parasites mostly from wild food items. So, if you have a collection of captive born animals and you feed them food animals that are raised in parasite-free environments, then you should never really have a parasite problem. Same for mites and other external parasites. They would have to come in on new animals added to the collection. A reasonable quarantine procedure will alleviate that problem. One pathogen that comes to mind as particularly troublesome and easy to spread is Cyclosporidium, especially in Boids. Others are Inclusion Body Disease (also mainly in boids) and certain other viruses. In the case of viral infection, there is no antibiotic or other medicine that is effective in curing the disease. Unfortunately, normally destruction of the infected animals is the only effective measure in preventing the spread to other collections or others in the collection.

The best preventative measures you have for remaining parasite free are:

1. Buy captive born animals from reputable breeders where possible. If you must obtain a wild-caught animal, quarantine it.

2. Your eyes. Watch your animals and observe for changes in behavior, changes in defecation and consistency of the feces, changes in feeding habits, evidence of external parisites.

3. Maintain clean cages. Disinfect when you clean your cages.

4. Wash your hands. That may sound simplistic, but it may be the most important aspect of preventing the spread of disease within a collection. We are the biggest vector in our collections for parasitic infections. I keep bottles of Germ-X all over my snake room. Before I move from one cage to another, I use some of it.

:Does anyone regularly medicate to prevent parasites or any other reasons? If so, what do you do (what medicine and dosage) and what is your prefered method of dosing?

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