Kokopelli
Resident Boa Fanatic
I from time to time stumble upon keepers' practices and videos on youtube and facebook that make me seriously cringe.
Not everyone had the distinct pleasure of having most of their collection decimated by Cryptosporidium, so it's understandable why I would be a bit more cautious than others... but still, you just wouldn't believe how horribly easy it is to get into trouble with this parasite.
I have since rebuilt my collection(been roughly 2 years since)... actually it's bigger than it's ever been. But I definitely changed the way I handle things.
1- Water dishes are NOT to be transferred between one enclosure to another. Crypto is a parasite that thrives in water.
2- Do NOT wash water dishes with the same cloth/whatever- that's too is a foolproof way to infect your entire collection.
3- No transferring of uneaten food items from one enclosure to the next.
4- No feeding of dead reptiles, or any reptiles, to other living reptiles- this is simply every bacteria and parasite's wet dream. This is a wonderful way to infect your healthy reptile. Kingsnakes might have a strong immune system against such things... logically, but I wouldn't take the risk.
5- Feces are to be handled with gloves and cast away.
6- Get a steamer... they are not uber-expansive and they are one of the only ways to eliminate Crypto occysts. This is not fool-proof... the demand is for 6-9 minutes of exposure to 45-60 degrees(Celsius).
7- Crypto occysts can survive 8 months on dry surfaces, freezing, alcohol, bleach, chlorine... and there's really no treatment for it. Hence the recommendation above, USE IT.
8- Put your feeding tongs in boiling water on occasion. Try to avoid contact between it and the snake's mouth.
I think that all of these are reasonable... there are of course more drastic measures(handle all with single use gloves), use deli cups as water dishes and throw them away and so on.
Hope this helps someone somehow, maybe it'll save someone the trouble of dealing with the damnable thing.
Not everyone had the distinct pleasure of having most of their collection decimated by Cryptosporidium, so it's understandable why I would be a bit more cautious than others... but still, you just wouldn't believe how horribly easy it is to get into trouble with this parasite.
I have since rebuilt my collection(been roughly 2 years since)... actually it's bigger than it's ever been. But I definitely changed the way I handle things.
1- Water dishes are NOT to be transferred between one enclosure to another. Crypto is a parasite that thrives in water.
2- Do NOT wash water dishes with the same cloth/whatever- that's too is a foolproof way to infect your entire collection.
3- No transferring of uneaten food items from one enclosure to the next.
4- No feeding of dead reptiles, or any reptiles, to other living reptiles- this is simply every bacteria and parasite's wet dream. This is a wonderful way to infect your healthy reptile. Kingsnakes might have a strong immune system against such things... logically, but I wouldn't take the risk.
5- Feces are to be handled with gloves and cast away.
6- Get a steamer... they are not uber-expansive and they are one of the only ways to eliminate Crypto occysts. This is not fool-proof... the demand is for 6-9 minutes of exposure to 45-60 degrees(Celsius).
7- Crypto occysts can survive 8 months on dry surfaces, freezing, alcohol, bleach, chlorine... and there's really no treatment for it. Hence the recommendation above, USE IT.
8- Put your feeding tongs in boiling water on occasion. Try to avoid contact between it and the snake's mouth.
I think that all of these are reasonable... there are of course more drastic measures(handle all with single use gloves), use deli cups as water dishes and throw them away and so on.
Hope this helps someone somehow, maybe it'll save someone the trouble of dealing with the damnable thing.
The "B-3" on the other hand used acidified bleach; bleach smells bad enough, acidified bleach is horrendous, even wearing a sealed tyvec and PAPR unit with an awesome HEPA filter. Then again, the smell of autoclave is pretty gross too unless chocolate agar is in it. I'm rambling....