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"Epilogue"

Yes - very helpful!

I researched it a bit a few years ago when I first got some. I remember all of the anti bug and anti parasite info, but don't remember reading about it possibly being useful in just general detox - and even possibly lowering cholesterol and BP. I don't remember reading about the additional positive / negative ion charges being another benefit. I guess I was more focused on roaches and mites, lol! Might be worth taking a second look and using it for more than just bug control.
 
I'll bet that there is a lot of roughage (plant matter, soil, minerals, silica, etc) in a wild snake's diet due to drinking, constant tongue flicking, the eating process and in the snakes food items themselves that provide a natural sort of cleansing process via the cat-ion exchange capacity that keep parasites like this at bay; if not, snakes wouldn't exist today imo.

I think it is this way for a large majority of the wild animal population even though parasites obviously still exist, but diatomaceous earth would just be taking this to an extreme.
 
Tara80 said:
I'll bet that there is a lot of roughage (plant matter, soil, minerals, silica, etc) in a wild snake's diet due to drinking, constant tongue flicking, the eating process and in the snakes food items themselves that provide a natural sort of cleansing process via the cat-ion exchange capacity that keep parasites like this at bay; if not, snakes wouldn't exist today imo.
Click to expand...

One of the major reasons for parasites being kept at bay in the wild is simply because snakes have the chance to remove themselves from their immediate surroundings... Crypto has a direct life cycle, and not coming in constant contact with shed occysts goes a LONG way into keeping the infection at bay.

In a viv, they reinfect themselves because they are restricted to the same enclosure and are thus re-exposed repeatedly.
 
Yep! That would be in 'conjunction with'; I was addressing ionic influence in nature specifically. There are millions of little factors that play a role in biology and the earth's ecosystem (I'm sure lots of them we aren't even aware of).
 
Well the Epilogue became a sort of a Prologue... it's always the case I guess.
I'll keep you posted :)
 
Had a very long chat with Pat today, he said that the DE, in theory would work, but would only grab the Crypto when it was shedding. He said it would grab the ones in the lining of the stomach and intestine. He did say he was half way through the trial with one drug and hopefully will be able to relay his results. At this point the best thing we can do is support the Kill Crypto project and hope for the best.

Dave.
 
Just like any parasite though, it has to complete it's life cycle outside of its' hosts' body... That's one of the definitions of parasites, they spend only part of their lives within a host.

Meaning that in order to reproduce, the Occysts need to be shed and re-infect the host.

Technically, if you cut that part of the life cycle, the Crypto inside the host should eventually reach the end of their own cycle, and without Occysts to "continue the work"... the threat will be terminated.
 
I think he's still viewing this as by purely physical/mechanical means. That is not the case with the opposite ionic charges; it works similar to a vacuum - a vacuum that will pick up (and pull out) oppositely charged single celled items and carry it out. Not just pick up what has been shed.
Although, I DO NOT think it would work with just a few feedings. But I do still think that it would work with a few months of feeding.

I plan to take Kathy's idea, as posted earlier and use one of my females who has refused to eat since her brumation shed and give her a slurry of reptaid/repta-boost/DE a little bit every day and see how it may affect her, if at all. That way we can get an idea if DE may have deleterious affects or not. I'm positive that it won't have any negative issues though because a snake's gut works just like most other animals and it's helped poultry, people, dogs, cats.. you name it, for years now.
 
The thing is, it won't catch them all at once. The DE has to be moving past at the right time. Also the possibility of re-infection is very high
 
The Crypto also reproduces more than once during its' life cycle- a regiment of around 60-90 days is needed, I think... maybe not daily application, but bi-daily for that period of time.

Pat also explained to me why he thinks DE won't work... since it is lodged in the intestinal/stomach wall and is therefore relatively protected from anything moving through.

Still, technically speaking, if you eliminate the threat of shed Occysts(the DE basically neutralizes them, not just pulls them out), the snake will outlive the infecting generation of Crypto... theoretically.
 
Of course it won't catch them all at once. As I said above, it will take months. But I believe it will clear the snake out within those months because they will NOT be able to take up residence within that host if it's fed every day and the snake is regularly cleaned.

The product specifically targets and removes protozoa and if it's fed daily, how would this not be beneficial? Not only that, but if you keep up their immunity with reptaid/repta-boost, the snake may be able to eliminate any residual within the system on their own.
 
I'd be wary of feeding the DE every day, personally, simply because snakes just don't eat every day and their digestive systems reflect that. Maybe the slurry given weekly for 6 months would be a good compromise?
 
It really depends on the dosage.
I am more inclined towards twice a week than just once a week... The parasite keeps on reproducing during that time and a whole weeks seems like a long while to allow it to regenerate its' numbers.
 
diamondlil said:
I'd be wary of feeding the DE every day, personally, simply because snakes just don't eat every day and their digestive systems reflect that. Maybe the slurry given weekly for 6 months would be a good compromise?
Click to expand...

Very true Janine, I've been debating this fact with myself too. I was thinking of basically tube feeding a very fine/limited amount mixed with water so their body would view it as being akin to drinking.
 
Yesterday I had a chat with a client of ours at work who is one of the most interesting people I have ever met. He has the largest collection of Tokay morphs in the world and a couple other very high end projects. We were chatting about pro-biotics and such. I mentioned Crypto and we started chatting about DE. He said because it’s a porous material and a very jagged material he would be concerned using it long term, because he thinks it would rip the kidneys, liver, and GI tract to sheds over time. I mentioned that humans take it, and he brought up a very valid point, a human’s GI tract is much larger than a reptiles (duh!) and the effects would be very different.
 
Carinata said:
Yesterday I had a chat with a client of ours at work who is one of the most interesting people I have ever met. He has the largest collection of Tokay morphs in the world and a couple other very high end projects. We were chatting about pro-biotics and such. I mentioned Crypto and we started chatting about DE. He said because it’s a porous material and a very jagged material he would be concerned using it long term, because he thinks it would rip the kidneys, liver, and GI tract to sheds over time. I mentioned that humans take it, and he brought up a very valid point, a human’s GI tract is much larger than a reptiles (duh!) and the effects would be very different.
Click to expand...

It is used for dogs, cats, and if I'm not mistaken, avians.

Again, it's all about the dosage and how diluted a shake you give.
 
Kokopelli said:
It is used for dogs, cats, and if I'm not mistaken, avians.

Again, it's all about the dosage and how diluted a shake you give.
Click to expand...

That's very true, but again, dogs and cats are much larger than reptiles. I think it would do some massive kidney damage long term. It kills things like crypto, when it comes into contact with it because it's so jagged. It's like razor blades. Imagine a small reptile's kidneys having to filter that.
 
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