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A blow I'm not sure I can recover from

Mine were quick also and they tested negative. Turned out it was pneumonia with no bacteria or virus present (also no signs of an RI...no open mouth, no bubbles, no muscous) and a fatty liver (usually present in snakes that don't eat...didn't happen with this one) so we were left with nothing really. Just one of those things that happen. The vet couldn't explain it and that was all the deaths. I just had my high blue line chondro die and I'm planning on necropsying it myself and sending any bad looking organs to the vet for pathology. I've got the specimen jar here. Please let us know what you find if anything.
 
Oren, I am so sorry to hear of your loss.:(
My most sincere condolences.

I know how hard of a blow it must be and do understand how such a loss can make you feel less motivation/resolution. With time, the pain does ease (although you never forget) and a clearer head will come. Thus, regaining your joy of keeping, &/or breeding, these beautiful animals.

RIP Beautiful Phoenix
 
The initial examination is pretty bad.
The Dr. said that things seem pretty conclusive- the stomach was completely blocked and the liver was oily. He explained that in the past when he saw such things, it meant that cryptosporidium was present.

This is a very lacking report- as we speak, Histology tests are being conducted on tissue taken from pretty much every single organ Phoenix had.

The tests are the only true way to confirm or deny Crypto.

It is a less horrible scenario than IBD, but it is still very severe... I will need to check every animal that was in contact with Phoenix if she ends up being Crypto positive.

As if it wasn't bad enough, Phoenix was gravid.
 
That's horrible! I'm so sorry to hear that. Crypto isn't something to fool with either and isn't curable. However, I am of the mind that many reptiles harbor the spores and just don't have anything happen until they are stressed....pregnancy would do it. I'm so sorry.
 
I'm very sorry, Oren! I can tell by the photo of you letting her near your face that you must have been very attached to her. It's hard to type anything comforting enough to take away such a sad loss, but I know the terrible feeling of losing a loving pet. Staying hopeful is the only way to keep going. Best wishes!
 
MegF. said:
That's horrible! I'm so sorry to hear that. Crypto isn't something to fool with either and isn't curable. However, I am of the mind that many reptiles harbor the spores and just don't have anything happen until they are stressed....pregnancy would do it. I'm so sorry.
Click to expand...

That's pretty much a fact.
However, I am not too quick to accept the Crypto theory just yet. Crypto does not kill within 8 or even 24 hours since starting to show symptoms... animals can lose allot of weight and regurgitate... it just never happened... not to her nor to any other snake of mine.

I am waiting for the results.

Thank you everyone for the kind words.
 
It's hard to diagnose either way though. Sometimes even if they showed all the signs of crypto, there will be no spores visible. Hopefully the pathology comes up with a difinitive answer. How nerve wracking!
 
Oren, I was just thinking about this thread. I hope that everything comes back, and that it was nothing contagious.
 
Do you have DNA testing for crypto available there? If that's what it is, and you need to test the rest?
 
I honestly doubt it was crypto. It killed waaaaay to fast for crypto. Please keep us updated, Oren.
 
Nanci said:
Do you have DNA testing for crypto available there? If that's what it is, and you need to test the rest?
Click to expand...

We are quite advanced in that regard- but I believe stool samples are more reliable via acid testing(it is also explained in "Understanding Reptile Parasites").

I will of course need to check every snake that came in contact with her- and continue from there if one or all prove to be positive.

Again, everything happened too fast IMHO to be Crypto... nor has any other snake showed such symptoms here.
 
Sure keeps getting better and better.
Cryptosporidium is the cause of death.
My entire collection is considered infected as far as I am concerned at the moment and I will be sending stool samples of every single snake that was in contact, however brief, with Phoenix- if they too will be positive, I will test the entire collection.

Just bloody terrific.
 
I'm so sorry to hear that, Oren. AFAIK, you need three negative acid fast tests to call it negative. DNA shows up, if it is there, the first time. I require a PCR test for any snakes coming into my collection now. If my vet's phone number or contact info would be helpful, let me know.
 
Kokopelli said:
Sure keeps getting better and better.
Cryptosporidium is the cause of death.
Click to expand...

Oh Oren, I am so sorry to see this.
Was really hoping that Crypto was not the cause.
I pray that the others will test clean.

As Nanci has stated ... With stool samples, you need to have three clean results (taken over time with different fecal samples) to be reasonably sure (perhaps not 100% but, again, reasonably sure) that a snake is Crypto free.
 
We are checking to see the costs of acquiring a lab microscope and perhaps get some fast acid test kits- considering that I have 13 Boas I wish to test and two friends of mine who may have it also have 80 more, it makes more sense to acquire the means to do the test ourselves.
 
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