Floof
New member
We took two of our newest snakes, Srisgrisard (Charcoal corn snake) and Jack (Dumeril's Boa), to the vet yesterday. Srisgrisard was presenting with terrible, smelly diarrhea, an inability to properly digest his food, and poor body condition (that I hadn't noticed when we initially purchased him back in August). Jack was showing neurological problems (rolling on his back and not being able to get up, crawling "weirdly"). When we got to the vet, they both had slightly swollen GI tracts. So, we got bloodwork on Jack and fecals on both of them.
When the vet returned with the results, he was 100% sure Sris has a HEAVY load of Cryptosporidium (concluded through an "acid fast" Cytology). Jack has a gastrointestinal infection and a secondary infection in his liver (the cause of his neurological problems). Jack also tested positive on the Acid Fast for Crypto, but the vet is still sending out a sample to have a PCR done to be 100% sure. If Jack does have crypto, there is some chance it caused the gastrointestinal problems, but I doubt it since Jack started presenting soon (a week) after we got him. Now, Sris and Jack are on a medication for Crypto and Jack is on three others for the gastrointestinal and liver problems. Fuuun! The vet also gave me a (something something) Ammonium compound cleaner to scrub enclosures with (since, apparently, alcohol and bleach don't kill crypto) and some slides to send in fecal samples for any other snakes of concern. We also picked up some hand sanitizer while at the vet that has the proper "ingredients" to kill crypto, and got long, detailed instructions on how to keep this under control.
In other words, I'm not having a good week. Luckily, though, we've caught it early enough to get it under control and the only other snakes showing worrisome symptoms are Jello and Jill, the hatchling corn snake and the female Dumeril's we got at the same expo.
Now, the scary part, is I was only taking Sris in because I was worried about him getting dehydrated and emaciated. I didn't expect anything bad to come out of him, except maybe some super-basic parasite. I almost didn't take him in when the diarrhea stopped for a week... And this is obviously a pre-existing condition, which tells me his former owner knew something was wrong! To some extent, I blame myself.. After all, I was naive enough not to stop and realize that a $50 proven adult male Charcoal het Amel, Anery, Hypo was too good to be true. The breeder will certainly be getting an ear full over this, but I have serious doubts that she'll do anything about it, let alone accept blame... I hate people like that. I hate knowing I've MET people like that. It's disgusting. And a very bad reminder that human beings in general are (mostly) conniving, evil creatures who could care less about what happens to someone else and their animals. It's even worse that this breeder apparently doesn't realize (or care about) the repercussions of her actions. So far, this breeder has cost us at least $200 in vet bills alone... Plus the mental distress and heartache caused to my mother and I, having crypto in the collection, and the physical distress for the snakes and myself while I get to scrub clean 30 enclosures, take fecals from a dozen or so snakes, and wrestle and medicate two unhappy snakes on a daily basis for the next 45 days minimum... Plus medicating any other snakes that get sick. Fuuuuuun! =(
If you haven't figured it out already, I'm quite upset. Not as panicked as I expected to be, but still very upset. You could call it fitting... A terrible end to an already sucky week. Even better, I won't be able to clear out my hatchling rack and sell Lucy until this is under control. While that's something I can deal with, my grandma (who's been pushing me to sell Luc) and my dad (who's been waiting for me to hurry up and sell the hatchlings) won't be the happiest people in the world when they find out.
I hope you all don't mind my rant... I couldn't not share this harrowing experience with my buddies from CS.com! =)
Has anyone else here dealt with crypto?
When the vet returned with the results, he was 100% sure Sris has a HEAVY load of Cryptosporidium (concluded through an "acid fast" Cytology). Jack has a gastrointestinal infection and a secondary infection in his liver (the cause of his neurological problems). Jack also tested positive on the Acid Fast for Crypto, but the vet is still sending out a sample to have a PCR done to be 100% sure. If Jack does have crypto, there is some chance it caused the gastrointestinal problems, but I doubt it since Jack started presenting soon (a week) after we got him. Now, Sris and Jack are on a medication for Crypto and Jack is on three others for the gastrointestinal and liver problems. Fuuun! The vet also gave me a (something something) Ammonium compound cleaner to scrub enclosures with (since, apparently, alcohol and bleach don't kill crypto) and some slides to send in fecal samples for any other snakes of concern. We also picked up some hand sanitizer while at the vet that has the proper "ingredients" to kill crypto, and got long, detailed instructions on how to keep this under control.
In other words, I'm not having a good week. Luckily, though, we've caught it early enough to get it under control and the only other snakes showing worrisome symptoms are Jello and Jill, the hatchling corn snake and the female Dumeril's we got at the same expo.
Now, the scary part, is I was only taking Sris in because I was worried about him getting dehydrated and emaciated. I didn't expect anything bad to come out of him, except maybe some super-basic parasite. I almost didn't take him in when the diarrhea stopped for a week... And this is obviously a pre-existing condition, which tells me his former owner knew something was wrong! To some extent, I blame myself.. After all, I was naive enough not to stop and realize that a $50 proven adult male Charcoal het Amel, Anery, Hypo was too good to be true. The breeder will certainly be getting an ear full over this, but I have serious doubts that she'll do anything about it, let alone accept blame... I hate people like that. I hate knowing I've MET people like that. It's disgusting. And a very bad reminder that human beings in general are (mostly) conniving, evil creatures who could care less about what happens to someone else and their animals. It's even worse that this breeder apparently doesn't realize (or care about) the repercussions of her actions. So far, this breeder has cost us at least $200 in vet bills alone... Plus the mental distress and heartache caused to my mother and I, having crypto in the collection, and the physical distress for the snakes and myself while I get to scrub clean 30 enclosures, take fecals from a dozen or so snakes, and wrestle and medicate two unhappy snakes on a daily basis for the next 45 days minimum... Plus medicating any other snakes that get sick. Fuuuuuun! =(
If you haven't figured it out already, I'm quite upset. Not as panicked as I expected to be, but still very upset. You could call it fitting... A terrible end to an already sucky week. Even better, I won't be able to clear out my hatchling rack and sell Lucy until this is under control. While that's something I can deal with, my grandma (who's been pushing me to sell Luc) and my dad (who's been waiting for me to hurry up and sell the hatchlings) won't be the happiest people in the world when they find out.
I hope you all don't mind my rant... I couldn't not share this harrowing experience with my buddies from CS.com! =)
Has anyone else here dealt with crypto?
