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Fecal examination Question

Stephen29

Stephen29

New member
I have a snake that is having some problems. Will go into detail later. I have just collected a fecal exam. Trying to set up an appt with a vet for tommorrow. Not sure if I should freeze the sample or not ? Also will this sample be any good, even if it is a day or so old. Meaning good for examining ? I hope some vet techs are reading this.

thanks for the help.
 
Don't freeze it, put it in the refrigerator, and see if you can drop it off today, even though you're appointment is tomorrow. Otherwise, I've brought in day old fecals and they all still had stuff in them.

Nanci
 
I wouldn't freeze it the fridge would probably be better but I would wait for another opinion on this but freezing might kill anything in it.
 
Well here is my dilema. I have an 03 Amel Stripe female corn that I have been raising up the past few years, in hopes of breeding her to a male of the same type, but a year older.
I have always likes Amel stripes and looked forward to producing some next year.

Well about a few weeks ago I gave this female one last feeding before putting her into brumation. On the record card that I keep for each animal, I have down that I gave her two mice. Usually I just give her one per feeding. But because I wanted to beef her up a little bit, I gave her the extra one. I'm sure they were probably a tad smaller than usual.

Anyway, after TWO FULL WEEKS of digestion I noticed some swelling in her mid section. My first thought was that it might be the mice, but after two full wks in warm temps I thought the mice would be pretty well digested by now. So now I'm not sure what to do, but feel that something is not right. So I hope this is not the dreeded Crypto. This animal has not regurged as far as I can tell. What else could be causing this bulge ? Did I push her too much at the end, trying to get in another mouse ? Could that extra stress have brought this on ? I have reviewed all the records, and it is just very odd , that when I did that LAST FEEDING right before brumation with the extra meal ,that then this happens ! I can't believe it. Everything was fine for OVER TWO YEARS, then the very last meal and BAM, this happens.

I try to keep my cages as clean as I can ; wash the tubs with dish soap, clorox, AND Boiling water each week !!

At first I was reluctant to metion this, because nobody wants to talk about problems or issues that they might have in their collections, or at least I didn't. Especiallly when I have tried to sell animals on here in the past. But the truth is the truth, and I'm trying hard to fix it. I have the sample out in room temp, and will try to get it looked at tommorrow by a vet. Wish me luck.

Will upload pics later. Having trouble doing that right now.
 
Well, good luck at the vet...I can't imagine that it could be worms, by your description. The vet will probably want to do a Grams stain, too, to look for bacteria. For crypto, don't they have to get a gastric lavage, or is that to prove that they don't have it, after being treated...

Nanci
 
Gram staining is a common procedure in the traditional bacteriological laboratory. The technique is used as a tool for the differentiation of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, as a first step to determine the identity of a particular bacterial sample.

Gram stains are performed on body fluid or biopsy when infection is suspected. It yields results much more quickly than culture, and is especially important when infection would make an important difference in the patient's treatment and prognosis.

Gastric lavage is removing stomach contents by sucking or irrigating it out.

Nanci
 
They can do a float test on a fecal to check for parasites, but that is a less specific test. They don't have to do a gastric lavage to check for crypto. They can check for parasites like crypto by doing an acid-fast stain of a fecal sample. They can/may do a gastric lavage if the fecal is not in good enough condition. I have also been told by my vet that they can even use a regurged mouse to test as long as it is found soon after the event because it will generally still be covered in juice from the snakes stomach.

The refrigerator is what I've been recommended to use to store fecals in the past. Also, the fresher the better. If they get dried out and crumbly, they aren't good for testing.
 
Your snake could have worms anyway, not related to the current problem. Of the four I tested, all four had worms. (I didn't do the other three since they were young and small, but their turn is coming.) No one that has been dewormed is ever getting FK again.

Nanci
 
Nanci, I'm assuming FK means fresh killed ? What was the exact procedure for treating the worms ? A shot , meds in the drinking water ? Was it expensive ? How have the animals recovered ?

Thanks for sharing.
 
Yeah, fresh killed. I used to get those to try to tempt feeding strike males into eating. Now I don't bother- they'll eat when they're ready, and not before.

Four of the snakes had Panacur tubed into their stomachs. They got weighed before each dose. They went four weeks in a row. Jake had to go through two treatments (eight visits). Addy had some other kind of worm that she had to get a shot for, twice, two weeks apart. She's the only one that ate amphibians. In her previous wild life. I know Zee ate live mice in his previous life- he came from a place with 800 snakes- they can't do FT. Don't know about Jakey- he's a 2003- who knows what he's been through.

My vet charges $20/snake for each deworming, but he felt sorry for me and did two for one. Some vets do fecals without office visits. The fecal costs $15. They need one before and after. He felt sorry for me again and didn't charge for half of the afters. A Grams stain is about $35. I just went week by week and tried not to think of the total. I think Addy's shots were $20.

Nanci
 
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