My two kings had fecals today and there were nematodes present in the samples. I've read some conflicting emails here regarding nematodes. Can someone summarize please?



The snakes act normal, feed well, and shed OK. BTW, one eats live pinkies and other live adult mice. However I became suspicious because my little guy wasn't putting on much weight, which made me wonder and eventually take him to the vet today when he was diagnosed with nematodes.



The vet is giving the snakes an oral dosage of something once a week for two consecutive weeks. Yet I'd like to learn from other people's experience who've encountered nematodes in their snakes.



Are nematodes harmful to snakes? I read they frequently come from live food, pass through, and do not harm the snake because the nematodes need an intermediary host to reproduce.



What type of precautions should I take - just common sense cleaning or do I need to throw their tanks away and start over?



Do I need to be concerned about becoming infected myself - assuming I take all the common sense precautions.



Should I try (again) to get them to switch to f/t instead of live to prevent future parasite problems?



Thank you, Tom

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