>> when i examined the mass it was moving and looked like a tape worm. it was long segmented and white. it was flat in appearence not round. it came from one of my snakes that is still on live sm rats. weight is good, gaining with each weighing.i did recently switch my source for the live rats. could the worms have come from the rats. i feed frozen to all my other snakes.
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>> spider


Sounds like a tape worm, but it's likely the snake has been infected long before the switch in food sources and is just now at the point of showing the results of the parasite. I have a bp that I have had a couple years now (it was 10 years old when I got it) and only last year began showing signs of a tapeworm infestation (it was soon after laying a clutch of infertile eggs)... I noticed she wasn't regaining weight like she should have. The stress from the egg laying process probably caused a resident tapeworm to get an upper hand.

This snake tested clean in a fecal check when I first got her and still tested clean when I saw very obvious tape worm segments in the stool surface. Fecal floats dont always show tapeworm eggs so it's easy for a vet to say a snake is clean. visible segments in the stool dessicate quickly and by the time the vet got the fecal sample (the day after I took it in as he was off that day), he couldn't see them so of course between that lack of visible proof and no eggs in the float... he pronounced the snake clean and would not prescribe tapeworm meds to me and charged me a lot of money for nothing.

Panacur can be had over the counter, but it's not for treating tapeworms.. it's for roundworms. Panacur sometimes help reduce or clean up a tapeworm load but it's not 100% guaranteed. I've been treating the snake the last few months with panacur. It's helped reduced the load of segments I see in the stool, but I am still seeing segments here and there so I know the panacur isn't being all that helpful.

Frozen food versus live food is no guarantee to be tapeworm free either. Freezing doesn't always kill off all parasites.
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PHWyvern

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