There is no absolute preventative for Crypto and it is not considered treatable in reptiles. Though there have been cases in which it appeared that the animal was able to survive and probably became a carrier of crypto and would have bouts now and then, probably at times of stress, where symptoms would appear and then subside again. There is some information out there that hyper immune (to crypto) bovine colostrum could be a treatment but you cannot get it anywhere as it is cost prohibitive to produce for treatment in reptiles. Some have suggested freezing the Anolis before feeding could help but there have been no studies indicating that this is a method that works.

A recent paper by Xiao et. al. 2004 found that there are a number of different species of Cryptosporidium found in reptiles. They also commonly found C. parvum regularly in the study, which is a mammalian crypto and came from the mice they consume, though the species do no cross into cold blooded species from their warm blooded counterparts.

So, it may be that some species, like Euphlebaris macularius, live with them in their guts normally but when transferred to another reptile, like a snake consuming them, they might become infectious. This is all undocumented though but just some thoughts on my part.

So to make a long answer longer, there is no way to guarantee that you couldn't pass along crypto to a new set of snakes, though there is also no way to absolutely say that is what killed your first group without a necropsy either.

Brian Aucone

[ Show Entire Thread ]