Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a small collection of snakes, mostly colubrids, with a few small pythons and a sand boa. I always quarantine new arrivals for at least 8 weeks before moving them into the collection. I have never done fecal exams with snakes that appeared healthy.

However I just started working for a lab that has all the supplies to do fecal floats, so I decided, what the heck, why not see whats living in my snakes?

I found that all of my snakes had the same interesting ... thing

It is long and threadlike, and under high magnification you can see a line of tiny capsules inside. It almost lookes like a peapod except much longer and thinner. They were unlike any parasite eggs I have ever seen.

I will probobly just take a sample to the vet and treat the whole collection, but I was curious if anyone had any idea what this is?

What you are describing is a very common "pseudo" parasite. A thread of hair. Rodent prey?

It's always fun doing fecals, I'd suggest the helpfull and cheap book, Understanding Reptile Parasites by Dr. Klingenberg.

Ian

That is actually the first thing I thought when I saw them, but then I dismissed it because of the weird internal capsule thingies. I had never seen hair like that.