Reptile & Amphibian Forums

No, my snake isn't sick.

I'm a college student, and right now I am taking a microbiology course. My professor made a remark one day in lecture that I found interesting, and I wanted to see what anyone else here might know about this.

My professor told us a story about how he had visited a zoo to collect some feces from a Boa constrictor from which he had hoped to culture out some Salmonella bacteria. To his utter delight, he explained that he was unable to culture out any Salmonella, but rather grew several large colonies of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria. He rattled off several characteristics of these microbes, which I can't remember well enough now to repeat, but one of the things he said about these bacteria suggested to me that they could be a common culprit of RI's in Boas.

I thought that was pretty interesting since RI's seem to be the most common complaint for boids in captivity. Especially with this species of bacteria living in the boa's gut without causing its host any problems. It suggests to me that bacterial RI's may be just as much an issue of hygiene as they are of temp & humidity.

Anybody else know anything about this? I'd love to hear it! I am thinking about writing my term paper for the course on this relationship.

~Rebecca
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1.0.0 Dumeril's Boa '04
1.1.1 Ball Pythons
[1.0.0 '05 Orange Hypo (Specter)]
[0.1.0 '05 Het Orange Hypo (Sylvia)]
[0.0.1 '03 Normal (Sue)]
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)

It has been found with several studies over the last 20 years or so that Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a very common bacterial isolate from over 90% of captive collections of boids that were sampled. Additionally, it was also found that something like 99% of all throat swabs from captive pythons tested positive for P. aeruginosa, whereas less than a third of wild caught specimens tested positive. It is a pathogenic species of gram negative bacteria that is difficult to control under disease conditions, as it shows resistance to many classes of antibiotics. Your professor is correct in that it is probably one of the main organisms responsible for RI in boids.

Seeing that the vast majority of captive specimens are carriers, it appears that it only becomes infective under conditions of stress, as most captive specimens are able to keep it in check with un-compromised immune systems. Obvious stressors to captive snakes include sub-optimal temperature regimes or humidity, inadequate hiding areas, excessive handling, crowding and incompatibility of specimens, inadequate diet and clean water, injuries, unsanitary conditions, etc. Inadequate hygiene could be a factor, but is probably not a major factor in RI incidents. I say this because most cases of RI show up in boids that are being kept in relatively sanitary conditions, as even in clean conditions, they all appear to be carriers. While all of the above stressors can initiate the onset of an RI, I believe the majority of cases are from stress issues caused by sub-optimal temps and humidity. Antibody response in reptiles is temperature dependent. Sub-optimal temps can readily compromise the immune system of captive boids, and low humidity, especially in winter months, dries and damages lung tissue and exposes it to infection by already existing organisms.

I strongly agree that this would be an excellent topic for a term paper.

Kelly

It's nice to see minds that work. Been doing boas since 74. Check out what heat does to problem.

You said "It has been found with several studies over the last 20 years or so that Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a very common bacterial isolate from over 90% of captive collections of boids that were sampled. Additionally, it was also found that something like 99% of all throat swabs from captive pythons tested positive for P. aeruginosa, whereas less than a third of wild caught specimens tested positive. It is a pathogenic species of gram negative bacteria that is difficult to control under disease conditions, as it shows resistance to many classes of antibiotics."

Could you elaborate on your statistics quoted?

Are the first stats related to P. aeruginosa found in the boa at all - i.e. in feces - or just in the respiratory tissues? Were the sampled boas all in good health?

Are the second stats referring to swabs from only healthy boas, only sick boas, or a mix of both?

Thanks, your response was intriguing.

~Rebecca

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1.0.0 Dumeril's Boa '04
1.1.1 Ball Pythons
[1.0.0 '05 Orange Hypo (Specter)]
[0.1.0 '05 Het Orange Hypo (Sylvia)]
[0.0.1 '03 Normal (Sue)]
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)