Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Dusty

I saw a post earlier this year by you about crypto. I guess you mentioned that you had studied it somewhat for your book. My question is this, from what I have read, everyone seems to be fearful of its highly infectious nature and if they have an animal die due to crypto, they throw away their caging. I have read about methods of killing the crypto oocysts such as moist heat (160F+), ammonia solutions for 24 hours, ect. Another probably much more simple method seems to be desiccation. From what I am reading, you can simply put a cage outside in the sun for 1-4 days until all cage material is completely dry and get a 100% success rate in killing crypto oocysts. I myself am always paranoid about crypto especially if I have a snake that ends up getting into a habit of regurgitation. Since the current testing that is available is unreliable, causing the testing to have to be run multiple times in order to rule out crypto, it becomes unpractical(from a cost standpoint) for anyone keeping a breeding colony to be able to test all of their animals for crypto. Animals that have a habit of regurging would therefore need to be isolated from others, but other snakes that are apparently healthy have to be looked at with a cross your fingers attitude since they too could be harboring crypto and could also be infectious to the rest of the colony but one would have no way of knowing without the cost prohibitive testing. Returning back to my question, it seems like the best way to "disinfect" cages as a precaution would not be to throw away cages each time they are cleaned (or even if an animal has been tested positive for crypto) but to simply air dry them for 1-4 days. Here is my source, what do you think or what have you found during your investigation into this topic?

It should be noted that this paper was specific to C. parvum and not C. serpentis
http://www.teagasc.ie/publications/2003/conference

>>I myself am always paranoid about crypto especially if I have a snake that ends up getting into a habit of regurgitation.

"Habits of regurgitation", as you say, have many more common causes than crypto. Insufficient numbers of hiding places and/or incorrect temperatures often lead to regurgitations in captives more often than not. And if a snake regurgitates for any reason, throwing a similar-sized mouse in its cage the next week is almost sure to start that snake down the road of Chronic Regurgitation Syndrome (CRS), which is a veterinarian's way of saying "habits of regurgitation".

Also, I've never heard that testing for Crypto is unreliable. Sure, there may be methods that are better than others, and obvioulsy it depends on which lab is doing the testing. To my knowledge, there are at least four different methods of "testing' for C. serpentis that vary in price. And if you have a snake that you suspect is afflicted with cryptosporidiosis, for any reason, surely that snake is worth the cost of one (or even two) of those tests?

And since the pathway of infection is fecal-to-oral, if a snake is tested positive, then isolate and quarantine said snake from the rest of the collection or have it euthanized.

My method of prevention is something like this: I wear latex gloves and change them often. I won't share food inbetween snakes. I try to keep the snake room and cages as dry and well-ventilated as possible. The water should always be fresh. I use disposable water bowls and change them regularly.

You can do many things...keep the trash can lid securely shut, keep flies out of the snake room, dessicate the cages, soak in ammonia, or whatever...but I wouldn't get paranoid until a snake tests positive.

Basically, just use a constant variety of disinfectants or preventative methods that would keep Cryptosporidium and their spores as unhappy as possible.

It appears that crypto may be a common part of many keepers' captive snakes' intestinal flora. Reportedly, relatively few of the carriers of the pathogen ever become clinically ill. Like many "bugs" that would love to run amuck and kill our snakes, most won't succeed if the snakes are unstressed and happy.

Hope that helps.

DR

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