Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, here is the deal. I am doing some investigating into crypto. I have kept and bred snakes for the past 15 years. I have always contemplated purchasing much more expensive stock but have always been reluctant to do so for multiple reasons. One reason is because of crypto. I believe it to be extremely undetected in almost every large collection of captive snakes. With the limited information available on crypto and reptiles, I have come to the following conclusions (some of which are assumptions):

There are various species of crypto, but only two species adversely affect reptiles (C. serpentis and C. saurophilum).

Other species of crypto can be found in reptiles that are not harmful to them(C. parvum and C. muris).

A snake can carry the harmful species of crypto for years and even its entire life without it causing harm and so it is therefore not detected in most collections.

The tests that are typically run on reptiles to test for crypto only test for crypto in general and not for the two harmful species of crypto (C. serpentis and C. saurophilum).

A snake that is tested positive for crypto is typically euthanized, even though the species of crypto was never identified and could have been passed through the snakes body through a mouse or other food item that was carrying a species of crypto that does not adversely affect reptiles.

With the above conclusions that I have made, it then becomes very important to determine the species of crypto that a reptile carries if they are tested positive for crypto.

If I am to purchase expensive breeding stock, I want to make sure that my collection starts out and remains free of the harmful species of crypto. I do not want to spend lots of time, effort, and money on a collection to later have to euthanize it because one single animal came with crypto undetected and subsequently infected the rest of my stock. I also do not want to obsess over crypto transmission and wash my hands between handling each and every animal like I hear about some breeders doing. I would like to stop the problem right from the beginning.

My question then is are my above conclusions incorrect? If they are not, then how can one identify the various species of crypto. Can it be done with a microscope? I know that crypto can be detected using Acid Fast stain methods and microscopes with 1000x magnification, but that only shows that crypto is present but not which species are present. I know that there are also ELISA test kits that test for crypto and they are much simpler to use than the stains, but do they tell you what species of crypto was detected if the test shows positive for crypto?

Am I just wasting my time? Should I just do like I assume many of the big time breeders are doing and just live blissfully in ignorance about crypto and accept it as a normal part of dealing with reptiles?

Not trying to offend anyone out there, just trying to come up with some reasoned conclusions.

I prefer to hear from those who have experience as vet techs, veterinarians, professional breeders, or anyone else that feels educated and experienced enough to answer my questions.

PCR can be performed to determine the species of crypto.
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Michael McFadden, M.S., D.V.M.

PCR or polymerase chain reaction is what i think you are talking about, i was involved in some lab work doing this in college, here is the link on Wiki before i go off on a tangent....This is not a cheap or really fast process and finding a place to do it for you wont be all that easy...most PCR capible facilities are more worried about people than animals if i win the lottery, its sooo on, electron microscope, PCR equipment, all sorts of fun things.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymerase_chain_reaction
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To you im just the crazy snake guy, but to some I'm a 'Herper'.

JDM, your assumptions all seem correct to me. However to add a bit, animals that are tested for crypto and subsequently euthanised are generally showing symptoms of disease (cryptosporidiosis). There is a bit of an assumption that the unspeciated crypto found in the stool is the cause of the symptoms, and it is up to the snake owner to feel okay with this assumption. If not, then further tests, like the PCR are done.

Using a microscope is not feasable to screen new animals. It's all to easy to be looking at a slide of poop and see nothing, when the very next slide might be positive. Sporocysts can also be intermittently shed, thus there may be days between positive and negative fecals.
I"m honestly unsure if the ELISA and PCR tests have the same problems or if they are more sensitive. I know in the mammalian world there is always question when a parvo or giardia test comes back negative or positive, but then you also have vaccines messing with it all too.

Anyhow, the main thing is to be sure to have an adequate quarantine time. If you are nervous about pathogens, I'd start with a 6 month quarantine period, though 2-3 months is the usually recommended average. In that time, there will still always be a risk of something carried asymptomatically. There is nothing you can do about this. However the longer and more vigilant the monitoring under quarantine, the better chance you have of catching a bad apple.

Lastly, use good disinfectants and keep everything kitchen clean withen the herp room. While you can be as clean as you can, you have to remember that animals are not sterile in nature. Nor are they unable to fend off invasion from pathogens. An analogy: If you have a snake sitting in feces, it could be sitting in millions of pathogen particles (say, crypto ). It will likely become infected. Now if the snake is sitting in bin that's cleaned and disinfected, it may run into a few crypto pathogens. Afterall, no one is perfect when it comes to cleaning. Well, the snake's immune system will take care of it provided the snake is healthy and kept under appropriate husbandry conditions. Using this analogy, you can see how an infected snake can live all of it's life without becoming sick. The clean environment does not condone the snake continually reinfecting itself. You can also see how a collection can take in an infected animal and not be catastrophic.

Am I downplaying this disease? Perhaps to make a point, but no, it is something to take seriously. Lets face it. Some diseases are nasty (I don't even consider crypto on this list, though it might be a contender). To summarize, I wouldn't concentrate on one particular disease, but put most emphasis on a good, strong quarantine regiment, and then follow up with clean husbandry practices.

I hope this mindrant was helpfull. I think I do it half the time to keep myself from forgetting it all

Ian