Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Even though I am fairly positive of identification of this particular parasite, I thought it would be beneficial for others to post a good quality photo. The ID was made easy by the double operculated ends.

Another question revolves around the condition of the snake that this parasite was isolated from. It came from a black rat snake I found on the side of a major highway. It was lethargic and very skinny and unable to defend itself. There were no obvious injuries are ectoparasites at all. I took it back, it fed on its own (f/t only) and I left it at that. At the end of October I prophylactically treated this snake and some other newcomers with panacure (100mg/kg) and flagyl PO two weeks apart. Soon after we discovered a lump on the side of its neck that protrudes 2 to 4 mm. Lancing it by the vet found nothing worthwhile. At the same time it was starting to develop an infection of the ventral scales that consumes about a quarter of its venter. I have had it on baytril for about three weeks now.

I finally got a chance to do a fecal float on this individual yesterday, I was surprised by the sheer numbers of ova present on the slide. I have no problems making the claim that there were several thousand ova present on the slide. With my limited experience with parasite identification, this was the most amount of ova I've ever seen on a slide.

Could this parasite be at all related to the lump on its neck, or the ventral infections, aside from the reduced immune system? Despite not testing and then treating for parasites, much less testing for parasites after the treatment, is it unusual to find this many ova from a parasite that is sensitive to a drug that was administered only two months ago?

The post below contains a photo that is a greater size and quality of the same parasite. Both were photographed at 400x.

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...the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

400x

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...the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

Those are some very good photographs. Some of the better or best preps I have seen. Nice work.

Ryan

Thanks, I am extremely happy how most of the photos turn out. I am using a Wolfe microscope from 1980, Fecasol that is at least 5 yrs old, but a good digital camera, an Olympus Camedia. I do not use the macro function or anything, I just put the camera up to the objective lens.
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...the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

You are right on with the diagnosis. I don't think I've ever encountered Hepatic worms in Rat Snakes. They are normally associated with snakes and lizards that eat earthworms. Normally they aren't particularly difficult to eliminate, a course of 2 or 3 treatments (one treatment a week for 2 or 3 weeks)of Panacur is usually sufficient. Maybe this Rat Snake was feeding on frogs or lizards that were eating earthworms?

As far as the ventral dermal infection, is Baytril the right choice? Did you prepare a slide and Gram stain it? Are you using the Baytril PO or IM? I've found that with Baytril, PO absorption doesn't seem to be nearly as good as IM, but it's such a harsh drug that I'd rather not use it IM if I don't have to. I've had good luck with Gram negative rods using Ceftazadime. Amikacin might be another good choice and I think it's less expensive than Ceftazadime (plus, Ceftazadime has to be kept frozen until use). Sometimes with dermal infections like that, you can use Betadine and Siver Sulfadiazine Cream (SSD), or a simple Triple Antibiotic Ointement and forego the internal Antibiotics.

Although we do have other worm eating animals in the collection, I cannot explain how it got this parasite. Frye's vol 1 states that there are few clinical signs of infection, so I'm sure that the ventral infections are unrelated. As a result of your post, I have been motivated to get my own gram stain kit, so I do not have to depend on others for basic diagnostic procedures. We have been using Betadine to help treat the dermal infections, but we have not tried SSD yet. Thanks for the thorough reply!
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...the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

A Gram stain kit certainly makes life easier, but you can do it with common stains and reagents. You need:

Crystal Violet (primary stain)
Iodine Solution (as a Mordant. I use Lugol's)
Ethyl Alcohol (decolorizer)
Safranin (for a counterstain)
Distilled water in a squirt bottle (rinse)
Eyedropper
Clean slides
Slide rack or Staining dish
Clean coverslips

Read the following carefully before you proceed:

Make sure everything is ready to go and handy. You will need to move quickly at some points and if you have to stop to find something, you may ruin your slide. The specimen should be air dried on the slide before you start. Be gentle to avoid agitation and washing the specimen off the slide. Some people do this with a coverslip in place and wick all the stains, rinses, etc., through the specimen with paper towels but I find it very difficult to accurately time the processes this way. It takes a little practice, but after a couple of attempts, you should come up with good slides.

Procedure:

1. Using a slide staining dish or staining rack, flood the slide with Crystal Violet and allow it to stand for about 1 minute.

2. Rinse it with distilled water for 5 seconds. The specimen should be blue-violet colored now.

3. Flood the slide with Iodine Solution. Let it stand about 1 minute, then rinse for 5 seconds with Distilled water. The specimen should still have the blue-violet stain. Now you need to move quickly. Immediately go to step 4.

4. Here is where you have to be careful. You will be decolorizing the Crystal Violet. Too little decolorizing and you will get false Gram indications, too much and you get false Gram- indications. Using a clean eyedropper, add ethanol until the blue violet staing on your slide just disappears, then immediately rinse with distilled water for 5 seconds.

5. Flood the slide with Safranin and let it stand for about 1 minute. Rinse with distilled water for 5 seconds.

6. Air dry and mount a coverslip as per usual.

Gram bacteria will show up Blue-violet
Gram- bacteria will show up pink.

You won't necessarily see both on the same specimen.

>>A Gram stain kit certainly makes life easier, but you can do it with common stains and reagents. You need:
>>
>>Crystal Violet (primary stain)
>>Iodine Solution (as a Mordant. I use Lugol's)
>>Ethyl Alcohol (decolorizer)
>>Safranin (for a counterstain)
>>Distilled water in a squirt bottle (rinse)
>>Eyedropper
>>Clean slides
>>Slide rack or Staining dish
>>Clean coverslips
>>
>>Read the following carefully before you proceed:
>>
>>Make sure everything is ready to go and handy. You will need to move quickly at some points and if you have to stop to find something, you may ruin your slide. The specimen should be air dried on the slide before you start. Be gentle to avoid agitation and washing the specimen off the slide. Some people do this with a coverslip in place and wick all the stains, rinses, etc., through the specimen with paper towels but I find it very difficult to accurately time the processes this way. It takes a little practice, but after a couple of attempts, you should come up with good slides.
>>
>>Procedure:
>>
>>1. Using a slide staining dish or staining rack, flood the slide with Crystal Violet and allow it to stand for about 1 minute.
>>
>>2. Rinse it with distilled water for 5 seconds. The specimen should be blue-violet colored now.
>>
>>3. Flood the slide with Iodine Solution. Let it stand about 1 minute, then rinse for 5 seconds with Distilled water. The specimen should still have the blue-violet stain. Now you need to move quickly. Immediately go to step 4.
>>
>>4. Here is where you have to be careful. You will be decolorizing the Crystal Violet. Too little decolorizing and you will get false Gram indications, too much and you get false Gram- indications. Using a clean eyedropper, add ethanol until the blue violet staing on your slide just disappears, then immediately rinse with distilled water for 5 seconds.
>>
>>5. Flood the slide with Safranin and let it stand for about 1 minute. Rinse with distilled water for 5 seconds.
>>
>>6. Air dry and mount a coverslip as per usual.
>>
>>Gram bacteria will show up Blue-violet
>>Gram- bacteria will show up pink.
>>
>>You won't necessarily see both on the same specimen.
-----
...the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)