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I have a male Pueblan milk that was purchased about four months ago. Three weeks ago he regurgitated, and then again two weeks ago. On the 16th, he ate a small meal. On the 19th he passed a good solid stool. I performed a direct smear, as well as a float. The float turned up nothing that looked odd or strange. The smear however did. I have some pictures of them posted here:

Parasite slideshow

Please use the link on the page to contact me. I'll also be checking back in here. I do have Klingenberg's book. The closest thing I could determine is on page 57. The stool sample was not more than ten minutes old when I collected it and about fifteen minutes later was examining it.

Not an expert here but since so many others have helped me with parasite IDs I thought I would return the favor...

The pics in the beginning all look like mouse hair.

The only "worm" that you would see at that magnification would be strongyloides. Although the times that I have seen it, they were not moving. Do a search for it on google images and see if they match up.

IMO, the book it self is useless for IDing parasites if you are a newbie, I only use his complementary "reptile parasite identificiation chart and formulary", with color photos. It can be purchased at beanfarm.com.

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"I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully."
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"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)

I am not an expert but the first photos are hair shafts. The "B" nematode looks like strongyloides or a species of hookworm. It is hard to tell in the photo. Nematodes are more easily identified by their mouth and "head" structures, and by the eggs. I am not sure what the "A" structures are, possibly a small coccidia oocyst but that would just be a wild guess at this point. You definitely need to have fecals from this snake checked by a vet. Also, just curious as to what type of floatation procedure you used.

Kelly

Thank you. To answer your question, I performed the float as follows:

I placed a small portion of fecal matter in a vial, filled the vial about half full with sodium nitrate solution (fecasol), stirred to agitate and filled to just barely over the rim of vial with more of the solution, then placed a cover slip over the vial for about ten minutes. Then I placed the cover slip on a slide and examined it under the microscope.

As for the vet, I agree. My vet (the one who sees 'exotics') is only in during the week. I should be able to get in to see him this week.

This will just give me a heads up in knowing a little about what the vet is talking about, and will also help me learn.

Thank you again.

The first slides are rodent hair. The nematode is definitely Strongyloids. You should normally see embryonated ova when you find the worms in a float or smear. However, they can be hard to see without some staining. In your post where you describe your floatation technique, you don't mention staining. The best things I have found for staining fecal floats is either Methylene Blue, Crystal Violet, or Lugol's Solution. The Blue and Violet stains work better on some things than others. The Lugol's Solution seems to do the best job out of the three. There are others you can use, but they tend to be harder for the non-Veterinarian person to find and acquire. Before you agitate your sample, simply add 4 or 5 drops of Lugol's to the sample, then float it. Or, for a direct smear, just add a drop or two to the sample when you mix it with the Fecasol ( I always add a few drops of Fecasol to a smear to thin it a little), then smear the slide. You can also just use Saline for thinning the smear.

The smaller oval shaped items appear to me to be Coccidian oocysts (probably Eimeria sp. Staining with Lugol's will make those show better detail also.

By the way, Lugol's should be available from a Pharmacy. They may have to order it and it may be listed simply as "Strong Iodine Solution". As with any staining agent, don't get it on anything you don't want to examine...it doesn't come out.
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Thanks to all who responded. The medication is working. I followed the dosage reccomendations in Klingenberg's book. for both.