Reptile & Amphibian Forums

One of my eastern hognosed snakes recently died quite suddenly. I noticed he had died with his mouth open, and when I looked inside, there were all of these tiny worm-like things crawling around in his throat and mouth. They were kind of transparent pink looking with brownish-black in their midsections. He was wild caught, and I had him in with my other hog and I'm worried that she might have them now too. Does anyone have a clue as to what they might be and how I can get rid of them? Any help will be greatly appreciated!

~Shawna

Hi there,

I'm not exactly sure what type of parasite was infecting your snake, however roundworms are very common internal parasites of wild caught specimens. However, since you mentioned that you kept your snakes together there could definately be a possibility of cross infection. I think you should take a fecal sample to your vet ASAP, or even better take your snake to the vet for examination just in case. It would be terrible to lose two pets to something that can be easily treated.
Hope this helped,
Erin AHT, VT

I did take the dead snake to the vet to see if they could just identify the parasite for me, but they wouldn't even look at the snake without a $50 deposit. I'm a broke college student, and I don't currently have a job because I'm busy with school, so I wasn't about to pay $50 for a dead snake. However, I am willing to pay to save the snake that is still alive, I just have a very limited budget. I can't help but wonder, if I'd had a cute little furry puppy dog, maybe they would have taken a look for free. Oh well...thanks for your help!

~Shawna

I doubt it. The only time vets tend to do a free necropsy themselves is if they have something to learn from it. I'm not sure what was offered but if samples were to be sent to a pathology lab or the necropsy was to be done at the lab then it makes sense to at least ask for a deposit. Even then, $50 would be quite a risk since the clinic would be out more then that if you walked without paying the rest.

It makes sense to concentrate your limited funds on the snakes that remain alive. In the future ask your veterinarian about pet insurance; it isn't all that expensive and really comes in handy when it is needed.

Hi again!
Vet care can be costly, however a simple inhouse fecal can be run for about $15-25 (and if your vet wants to charge more for that, then you are being ripped off, so shop around). All you have to do is take in a fresh fecal sample to them. Of course, if any parisite eggs are found, you would have to pay for the drugs to treat it....but they shouldn't be too costly.
Parasites will not go away on there own once they have established themselves in the host.

EVH

those are flukes or blood worms very common because hoggies are toad eaters and toads cary them easily treated ,,very contagious have any/all snakes in your collection tested and or treated good luck,,,,,,thomas davis

The above is excellent advice. It is always advisable to deworm your pets; especially when wild caught or exposed to such. Without seeing the worms it is hard to tell what they are, although upon death it is rare that intestinal worms would be found in the mouth. Is it possible that these are maggots and unrelated to the snakes death? Just a thought, and impossible to tell of course without a picture of the worms.

They weren't maggots or any kind of carrion eating pests because he hadn't been dead for very long when I had found him. Infact, that was the first thing that came to my mind too. I would post a picture but my other computer with all of the photo stuff crashed. Thanks for your help.

~Shawna

Do they always cause death? What kind of de-wormers would you recommend? I've heard that horse wormers will do the trick, but I'm afraid of overdosing. Thanks a bunch.

~Shawna

Even if it is the same drug stay away from horse dewormer. The risk of overdose is Extremely high. Phone your vet and see if you can get a proper concentration of dewormer. I also agree with Kelly H. that these parasites aren't often a cause of death in healthy animals and that if flukes, will not directly transfer to your other snakes.

Yeah, it doesn't seem to make much sense to use a wormer meant for such a large animal on such a small animal. I ordered the snake (my recently deceased snake) from a guy from New Jersey. He seemed like he hadn't been fed in quite some time, but even after the several times I had fed him, he never seemed to bounce back. He just kept going down hill. He was supposedly a long term captive, so a combination of stress and a variety of parasites probably killed him.

~Shawna

From your description they definitely sound like flukes (trematodes), but it is impossible to be 100% without seeing them. If they are flukes, your other snakes are not in jeopardy as flukes require an intermediate host or hosts, and cannot be passed to another snake directly. To be infected, the other snakes in your collection would either need to be wild caught also or feeding on the same fluke infected food source as the hognose. Fluke infestations are not typically fatal unless the infection is heavy or the snake is under stress. Treatment is Droncit (praziquantel) at 6 mg/kg at 2 doses 2 weeks apart.

Kelly

I'll keep an eye on her. As far as I can tell, she doesn't seem to have them. I think I may look at a fecal sample under a microscope though. I'll keep that treatment in mind. Thanks a bunch!

~Shawna