Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a very hard luck little Kenyan sand boa who was almost frozen to death while being shipped to me back in February. She (and her two companions) then completely failed to eat, resulting in my having to tube feed them for a while. Now all are eating on their own and I was very happy that they were on the road to recovery. Sand boas are born at 8 grams, and she was down to 4 or 5 grams at one point. She is now up to 10. Anyway, I was holding her on Friday and I noticed a hard little lump on her side about 1/3 of the way down. It's definately right under the skin and can be moved around to a degree. She's still eating quite well. I took her in to the vet and he said he thought the most likely cause was an encysted parasite. That doesn't seem very likely to me, but he's the vet, I guess. He dewormed her and said that he doesn't want to remove whatever it is until she's gained some weight, unless it starts to grow or something of the like. I wish I had gotten a better resolutino, and now I'm worried that an alien will burst out of the cyst and eat the dog. I just wanted to tell the story, but any opinions would be helpful. I'm aware that whatever a lump like that is, it's never anything good.

I wouldn't get overly worried right now if she's still eating well and functioning normally.

The vet may very well be correct. You just don't know what she was exposed to during her time at the dealer's. It's probably nothing life threatening. I've seen all sorts of nematodes and cestodes end up encysted under the skin, even tapeworms. If he wormed her with something like Droncit, it should take care of it. I would prefer to remove it, to keep it from dying and decomposing in there, though. It's really no big deal to remove them and it's not particularly painful to the snake. If it were a soft lump and moveable, I would lean more toward an abcess, probably bacterial in nature.

Sand Boas are pretty tough little critters. She'll probably be fine.

Yeah... it's just, she's a high dollar morph, and one would THINK that a dealer would be a little more careful... anyway...
He dewormed her with, I believe, panacur and flagyl. Would that work too? I guess one little encysted nematode never killed anyone.

Panucur and Flagyl will do nothing for extra-intestinal parasites. Neither of those are effective against cestodes, anyway. It may just be a little caseated cyst. Depending on the bacteria involved, you would treat that by making an incision and removing the cyst, then culturing it and choosing an appropriate antibiotic. Fenbendazole (Panacur) and Metronidazole (Flagyl) are for intestinal parasites and protozoans. Others like flukes and cestodes not in the intestinal tract would call for a drug like Droncit (preferred) or Ivermectin (can be dangerous).

Yup, I double checked, I've got panacur and metro...
Ok... so... the medicine the vet gave us is useless for the problem which he himself diagnosed (he stated very clearly he thought a parasite was the most likely culprit). That's really strange. Man, I was starting to like this one, too. I even requested him. I guess I'll put the medicine on my 'useless medicines' pile, and keep on eye on her while I wait for her to get a little bigger. I think I'd be better off setting my $45 on fire and ask my mom to recommend which herbs are good for encysted nematodes...

See...that's what's odd. How does he know it's a nematode? Did he do a fecal exam? Or was it a guess?

Well... He never did do a fecal. I don't think he said 'nematode'. He just said 'parasite cyst'. But I think he assumed it was some sort of worm based on the 'deworming' she got. I apologize for making it sound like he had identified it any farther than that. At any rate, it was just a guess and the diagnosis is kind of open ended at this point. He could have gotten a fecal easily too. She ate on Saturday and probably just needed a little squeezing. I would have requested one had I known it would help.
But let me try and get this straight... worms that are normally found in the digestive tract can crawl out and form cysts in the skin? I've heard that some of these worms found in skin bumps are transmissible to humans. How much do I have to worry about that? Well, maybe that would be kind of cool. Hey, what's that lump? Oh, that old thing... that's just a giant worm living in my skin.

Well, here's the deal. There are some "worms" that don't normally live in the intestines, such as some Rhabdiform worms, some Flukes, etc. They may make their homes in the lungs, trachea, mouth, kidneys, liver, brain, etc. and some will encyst subcutaneously. Some of them normally are intestinal worms, such as tapeworms, but depending on how they were acquired and at what lifestage, they may migrate to other organs through the bloodstream and attach themselves or encyst in other places. It really gets a little complex, because some have direct life cycles, meaning that they are capable of reproducing in a particular host, re-infecting that same host and the re-infecting larvae are capable of growing to adult form and reproducing again in that same host, to start the cycle all over again and again. All this without an intermediate host. These forms can quickly overwhelm the host. There are other forms that require an multiple hosts, in intermediate host and a definitive host. The adult forms live in the definitive or final host. They will release the infective forms (oocysts, eggs, cysts, larvae) in fecal matter to the outside world, where they will be picked up by an intermediate host (frog, fish, snail, etc.), which is then eaten by the definitive host where they will then grow to adult form, parasitize the final host and reproduce again starting the cycle again.

There are a few basic "types" of parasitic worms, cestodes such as tapeworms, nematodes such roundworms, hookworms, strongyloids and pinworms, and trematodes such as Flukes. Some don't really cause any problems unless the numbers get too great, others are of grave importance. There are also several different forms of parasitic protozoans, such as Entamoeba and Coccidians. These are considered normal intestinal flora in small numbers, but once again, if the numbers become to great they can overwhelm the host. Parasites are normally self limiting in the wild, because of the much larger range of travel of the animal, limiting the possibility that it will reinfect itself. Those that have a direct life cycle can easily reinfect the animal in captivity causing the numbers to multiply exponentially. The key here is strict cage cleaning and disinfection policies and never allowing fecal matter to remain in the cage.

This is a sticking point... they seem to very much like burrowing, and since they weren't eating I give them a lot of apsen to minimize stress... but that makes it impossible to find their tiny snake droppings. I guess I should either change it all out every week or see how they do on newspaper until they get bigger.
Can you recommend a book on snake parasites? I know there are a few out there, and a book is the only way I have a chance in heck of remembering all that.

I am also getting into the world of parasites. Although it has its faults, I learned a lot from Understanding Reptile Parasites, by Roger Klingenberg. It should be in the kingsnake.com bookstore.
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*Humans aren't the only species on earth... we just act like it.

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

One of the best ones is Diseases of Reptiles By Reichenbach-Klinks and Elkins.

The Klingenberg book is a good basic reference.