Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Check this girl out Frank. Do you find any like this out there? I need a male. LOL

I saw that one already, and of course not, on finding one like that. I have not seen anything yet in the striped or patternless area. Only faded individuals where you can barely see their pattern.
There was a banded one found, and supposedly it died. At the Tucson herp show, I talked to the fella who found(just hit) a black one. I had heard that story before. I know the local and will be there in a few days.
I did see and talk to a fella who found and still had an albino, but it also died.
I heard of another albino that again died. whats up with all those dead kennerlyi, Including The John Roylance axanthic that died as well. My friend took the second axanthic I saw in nature and it too died. Shall I go on.
It appears kennerlyi morphs are all going to die. or so it seemed.
One last bit of hear say, A friend that works at a pet shop has some fella that lived in hog turf, report he found something like five patternless hognose, and said he would bring pics, nothing came of that.
So more then you wanted to know. Some are facts, some is hearsay.

It could also be a parasite issue.
Did these people treat them for parasites that they are bound to have in the wild?
If not, it's possible the snakes became too stressed in captivity, stress weakened their immune systems, parasite load became too high and boom...dead snakes.
-----
"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

www.youtube.com/reptilenexus

I never had a single parasite problem with wilds snakes, not in my whole life. Including any of the hogs.
The wild hogs are a tiny bit different then captive born. That's true with any animal that has adjusted to nature. So in the beginning, they need a tiny bit more work then captive hatched. That is, in marginal conditions.
Why those folks had problems, I cannot say. I am sure they had problems due to neglect, would be my guess.
Parasites are only a problem when providing extremely poor husbandry.

Is it possible that was the case?

From what you post, it seems like you give them a more naturalistic environment, so that could contribute to less stress on them.

Sticking a wild hog in an inch of aspen would probably stress them out a bit.
-----
"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

www.youtube.com/reptilenexus

I am sure it is more like some of these snakes never even existed. People like to talk crap. I am sure some did exist but unfortunately cool stuff like that seems to always fall into the wrong hands.

As far as parasites go, in my opinion from my personal experience, "treatment" is not needed and the deworming drugs can be worse for the snakes than the parasites themselves. I have had numerous wild caught gaboon vipers straight from Africa that were loaded with mouth flukes and other intestinal nematodes. I have NEVER treated a single one.

Reptiles have ways of reducing and even eliminating parasite loads. All we have to do is offer the conditions to allow them to do so.

As pointed out here, I also use an inch of aspen, just to see where the animals fit best.
In my experience, and I have lots of it in this area, the immune system is like other areas of their physiology, It has its own unique support conditions. In This case, they build their immune system in the higher temperature part of their temp range. Just below maximum heat.
Consider, in captivity, maximum heat scares the pee water out of keepers, but in nature its utilized freely, as they use it with the ability to lower temps quickly.
So yes, I think common bacteria and parasites are not a problem what so ever, as long as the snakes have a well supported immune system.
In nature, individuals do not lose their immune system until near death. They can be starving etc. but still do not have problems with common bacteria(gram-negatives) and parasites. Again, while food may be scarce, and conditions poor, all snakes live where they can have full temperature support. Where they can't, they don't exist.
About your question, "could it be parasites", well it "could" be anything, but its not. its something, There are millions of could be's and only a couple real answers.
In the above cases, there were many reasons given, from accidental cooking, to escaped, to other reasons. In the end, it doesn't matter, as they are gone. Our job is to not waste such opportunities. As they are rare