Viral Disease, Bacterium, and Parasites
Please visit this website to test your pythons for disease caused by virus, www.vetDNA.com
RETURN TO HOME PAGE Disease outbreak in pythons is common and often hidden and kept secret. Disease carries a stigma. No one wants their collection to be associated with disease. This page is published to help you identify, detect, prevent, control, and eradicate disease from your collection. Below are links, pictures, and other resources to help keep your collection safe and healthy. This page will continue to be updated as new information becomes available.
Photo courtesy of www.vetDNA.com.
Disease Types and Categories
Disease and parasites are different but can often be related. The 3 types of most common plagues affecting pythons are parasites, bacteria, and viruses. Parasites are usually the most easily controlled. The most common parasites are snake mites and intestinal worms and strongyloides. The most common bacterial infections are usually found in the upper airways, intestines, and on the skin. Bacterial infections are not typically transmittable and are usually easily and successfully treated with antibiotics. Viral infections are the least common, but most fatal of all infections. There is usually no successful treatment for viral infections in pythons, and such infections are usually fatal.
Quarentine (Prevention)
da da nThe first step to welcoming a new reptile into your collection is to keep it out of your collection. This means quarantine. To properly quarantine, a room away from your other animals should be devoted strictly to quarantining newcomers.
The length of time to properly quarantine is said to be at least 30 to 45 days, but I strongly recommend 60 days due to new research suggesting the incubation period for some animals exposed to virus could be more than 45 days. This will allow for time to detect a virus in animals that could be healthy carriers. Also, mites can live up to 42 days. If mite treatment is not properly done, the extra time could be needed to properly eradicate mites. This is critical because mites are known to carry and spread disease.
Of course, while in quarantine, basic necessities to sustain reptile life must be provided to include proper temps and humidity, water, and food. Care must be taken to avoid the potential of cross contamination. I recommend dealing with quarantine animals last at the end of the day before disinfecting your hands. For me, I keep Lysol and hand sanitizer with my quarantined animals and use these after each handling. My quarantined animals receive their care before I shower and go to bed.
Upon arrival, every animal is tested for viral disease with the PCR testing provided by Research Associate's Laboratory (www.vetDNA.com). I refer to this as pre-quarantine testing. This test is a way to screen animals arriving into quarantine and should not be relied upon long term. Subsequent testing after 60 days is strongly recommended.
In addition to to treating for mites and PCR testing for virus, I also recommend obtaining fecal samples or cloacal swabs for examination for intestinal parasites such as crypto and various worms, some noted below. Some gastro tract parasites can be easily dealt with and are not contagious while others may highly contagious and fatal to your animals.
New arrivals are then treated for mites, regardless if the animal has visible mites or not. I do not wait for mites to be visible. If the mites become visible, they have already spread and contaminated the room, and potentially spread disease.
If the animal tests positive for any diseases, you should contact the seller and immediately request a refund and remove the animal from your collection. The best strategy for PCR testing new animals is have your animal delivered on a Tuesday or Wednesday. Immediately swab the animal with your RAL (Research Associate's Laboratory / www.vetDNA.com) test kit, package it, and ship the test out with the paperwork on the same day express mail, or next day delivery with FedEx or UPS. The lab will receive your samples the following day, usually Wednesday or Thursday, and you'll have results by the end of the day on that Friday, so it's same week results.
After 60 days, or 2 months, if the animal appears healthy, has no sign of mites, and hasn't been exposed or cross contaminated by any other new arrivals, I recommend doing another PCR test to ensure the animal is not carrying a virus and is safe to bring into your collection with other healthy animals. I refer to this as post-quarantine testing. The logic behind this is simple. If the animal was exposed to virus just prior to being shipped, it's likely the animal has a very low viral load and will pass the pre-quarantine testing because the virus has not had sufficient time to replicate it's self within the python. This is the early stages of the incubation period. Allowing the animal 60 days of quarantine before post-quarantine testing could reveal an animal carrying disease that is asymptomatic (appears healthy), and has a growing viral load and is now contagious. Relying on the first pre-quarantine test is dangerous, so follow-up post quarantine testing is a failsafe way to ensure you are bringing a healthy animal into your collection.
Many different breeders will give you different advice on how to treat for mites. Ironically, many of them will sell you animals with mites because their methods do not work. Some methods fall short, while other treatments have killed the host snakes, so various breeders will debate the best ways to treat for mites. Over the years, I have tried many different methods and through trial and error, here is what works for me. Follow these steps and i promise this will work for you.
Below are 3 products I use together to eradicate mites from new animals. These are essentially pesticides, which are poisons, so care should be used to properly treat your animals.
First, Hot Shot No Pest Strips. NOTE- Always keep these out of the water bowl. Use these as follows.....
8 and 6 foot enclosures, 1 whole strip, leave in for 6 months, add new one every 2 months, write date on plastic cover with a black sharpie, place on substrate.
4 foot enclosures, half strip, leave in for 6 months, add new half every 2 months, write date on the strip with a black sharpie, place on substrate.
Large totes and tubs, cut to 1/3rd strip, leave in for 6 months, add new 1/3rd strip every 2 months, write date on the strip with a black sharpie, place on substrate.
Medium tubs, 32qt, 28qt, cut to 1/4th strip, leave in for 6 months, add new 1/4th strip every 2 months, write date on the strip with a black sharpie, place on substrate.
Smaller tubs, cut to 1 inch strip, leave in for 6 months, add new strip every 2 months, write date on the strip with a black sharpie, place on substrate.
Beyond quarentine and for clean collections where mites are not suspected, I recommend using new strips in the manners noted above every 4 to 6 months just to be safe.
The next 2 products are sprays that can be bought in 1 gallon bottles. Again, these are pesticides, so please avoid getting these in the water. These are safe if used properly as suggested. Scroll down for recommended use.
Snake mites go through a variety of stages in their 42 day life cycle. Not all stages are affected by these pesticides. This is why 1 time treatments and occasional treatment methods never work. Care must be taken to treat each and every day to ensure that snake mites are always treated every day for the first month, and every other day for the second month. This treatment schedule starts off aggressively to match the expected intensity of a severe mite infestation, and the treatment tapers off as the number of mites are expected to decrease with time, thus meaning the treatment intensity can be reduced as the number of mites is reduced. 2 different sprays are used to attack the mites with different chemicals to ensure maximum effectiveness.
In conjunction with the use of the above mentioned Hot Shot No Pest Strips, use these sprays as follows.....
When setting up the quarantine enclosure, or for use with any enclosure when treating for snake mites, after adding substrate, it's best to spray a very small amount of each spray on the substrate. Do NOT get these products in the animal's water.
For first 2 weeks, spray each product on each side of the animal's enclosure, once in the morning, once in the evening. Assuming the enclosure of tub has airholes, trace amounts of the sprays will go into the enclosures. This is enough to treat the inside and should be harmless to the animals. When spraying the front, target where sliders meet or where doors open and close.
Weeks 3 and 4, spray each product on each side of the enclosures, one product in the morning, and the other product in the evening, using the same methods noted above.
Weeks 5 and 6, spray one product once a day on each side of the enclosures as noted above.
Weeks 7 and 8, spray one product or the other every other day, so each product is used every 4th day as noted above.
It is well known that mites often travel from one enclosure to another. This means mites could be found on the floors, furniture, doorways, and the walls. Therefore, in addition to spraying the enclosures, I often frequently spray the floors, hooks, and anything else used with the snakes or in the area of the snakes.
To maintain a mite free environment in the collection of your animals, it's a good idea to maintain a light level of treatment on a reoccurring basis. For this reason, I recommend treating a clean collection monthly.
Intestinal Parasites
Depending on the type of parasite, some can become a serious problem very quickly. Most people mistakenly believe intestinal parasites are only found in wild caught animals or imports, however they can also be found in captive bred animals that have eaten "bad feeders". In 2020, I once offered a fresh piglet which had not been frozen to one of my adult breeder male retics. Within a few days, he was regurgitating so badly that he was getting stool to come up out of his mouth and was bleeding from his cloaca. A trip to the veterinarian revealed intestinal parasites called strongyloides from the fresh piglet to be the culprit. The retic was prescribed a dewormer and antibiotics and made a full recovery and later bred and produced healthy babies. Because this condition often requires fecal samples to be examined, I strongly encourage anyone suspecting intestinal parasites to take their animal to the vet, have stool samples examined, or cloacal swabs, and trust the veterinarian on the course of treatment. Intestinal parasites are not generally contagious, but if eating feeders from the same source, it is possible to see multiple animals develop parasitic infections.
Cryptosporidium (aka Crypto) is another digestive tract parasite which causes the condition known as cryptosporidiosis. Common symptoms of this include upper gastro swelling or a bloated appearance, and regurgitation, and irregular feces. Unlike strongyloides, Crypto is highly contagious. Crypto particles can often survive for weeks on substrate and in water, and it is difficult to clean an area affected by Crypto. If a healthy animal is caged with an infected animal, prey items can become contaminated with the Crypto, or the healthy animal can also become infected by drinking contaminated water. Bleach does not kill Crypto. To my knowledge, ammonia is the most effective cleanser against Crypto. Animals infected with Crypto often have long term gastro complications, and most do not survive.
Salmonellosis (Disgestive Issues)
A common form of illness in many pythons is referred to as "digestive issues" in layman's terms, but the actual illness is usually salmonella infection, aka salmonellosis. This is not typically spread from one animal to another, but people should always thoroughly wash and disinfect their hands after each handling. Reptiles are known to carry salmonella just like people are known to carry healthy amounts of yeast and bacteria on our skin and within our digestive tracts, but in reptiles with suppressed or compromised immune systems, sometimes the salmonella can become infectious and cause health issues for the animals. Exact causes are unknown, but contributing factors include low humidity and dry conditions, dehydration, genetics, improper temps, and stress. This condition is often treated with oral Baytril, also know as Enrofloxacin, and increased hydration forced orally as part of the medication.
Signs and symptoms can include any combination of the following- swollen lower abdomen, prolapse, regurgitation, inability to produce stool or feces, runny urates, and because the animal can't absorb nutrition, poor muscle tone, and difficulty shedding are also often seen as part of the disease. Oral nutritional supplements with Oxbow Critical Care Carnivore Care also helps. Diagnosis by a veterinarian is recommended before beginning treatment.
Even with the best treatments, some animals will make full recoveries, and some will die. Those who survive could relapse back into sickness. For this reason, once an animal has suffered from Salmonellosis, it's probably best not to breed the animal and to consider giving it away to a pet owner, or keep it for educational purposes.
Treatment of Salmonellosis and Other Bacterial Infections
Enrofloxacin is the same as Baytril and is useful in treating a wide variety of bacterial infections. If you've consulted a veterinarian, and have an accurate weight on your sick animal, here is how to properly dose and medicate your animal.
For smaller snakes, up to 7 or 8 feet,
Mix 1 teaspoon of Enrofloxacin in 500 milliliters of Pedialyte or purified water. Keep refrigerated. Dosage will be 1 milliliter given per 100 grams of body weight. Treat daily for 1 week, and then every other day for another week.
Examples-
500 grams snake, give 5 mils of mixed medication
1,000 grams snake, give 10 mils of mixed medication
For larger snakes, you'll need a stronger mixture. if you add 5 teaspoons of Enrofloxacin to 500 mils of Pedialyte, reduce the dosage by 5, so for example-
5,000 grams snake, give 10 mils of stronger mixture.
10,000 grams snake, give 20 mils of stronger mixture.
You'll need to use extreme care not to overdose or underdose your animals. The pharmacology needs to be exact. To administer this medication orally, you'll need some type of syringe connected to a tube or stainless straw, and the mixed medication should be forced directly down the throat and into the stomach.
Virus Detection and Treatment
There are currently 3 types of viral infections known to affect pythons that keepers and breeders should be aware of, watch for, and test for. These are (In order of severity)...
1. Reptarenavirus (AKA IBD, BIBD, Arenavirus)
2. Nidovirus (AKA Serpentovirus)
3. Paramyxovirus (AKA Sunshine Virus)
The only way to conclusively confirm and verify the presence of a virus is PCR testing. For this, I highly recommend using www.vetDNA.com.
Each virus is different, but all can cause the same or similar symptoms, including...
Abscesses
Cheese-like pus in mouth
Dehydration
Diarrhea
Difficulty righting if flipped upside down
Difficulty striking or gripping food
Head tremors
Increased respiratory sounds
Lethargy
Loss of appetite
Lower abdominal swelling
Muscle rigidity
Nasal discharge
Open mouth breathing
Opisthotonos (severe twisting of the head and neck)
Pneumonia
Pupils of unequal size
Regurgitation
Secondary bacterial infections
Skin blisters
Blowing mucus
Uncoordinated movement
Weakness
Weight loss
Wheezing
In some instances, pythons have been known to simply die without symptoms and without warning due to viral infection.
In most cases, these animals are almost alwys doomed to die. Humane dispatching should be considered for the sake of the animal and to protect the rest of the collection. I can only find 1 python that has ever tested positive for Reptarenavirus and survived with full recovery. This disease can wipe out entire collections if proper steps aren't taken to stop the spread.
Nidovirus usually kills off about 75% of the collections it hits without the proper steps being taken to stop the spread.
Paramyxovirus has a slightly better survival rate, but is still very devastating to the infected animals.
PCR is the only form of reliable testing. In reptarenavirus, the term IBD has been commonly but inappropriately used because the virus generally can cause inclusion bodies in boas, however the disease rarely causes inclusion bodies to form in pythons. Some pythons may carry and incubate some of these diseases for months before showing symptoms. This is why a minimal 60 day quarantine is recommended, with pre and post quarantine PCR testing strongly encouraged.
Control and Best Practices
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gstq6XJll4Ehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gstq6XJll4EEven with the best quarantine practices, something could slip through the cracks and find it's way into your collection. Even with the best testing, it could be possible that one of your animals is carrying a disease without showing symptoms. Below are some suggested general practices to help prevent a disease outbreak in your collection, and these steps should be followed strictly if an animal within your collection becomes sick or tests positive for disease.
Segregate and Isolate- each animal should have it's own devoted water bowl and reside in it's own enclosure. Water bowls should never be swapped out unless they are cleaned with bleach. Viruses are the most contagious and are not thought to be airborne. Viruses are usually spread by mites, but also by sharing enclosures. Mucus, saliva, urine, urates, and feces all contain high concentrations of virus at levels sure to infect other reptiles in the same enclosure, usually by the healthy animal flicking its tongue on infections materials and bringing the virus particles back into it's mouth.
Mites- Snake mites should not be tolerated. Mites are well known for spreading diseases, especially viruses.
Cleaning- When cleaning enclosures, the snake is often placed into a tub or tote. This should always be thoroughly cleaned between each cleaning so as not to put a healthy animal into a contaminated tub. Prior to cleaning out an enclosure, it's a good idea to spray Lysol into the enclosure first and let is work on the virus particles for about an hour. It's also good idea to spray water on the substrate to dampen it and weigh down any virus particles so they do not become airborne while cleaning. If using a dust pan or similar device to help clean out the enclosure, i recommend disinfecting it between cleanings to prevent cross contamination.
Breeding- introducing males and females to each other is a necessary part of breeding, but it can be a means of spreading infections. If a viral infection occurs, all breeding should be stopped immediately unless the males are already in with females. If this is the situation, it's best to leave the males and females together to avoid spreading the disease by moving animals around. Essentially, you need to put everything on lockdown for a few months until cleaning and testing can be completed. It some collections, it could be feasible to have a 1 to 1 males to females ratio for breeding. This could be impractical for some collections, but it is a good way to prevent or limit spreading disease by devoting 1 male to one female. By introducing a male to multiple females, you increase the likelihood of disease being spread.
More will be added to this page soon, including links to scholarly materials, video testimony from other breeders to describe their experiences, and more. To contribute, feel free to contact me. Below are links to helpful resources to consider in doing your homework and forming your own opinion.
YouTube, Legacy Retics, Nidovirus- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy-CpLu4AEE
Cryptosporidium- https://www.addl.purdue.edu/newsletters/1996/summer/snakes.shtml
Cryptosporidium- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gstq6XJll4E
Reptarenavirus- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8092697/
Rob Clark PythonsExpect BIG Things Wilmington, NC