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My corn is puking up worms.

xelda

xelda

New member
I've had this baby corn for about a month now. She's eaten twice for me and only refused her meal last week. She's always been pretty alert and skittish, even since the day I unpacked her from the delivery box, so I took that as a sign of good health. Last night was the first time I noticed something unusual; she was laying out in the open looking lethargic. It was unusual because she spends 95% of her time hiding. Today when I checked on her, she was still lethargic and this time her mouth wasn't shut properly. It looked like a serious case of mouthrot.

Well, it being Thanksgiving, I took her over to a friend's house to get his opinion. He agreed that it looked like mouthrot but upon closer inspection, we found... worms! He scooped out about a dozen of them with a cotton swab and hydrogen peroxide.

I'm not sure what to make of it. The worms are obviously some kind of nematode. I'm guessing my snake has a bad enough case to be throwing up. Has anybody heard of this before?

I'd like to get down to the bottom of this, so I do intend to bring my snake to the vet tomorrow.

I have Panacur, a scale, and syringes. I know how to dilute the dosages, and I'm comfortable administering the medication to my geckos. But I'm completely inexperienced with treating snakes, force-feeding them, everything.
 
Poor you - and snake! That sounds horrible and what a shock for you. It's a bit difficult to describe dosing a snake so it's best to be shown if you can find an expert. Sounds like the vet is your best bet there.

The only advice I can give is to quarantine the snake immediately if she isn't at the moment and make sure none of the equipment you use with her (including cleaning materials) are used with your geckos. Disinfect your hands between handling the Corn and geckos. Being pessimistic, it sounds like your babe arrived with the worms, so it might be best to get your other reptiles checked by the vet as well.

The very best of luck to you - let us know how it goes.
 
I would get it to the vet. I would get with the person you got it from also. You may want to post this on the BOI so that someone else doesn't end up purchasing worm puking corns from this person. :puke01: Good luck. Keep us updated.
 
Could it be possible that his last meal may have been contaminated? That's so sad. :( Let us know what the vet says. Good luck.
 
ugh...sorry to hear that. Can we ask who the breeder was? It would help alot of folks here steer clear of them!

Quigs
 
Quigs said:
ugh...sorry to hear that. Can we ask who the breeder was? It would help alot of folks here steer clear of them!

Quigs
Click to expand...


DITTO! I would definitely like to know who you got the snake from so as to make sure that either myself nor no one I know could have something like that anywhere near my collection.
 
I'm the person who bred the snake, and none of my others have these worms. (I have two hold backs from the same clutch who are healthy and doing well!) After talking to her, I'm fairly sure the snake acquired the worms from the rodents she was feeding it. It sounds like whoever sold her the mice is to blame.

If anyone wants further proof, I can easily get confirmation from others who have bought corns and other snakes I have bred from me.

After looking up some information, its probably either a roundworm or tongue worm infestation, both of which are visible, can be directly passed on from rodents, survive long periods of time on surfaces, and eggs will survive freezing.

Xelda, I urge you to contact your rodent breeder and tell them they need to treat their rodents, as both types of worms are also easily passed onto humans and other animals, be they reptile or mammal. Take the body to your vet for a necropsy as soon as possible, and get a positive ID on the worms. Keep a close eye on your other snakes.
 
I just dropped the corn and a couple of pinkies to my vet for a gross necropsy. It won't include any tissue examination, but hopefully it'll get a positive ID on the worms and maybe some clues as to the source. I'll be sure to share the results.

I bought her from Cat and wanted to let everyone know that she's been very supportive throughout the ordeal.
 
Definitely keep me posted. As I just said to you on the phone, I checked the remaining het. blizzard babies, and then all my remaining baby corns for anything odd (worms in the mouth, loose stool, swollen bellies and any other symptoms) and didn't see anything. I also checked my adults. Stuff like that scares me to death!
 
I appoligize Cat.

You can never be too sure sometimes. Alot of vicious people are abound!

Thanks for stepping forward and saying you are the breeder and being adult about it! Kudos.

I am definately curious as to what the necropsy results say, keep us posted.

Are these f/t pinks? And I'm assuming your vet is checking them too?

Quigs
 
Wow! This sounds awful. I'm sorry you all are having to go through this and I'm sorry you lost your snake. Please do keep us posted as we all appreciate this as a learning experience. Good luck to you all.
 
oh my god what a horible thing to happen just want to say im really sorry. Please keep us posted ive never heard of snakes getting worms before. Can they catch it off other animals ????????????????????????
 
Just to let you know Cat, I'm the one who bought the normal het blizzard female from you about a month ago and she is fine. She's been eating fine and just shed last night. No problems whatsoever. Of course, now that I've read this, I was going to feed her tonight anyway, I will make sure I check her even more closely. (I'm at a relatives for the holidays) I'll reply back with an update after feeding time! :)
 
Thanks for letting me know. I just got a call from the starter of this thread, and her corn had lungworm and strongyles. Both are passed via feces (fresh and old) and contaminated water. Panacur will get rid of both types. Strongyles are very common according to "Reptile & Amphibian Parasites".

Its weird, all the other corns here are doing fine, and have shown no problems. I got a call from another person who bought a baby corn from me yesterday, saying she is doing fine (she needed to buy more rodents).

Unfortunately, there's not much information online about either parasite, other than transmission via water/feces and how to treat them.

Upon looking back in my records, I had one brazilian rainbow who tested positive for strongyles, and he was treated successfully with ivermectin. He was still in quarantine at the time (thank goodness for that!); my quarantine tanks are in a separate room with disposable water bowls and quarantine snakes are always handled with latex gloves. That was a long time ago. The other BRB that came with him in the same bag was tested after the male's diagnosis and cleared, both of them were sold to a friend in Oregon who hasn't reported any problems.
 
Update on the normal het blizzard I bought from Cat, just shed last night and this evening is beautiful, alert, and was ready for her meal of a peach fuzzy. She has eaten for me 3 times since I've had her in less than a month and is basking under the night bulb as we speak. Just a little reassurance for you Cat, and anyone who may be thinking of buying a snake from her in the future. Wonderful animal and great service! Thanks again, Cat, and Xelda, I'm so sorry for your loss, it's always hard. My thoughts are with you.
 
I just wanted to clarify the necropsy results. The corn had lungworms and strongyloides, not strongyles. Her trachea was completely full of lungworms to the point that she was coughing up the larvae. Her intestines also had a heavy load of the strongyloides; to quote my vet, they were "wall to wall full of eggs." It appears that she died from simply not being able to breathe.

I'm still researching both of these parasites since I've never dealt with either of them, but my vet assures me that they didn't come from the food. By the way, yes, I do feed only frozen-thawed. She ate twice for me in the time that I had her. According to my vet, the problem with the lungworms is that there usually aren't any symptoms until they start to cause respiratory problems, which is usually too late. Except for refusing food once, my corn never showed any symptoms until Wednesday night. Then boom, she was dead by Friday morning.

It's a complete shock because she was my oldest, most robust snake. The others are doing well, but I'm still going to get fecal tests done for each one of them as opposed to shotgunning them all with Panacur.
 
wow...that's really...

rough. i'm very sorry, xelda. it's clear you did and/or planned to do everything possible for your snake.
 
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