shotgut therapy for w/c garters

[luke.B]

i bought some w/c pugets garters sometime back. i was told that they had been treated of parasites. this morning i found a worm swimming in the water bole. I'm going to take the worm to my vet to make sure this treatment will work. but i was going to give them some fenbendazole and metronidazole to get read of them. I was wondering what everyone did on here wen takeing in w/c garters to try to get ride of there parasites ?

[dieselbaby]

That sounds terrible. Im no help on this subject, as i dont know whats safe for reptiles, but on my mammals i use ivermectin is so much better then fenbendazole. That almost sounds like quest wormer? i hope not, it has done alot of damage to horses in my area, mainly stallion sterility, mares aborting foals, killing foals, etc. but as i said i dont know if ivermectin is even safe for reptiles. but i do know it kills pretty much all internal parasites, oh accept tape worms, have to get ivermectin gold for that... oh wait never mind thats panacur or safeguard, nevermind the quest wormer part.

[guidofatherof5]

I have heard Ivermectin is not safe for reptiles.
Check out the warning * toward the middle of the page.
Common Reptile Drugs and Dosages (http://www.anapsid.org/resources/rxdose.html)
My Vet. treats my snakes with Panacur.

[dieselbaby]

Thanks steve, thanks good to know for future reference.

[luke.B]

All i could find on ivermectin in reptiles was this. (Ivermectin is administered in near-toxic doses to be effective, and must be repeated often 3 times to be as effective as the far less toxic fenbendazole. Merck, the maker of ivermectin, does not recommend its use in reptiles. Often fatal or nearly so to small, debilitated reptiles. May cause paralysis, blindness, etc. in larger reptiles. Its use is not recommended for lizards and snakes; it is nearly always fatal when used in turtles and tortoises. Ivermectin toxicity includes paralysis and blindness.)

[luke.B]

 guess i should have said fenbendazole = panacur for parasites and metronidazole = flagyl is a antibiotics for kill some of the protozoans

[BLUESIRTALIS]

Metronidazole (flagyl) and fenbendazole (panacur) seem to be the safest and most effective deworming meds for reptiles but it always depends on what type of parasites the snake has. If it's tapeworms or flukes you might have to use praziquantel. No matter what you treat it with once you are done treating and you get a clear fecal you should give some probiotics such as benebac gel because the dewormers kill the important bacteria as well. I hope everything goes well at the vet.

[dieselbaby]

yeah thats bad, bad, bad. Steve is the expert lol go by what he says. Like i said i had no idea if it was safe or not. I havent had to do my snakes yet so this is unchartered territory, but now i know as well. So go with your first thought the panacur, its what steve's vet recommends for his snakes. That is terrible what it can do to them. wow, I know i cant give it to my part border collie female either, as it can be fatal to collie's so i use safeguard wormers on her as well, which looks to be the same as panacur. I love this forum im learning all kinds of things.

[guidofatherof5]

yeah thats bad, bad, bad. Steve is the expert lol go by what he says.

Thanks for your kind words but I am not expert. Just a member/keeper still learning. ;)

[luke.B]

i wish i had a vet likes Steve's around here. it hard to find one that will even look at reptiles were i live at.

[luke.B]

I'm not sure what kind of parasite it has the worm in the water bole was about 1'' long and 1/32'' thick and a dark brown in color

[BLUESIRTALIS]

Was there in feces in the water bowl with the worm?

[luke.B]

not that i see

[BLUESIRTALIS]

Can you post a pic of the worm? Are the snakes losing weight or not eating? Is there poops solid or does it look like partial digested food.

[luke.B]

there might have been a little but they got some bedding in there so it is kind of hard to tell the look kind of like caterpillars if that makes any since

[BLUESIRTALIS]

Was it a bunch of worms in the cage?

[luke.B]

not that i can find just in the water i got a pic i will get it up soon

[luke.B]

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[luke.B]

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[luke.B]

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[guidofatherof5]

I see the photos but don't see anything strange.
Dried urates and fecal matter.

[kibakiba]

The last two pictures had a worm like thing on a piece of paper.

[luke.B]

2 are still eating like there is no tomorrow and one did not take food yesterday ween i fed but its geting close to that time of year to so i dont know if it has to do with this or not

[BLUESIRTALIS]

It looks like some type of nematode to me panacur should take care of it. Just make sure you get the dosing right.

[dieselbaby]

Thanks for your kind words but I am not expert. Just a member/keeper still learning. ;)

well as compared to lil ol me, yes you are an expert. The day we quit learning on earth is the day we die. No one knows it all but as far as garters go, i think you know quite a bit! Im glad you posted and he looked up the info rather then taking my lame advice.

As far as vets go, i agree Luke, i sure wish we had a few as well, we do have one that will look at them, but i wasnt too happy with the advice i was given over the phone, without even seeing the snake first.

[luke.B]

well the vet today was a big flop. but i did get the panacur from him he could not give it to my snakes. cuz he did not have a scale that could get the weight of a small snake. so guess i need to get a good scale so i can get it to them. does anyone have any recommendation's?

[luke.B]

and the vet was not sure how much to used wich is never a good thing.

[luke.B]

My Vet. treats my snakes with Panacur.

[/QUOTE]

do you know who much your vet used wen he tread you snakes mg/kg steve

[zooplan]

I have heard Ivermectin is not safe for reptiles.
Check out the warning * toward the middle of the page.
Common Reptile Drugs and Dosages (http://www.anapsid.org/resources/rxdose.html)
I know this to be popular for Pythons and as a treat against tiks and mites as well, the dose is really small.