Breathing problems?

[jmonahan]

Sorry for that terrible experience!

I think we have to be careful assuming wild caught animals are more likely to carry debilitating or dangerous parasites. In this case, we learn just the opposite, after all. Parasites are probably more likely to concentrate to dangerous levels in captive breeding situations - at least in those without impeccable attention to cleanliness. And captive born snakes may not have the natural bacteria and other microbes that animals (like humans) need to keep a healthy balance of gut microbes.

Many of the wild caught and sickly animals in the pet trade have been kept in deplorable conditions, either in their native country awaiting export, or at the importers facilities. Diseases can accumulate and be transmitted, while extremely stressful conditions lower immunity.

But I don't see any reason to think wild caught is more likely to carry dangerous or debilitating parasite loads if they are carefully collected, kept as stress free as possible and housed in proper enclosures. The possible exception are species that don't adapt well to captivity and so are severely stressed simply by being caught and caged.

[d_virginiana]

The thing is a WC animal IS more likely to have parasites though. No matter how stress-free and happy you keep them, they'll eventually get old, then they'll probably get sick. The majority of garters I've seen in the hobby come from responsible breeders (the irresponsible ones actually tend to harvest wc gravid females and keep the babies; I've seen that a couple times). May just be where I'm looking for pets, but garters don't seem very common in the general pet trade compared to things like corns or BPs.
The main source of parasites in captive garters is from feeding live fish or wc frogs. A wild garter will have been eating these things for years. I get what you're saying, but generally you can assume a wc garter has parasites that you don't want passed on to the rest of your animals. It's not so much whether they're a debilitating load or not, bc the animal will eventually get sick even if it's years down the road (wild lifespan is pretty short too; I want to say something like 4 years, with an 8 year average in captivity?)

[joeysgreen]

A perfectly happy and healthy snake with a parasitic load still presents risk. The parasites that it carries are breeding and microscopic eggs are released in your snake's stool. These can infect your other snakes, or in the worst case scenario, people. When it comes to people it's not so much that the parasite is infecting you; it would much rather have been ingested by another snake. However it does it's best and migrates around your body, most often getting lost because you're not a snake. Your immune system tracks down this migrating larvae and encapsulates it in a cyst. We probably have thousands of cysts all around our body from incidental contact with various parasites. The problem lies when these cysts continue to grow (I'm not certain why some grow and some remain infinitismal). The location of the cyst is also of concern. It doesn't take a very large one in the brain to cause a major problem. We found a volleyball sized cyst in the liver of a dog that was obviously causing a lot of problems. Histology reported that it was E.multiocularis, a parasite that does the same damage in people and is common in wild canid populations.

lol, sorry for the rambling. I do find parasitology fun.

In short, I recommend all new snakes be quarantined and dewormed appropriately.

[joeysgreen]

oh, I forgot to add that I had read the lifespan of a wild gartersnake is closer to 10-12 years, provided it isn't squashed on a road or found by a predator. This spring I did not find any previously microchipped animals which somewhat supports 15 years being statistically unobtainable. Fifteen years being how long ago the previous study was done.

I would expect captive gartersnakes to live to around 20 years. I work on a 15 year old radix on occasion.