My first Garter!

[J@50n]

They do. They make a lot for dogs. Big ones

I must look into this!!

[J@50n]

To avoid a high parasite load, try freezing the toads solid, then thaw them in a bag along with some pinkies. That does two things. Freezing kills parasites inside the toads, and thawing with pinkies gets toad scent on them so he might be more easily converted over to rodents. Nothing wrong with whole toads, it's just that they carry worms. Better to convert him over to pinkies or scent pinkies with toads to get him to eat them.

Since he was wild caught in my back yard, he had to feed on these at some point in his life wouldn't he? He couldn't have only eaten night crawlers when there are millions of these critters all over!!??

[RedSidedSPR]

It's really more common. When I saw the snake bowl I thought "mini dog bowl"

[RedSidedSPR]

Yeah, he probably already had worms

[d_virginiana]

I'd deworm a wc snake just to be safe cause you never know what they've been eating.

[J@50n]

I'd deworm a wc snake just to be safe cause you never know what they've been eating.

Doesn't that cost a couple hundred dollars?

[guidofatherof5]

Not if it's done at home. Some Vets will give the medicine if you have the snake weighed and just request the medicine.
Others will want to do a fecal float and administer the medicines in office. This can be expensive.
I'm fortunate to have a Vet. that will just give the meds. I request.
Even with that my yearly Vet. bill is high.

[ConcinusMan]

Not if it's done at home.

Exactly. For about $8 I got enough meds to treat for tapeworms and a wide variety of other internal parasites, for at least 20 snakes.

What you're paying for at the vet is lab work to confirm the presence of parasites, and an overall physical exam to see if the snake is in good enough health to handle the treatment.

I just assess their overall health myself, time the treatment right, and treat them as if they have the parasites, even if they don't. If they're wild, chances are they do anyway. Haven't lost any snakes doing that so far but I do notice a big change in WC snakes after treatment, especially those coming from populations known for high parasite load. They put on weight easier, and their appetite is better, and they just seem stronger and more vigorous afterward.

They just seem to do much better long term in captivity after being treated for worms.

[RedSidedSPR]

I have GOT to do this to mine soon.

[ConcinusMan]

Yeah, even some that seemed to be in perfect health, strong, vigorous, growing and eating well, passed worms during treatment. If they are carrying a heavy load, pieces of tapeworms sometimes, or wads of nematodes come out. The will have "the squirts" for 3-5 days. It's pretty nasty but worth it.

Treatment is rough on them so they need to be in fairly good health. There is a right time and a wrong time to do it. It does dehydrate them and it is stressful. But those that can handle it are much better off afterward. They bounce back quickly and start putting on weight.