Question about internal parasites in boas.......

[Linda]

OK this might be a dumb question, but it's one I've been thinking about since there's been so much talk of parasites lately. Now I know that fresh import animals have them. Most are treated and then they're gone. Now I was wondering if boas can transmit internal parasites to their unborn babies. For instance if a fresh import came in gravid would her babies be born with parasites or it that something they can only get "after birth"?
Thanks,
Linda

[ksshane]

I did get a neo boa that was cb from a wc parent. The poor little guy had problems holding down food. So I took him into the vet, and he was treated for internal parasites with some flagyl. Knocked it right out.

I know the breeder personally so I know that the baby was cb, and the mother was an import. I didnt ask the vet if it was possible to transmit internal parasites through birth, but I assumed thats what happened.

So I guess Im not answering your question, and I would like to hear from others on this subject as well.

[Panama_Red]

I believe so, it happens in dogs. :(

[Linda]

Thanks Shane and Panama,
I have done some extensive reading on the whole parasite thing. I've checked out web sites and read the book "Understanding Reptile Parasites". They talk of how they're transmitted, but there's no mention of them being transmitted to offspring through the mother. It does say that most parasites are "self limiting" in wild animals living in the wild. It's only after they're brought into captivity that parasites can cause the most damage. I had thought of the "Dog theory"too, but it didn't work out either. This is what I found on the dog thing. Puppies are infected by worms by:Migrating across the placenta before birth or through the mother's milk. Since boas don't nurse their young or feed developing embryos through a plecenta I was wondering if it's "possible" they born parasite free. Now Shane since you have a neonate that came from a wild caught mother and it had parasites does it mean that it was born with them or could it have been infected "after birth"? I'm guess that if the female was gravid when it arrived your friend might not have deparasitized the female until after giving birth. Her babies could have been infected by the mother after they were born. Of course, that's just a theory. He could have treated her and her babies were already infected in the egg. The yolk would have been the source of the infestation. Being isolated from the mother in the eggs would have prevented any parasited from being removed by treating the mother boa. I guess unless someone actually took the first stool sample from a neonate born from a gravid wild caught animal it would be hard or even impossible to know for sure. I still think it's "possible" for them to be born with parasites, but I really don't know for sure.
Thanks again,
Linda

[Doug]

Hi,
another common route for parasites is from rodent to snake.
 If the rodent is fresh killed the parasites are still alive and then the snake eats the rat, and then gets all the little parasites. This is the normal way that  wild and captive animals are infected.
 So the trick is to only feed fresh thawed rodent, when you freeze a rat Ice crystals form in every cell in the rodent every parasite is killed and every ova from the parasite is damaged this breaks the possible route if infection from the food, and all them rodent insects are killed to.
I ve seen rodents from profesional breeders with flea bites on them so its great they are frozen....
 most dogs and cat get worms from fleas and such.. many tape and some other worms are spread by fleas.
     yeachhhhh.... doug  ::)

[Chris13160]

Hi Linda,
I would like to reply to your question. What others say here is true, also I can add this to it:
I advice and guide many people with their reptile populations at home. I have been an animal technician specialized in reptiles for many years at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine here in Holland. I found out in over 30 years of keeping reptiles: almost all wildcaught animals do have internal parasites, but, and this is maybe the biggest surprise to most herpers: at least 40 - 50 % of all captive born reptiles have parasites also !!. Unfortunately most herpers still believe cb animals are parasite free. If we can get this fairy-tale out of the world, it would save many reptile-lives I think.
No matter what others say: each new animal in my collection is treated against protozoans, worms and coccidiosis and kept in quarantaine for at least a month !!!!

Chris van Kalken
The Netherlands