# Green tree snake?



## DarwinBrianT (Jun 15, 2013)

Hi, I have this guy climbing on my front door right now.


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## Bushman (Jun 15, 2013)

It's a Common Tree Snake (_Dendrelaphis punctulatus_).
They're not always green in colour, so Common Tree Snake is a better name for them.
Common tree snake (Dendrelaphis punctulatus) at the Australian Reptile Online Database | AROD.com.au


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## DarwinBrianT (Jun 15, 2013)

What would these lumps be? I don't think it is food.

View attachment 291263


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## Bushman (Jun 15, 2013)

They're probably parasites like skin worms, although they're severe if they are. 
Can you post a close up?


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## DarwinBrianT (Jun 15, 2013)

They are under the skin, I'll get a better pic.


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## DarwinBrianT (Jun 15, 2013)




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## Bushman (Jun 15, 2013)

Good grief! That's the worst case of parasitic infestation that I've seen. 
This species is susceptible to larvae of parasitic tapeworms, which can often be seen as conspicuous lumps beneath the skin. They get them from eating their prey, most likely from frogs. Do you have a pond nearby?


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## DarwinBrianT (Jun 15, 2013)

He is just sitting up the top of the door getting the heat coming out, the fire place is going and its very hot inside.


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## DarwinBrianT (Jun 15, 2013)

Yes there is a pond and frogs around.


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## lizardjasper (Jun 15, 2013)

poor lil guy. That is one bad infestation.


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## GeckPhotographer (Jun 15, 2013)

I don't think that's entirely parasitic infection (though there's plenty of that there too) but a couple of the bumps look more like spinal deformation to me (one in the centre and another to the right), the snake may have been injured in some way. What looks worst of all about the snake is the extreme lack of condition and just how much the spine is sticking out, as well as the dull grey 'sickly' colour.


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## DarwinBrianT (Jun 15, 2013)

It has moved on now, thanks for all the replies.


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## ronhalling (Jun 16, 2013)

DarwinBrianT said:


> View attachment 291264



My god, looking at the first pic it looks like a nice healthy CTS but then looking at the second 1 it almost looks like someone found a dead decomposing CTS and stuck it up in the top of your door, poor thing looks terrible.  .....................................Ron


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## joelysmoley (Jun 16, 2013)

Would it of been possible to get them parasites removed if you took it to a vet or would it just be euthanised


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## BloodRunsCold (Jun 16, 2013)

that's one beat up snake still going hard


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## Bluetongue1 (Jun 17, 2013)

From what can be seen of the head end in the first pic, the snake looks in reasonably good condition. I would be loathe to make judgements based on the second photo due to poor lighting and the distortion caused to its body shape by being wrapped across the frame of the screen door for support.

As was mentioned, the “skin worms” referred to are a stage of an initially aquatic tapeworm that are picked up by eating frogs (which makeup about 80% of the diet in nature). This second stage of the tapeworm moves from the gut to the skin (and occasionally muscle) tissues and encysts there. When the snake is eaten by another animal, usually mammal, the worms will develop into their adult stage and start producing eggs. So this stage can be thought of as essentially a resting period, awaiting the final host. Adult CTS can often carry 20 to 30 of these cysts with little affect on their general health. 

I know as kids we used a knick from a razor blade, dipped in a bit of metho first, and used pop the contents like a pimple. The cuts healed without any dressings other than a wipe of a metho soaked ball of cotton wool and the snakes seemed none the worse for the experience. They certainly recovered OK. I have seen similar bumps on RBBs, though not as many, and the same treatment revealed similar looking worms. I would imagine that following a clean with a disinfectant, that an antibiotic for the skin held there by a dressing would be the way to go theses days.

My understanding is that removal of these parasites is more for aesthetics than the health needs of the animal. Should anyone know otherwise, I would appreciate hearing about as specific information regarding CTS is scant.

Blue


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## DarwinBrianT (Jun 21, 2013)

Thanks for your post Blue, very interesting.
I have a video of it on the door I'll see if I can post it.


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## DarwinBrianT (Jun 21, 2013)




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