Colletts
Active Member
Hey guys,
I keep Files that i think were originally wild caught and recently have had a problem with one of them. I'd just like to share this because it may make you think twice about buying a wild caught one and because not much is known about them, hopefully my circumstance can help anyone else who may come across this problem in the future.
While cleaning their tank one day i noticed that one of them had a missing eye and the other was protruding out of it's socket. It was red/purple and all quite squishy looking. I was on holidays at the time of the first eye's disapperance so didnt see what it looked like or how long it took to heal. This snake also had round cookie-cutter bite-like marks all over his body, only found on his top half. The other snake in the same tank had not a mark on it and his eyes were fine, and still to this day hasn't had any problems. The snake sat out of the water either on his turtle float or on the glass panels of the tank for a few days, and I would occasionaly catch him in the water at night or late afternoon but most of his time was spent out of water, which is very strange for File snakes. Because he seemed happy out of the water during the day i started dry-docking him in a container with a wet tea towel on a heat mat during the day, and placing him in a tub of water with a heater and his float at night. This went on for two weeks, and it helped to heal the wounds and kept the eyes clean and allowed them to dry. Under my vets instructions i tried completely dry-docking him (no wet tea towel) for one day and it did his wounds good but he was very very lifeless that afternoon so i decided not to do it this way again. The time in the water at night helped re-hydrate him and caused him to stress less as it gave him the chance to swim or dry-dock himself when he felt he needed either. He went to the vet a few times and i was treating him with injectable Baytril for nearly two weeks. The vet (non-herp vet) had no clue as to what may have caused this and contacted a herp vet who didn't seem to have much more information to give. I gave him a betadine bath once a day and put Sylvazine ointment on his wounds (as directed by the herp vet). Over this two week period his eyes took turns in protruding and disappearing but i was told not to treat them with betadine or anything else because they are very delicate. I just had to watch out for infection. The lesions kept popping up during this period and i kept treating them. They would appear almost overnight and you could literally lift the round piece of scale up as if it had been cut perfectly, and underneath was another piece of skin that wiped away to show the muscle underneath- not a pretty site and was very painful for the snake.
At the time I was in contact with a lady who specialises in frogs and resuces and rebabilitates them when sick and injured. I sent her the pictures and she said it looks very similar to a parasite that frogs get which has been introduced to Aust by cats. It's called the spirametra tapeworm and it enters water ways from cat faeces, burrows into tadpoles and lives with the frog for their whole life (but only breed in the cats). It eventually burrows out through the skin causing these lesions, and generally only happens on the muscular parts of the frog- the thighs. Bad infestations cause them to come out anywhere, and can be seen and felt under the frog's skin (squishy and movebale). I noticed a lump when picking my snake up one day but when i touched it it seemed to disappear and felt just like this lady described. The worm can be treated with Praziquantel but only affects worms that aren't dormant. So any worms that are dormant can live on til the next bore out, so these poor animals have to be treated basically for the rest of their lives as it's unknown how many are in the body.
Sooo.... we came to the conclusion that it could be these parasites and not anything fungal because the other snake didn't pick it up. I wormed the snake twice within two weeks (he was due for one anyway) and he hasn't had another lesion since. His eyes are missing but he still eats (i hand feed) and the wounds have still got a white/yellow scab like appearance. The smaller wounds have just healed and the scales are missing there, there is no scab present.
I guess we wont know exactly what it was but it just seemed weird that these lesions stopped popping up once i wormed, only happen on the muscular side of the snake, and that lump felt like the woman described. But the eyes we can't explain. If the snake does have another bore out i will post it on here (and treat it the same) because then i guess it's certain that this worm may well be the cause.
I hope i haven't turned you off buying these wonderful snakes (and i think too that they're pretty easy to keep), but i just thought i should let you and others know. Hopefully one day when these animals become more common in the pet trade we'll be able to find out more.
I will throw in a few photos here of the snake.
Collett's
1st pic- his second eye protruding
2nd pic- one of the smaller wounds. These ones healed fine with no white scab covering
3rd pic- larger wounds
4th pic- eyes healing
5th pic- wounds healed (as much as they can i guess. If that scab is picked or rubbed off it just goes back to flesh and has to heal over again. I know this because while at the vet he was shedding so we peeled his skin off and one tore off just after it healed, poor fella!)
6th pic (will post after this one, used up all attachments)- eyes healed (or no eyes i should say)
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