Risk Of Diseases???

[jcros32]

Hey guys I posted a thread on here about a month ago of my little coastal carpet having problems feeding. It has been about 4months now and he still hadn't ate anything until today, but I'm frightened I may have done something wrong in what i have fed him. I found a small lizard in my backyard and i have heard that juvenile pythons feed on small skinks and stuff in the wild, so i thought i would give it a go. My carpet struck at the lizard straight away and ate it as soon as i put it infront of him. Then he ate a pinkie rat straight after that so i was stoked!!!!. But.... have i risked the chance of giving him disease by feeding him a backyard lizard???

 

[beeman]

Not so much as a desease as a gut full of parisites!

 

[jcros32]

Oh crap! I probably should of thought that one through before I put it in front of him. Are parasites hard to treat?

 

[LadyJ]

You shouldn't feed them anything you don't know the origins of... especially pressumably live skinks.

 

[pythrulz]

I know its very stressful not having a snake eat one of my coastals hasnt eaten for about 1 month but you risk giving it worms and parasites this is why rodents are killed and frozen straight away kills any parasites they may have hows your coastal ok

 

[jcros32]

Yeh it has been very stressful especially as i'm new to snake keeping and now it's worse .... I have probably just dug him an early grave he seems fine atm but i only fed him thismorning. I will just have to keep a close eye on him to make sure there are no signs of sickness or change. Can vets do anything about it?

 

[Echiopsis]

I wouldnt stress too much, 95% of the animals on the market over here are wild caught and guess what they were eating before getting pulled out of the bush?

Keep an eye on it and worm it out down the track if it makes you feel better. Could always take a faecal sample down to the vet and have it checked for parasites.

Not something id recommend (can be harder moving the animals back to rodents once they take lizards) but its not the end of the world either.

 

[zuesowns]

there was a post recently about wild food items being feed to there pythons. 1 keeper catches all his and feeds them to his pythons.

each to their own.

 

[jcros32]

Thanks guys, i'm a little less stressed now. Definetely a lesson learnt though. I will keep a close eye on him.

 

[Pythoninfinite]

For goodness sake... if eating one lizard posed a threat to your snake's health, we'd have no snakes in the world. This stupid advice from people who are afraid of their own shadows causes more stress to new keepers than anything else.

If you don't know what you're talking about, don't offer advice. This fear of parasites has become an obsession with no basis in fact. The ONLY problem your snake might present you with after a lizard meal, is that it might be less inclined to eat more readily availabe (rodent) food for a time in the future. How else can we put it... LIZARDS ARE THE NATURAL FOOD OF YOUNG PYTHONS - IF YOU THINK A LIZARD MEAL GIVES IT A FATAL DOSE OF WORMS, YOU DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT SNAKES...

jcros32, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.

Pythrulz, the reason rodents are killed and frozen 'straight away' is because they go bad if they're frozen a few days later. You can feed fresh killed rodents to your snakes without freezing, and you won't cause them to get 'worms and parasites' from fresh stuff, in fact, the reptiles will thrive...

Jamie

 

[solar 17]

For goodness sake... if eating one lizard posed a threat to your snake's health, we'd have no snakes in the world. This stupid advice from people who are afraid of their own shadows causes more stress to new keepers than anything else.

If you don't know what you're talking about, don't offer advice. This fear of parasites has become an obsession with no basis in fact. The ONLY problem your snake might present you with after a lizard meal, is that it might be less inclined to eat more readily availabe (rodent) food for a time in the future. How else can we put it... LIZARDS ARE THE NATURAL FOOD OF YOUNG PYTHONS - IF YOU THINK A LIZARD MEAL GIVES IT A FATAL DOSE OF WORMS, YOU DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT SNAKES...

jcros32, you have absolutely nothing to worry about.

Pythrulz, the reason rodents are killed and frozen 'straight away' is because they go bad if they're frozen a few days later. You can feed fresh killed rodents to your snakes without freezing, and you won't cause them to get 'worms and parasites' from fresh stuff, in fact, the reptiles will thrive...

Jamie

Ditto.....solar 17 [Baden]

 

[Retic]

I'm with you Jamie, it's right up there with sending branches to the local nuclear power station for decontamination before putting them in cages.

 

[Kristy_07]

Good advice, Jamie

 

[jcros32]

Hey thanks jamie, top name btw i'm jamie too haha. cheers for the advice mate. Made alot of sense that if eating one lizard posed a threat to your snake we would have no snakes in the world.

 

[Pythoninfinite]

Hey thanks jamie, top name btw i'm jamie too haha. cheers for the advice mate. Made alot of sense that if eating one lizard posed a threat to your snake we would have no snakes in the world.

Jamie eh? Well I can see you'll be a top-notch herper in years to come... if you carry your name with pride, you may be able to undo some of the damage I've done the name Jamie over the years!

Jamie

 

[jcros32]

( LadyJ) I'm not trying to be rude and I appreciate any advise, but looking at your other threads you have stated that you haven't owned a snake and are asking how to feed one and what to feed a snake. So my question is why are you giving advise when you haven't owned a snake before? (Plz understand I'm not trying to be rude and i love getting advise, but this is what people are getting confused and worried about, because there are newbies on this site giving other newbies advise). It's like the blind leading the blind.

 

[cactus2u]

yeah I'm of the opinion we all can be too clinical in everything .Possibly why so much sickness around ..we lose our bodies natural immunity capabilities Snakewise I reckon a sick critter be a no no but a good healthy specimen .........

 

[jcros32]

..

 

[redbellybite]

( LadyJ) I'm not trying to be rude and I appreciate any advise, but looking at your other threads you have stated that you haven't owned a snake and are asking how to feed one and what to feed a snake. So my question is why are you giving advise when you haven't owned a snake before? (Plz understand I'm not trying to be rude and i love getting advise, but this is what people are getting confused and worried about, because there are newbies on this site giving other newbies advise). It's like the blind leading the blind.

I knew I liked you ........as was said no problems .... GUILTY ,I have done it where I stuck a skink inside a pinkie's mouth after rubbing over pinkie head ...

 

[Pythoninfinite]

The other thing that is usually raised with these questions, and I'm surprised it hasn't happened here yet... is that feeding skinks (protected fauna in their own right) is illegal in most states, but of course you'd have be very unlucky to get caught. It's just another thing that people are keen to lecture others about... I don't see it as a huge moral issue, it's simply not to be recommended because you may cause the animal to be a bit reluctant to revert to rodents.

J.