Hi all

[beezie]

Thank you for the welcomes and the replies!
Sterling and I went to the vet yesterday. Their in house slide if his fecal sample was negative for parasites but they sent a sample out to the lab. Got a call back today that he is positive for worms. Not sure what type yet. We have a follow up appt tomorrow to start treatment on that. They gave him one dose of metronidazole while we were there yesterday. No stool with blood today so I am grateful at least we know what we are dealing with and I can start getting him better.
As far as feeding in the separate tub....I totally hear what you are all saying. I've read all the varying opinions on the matter. My concern with feeding him in his enclosure is the risk of him ingesting bedding material. I use aspen shavings. I feel like the risk of him ingesting those outweighs the problems with feeding him in a separate tub.
He is an extremely docile corn. Has never struck at me and seems to do well with the feedings in the tub. We wait until the mouse has traveled about 2/3 down his body before transfer back into his enclosure and then I leave him alone for a couple days.
I welcome all input though.
Thanks again!

[Scubadiver59]

Snakes ingest particles in the wild, and most here will agree, a small amount of substrate ingested will be negligible as most pieces will be passed harmlessly...snakes survive in the wild ingesting dirt, leaf matter, etc and don't die in great numbers.

If you are really concerned, put your snake on something like Cypress, that has larger pieces, and that the snake can still tunnel through if it wants.

The stress you induce, moving weekly, every ten days, etc. isn't worth the trouble...besides, you can use that extra enclosure for another snake!

Originally Posted by beezie

Thank you for the welcomes and the replies!
Sterling and I went to the vet yesterday. Their in house slide if his fecal sample was negative for parasites but they sent a sample out to the lab. Got a call back today that he is positive for worms. Not sure what type yet. We have a follow up appt tomorrow to start treatment on that. They gave him one dose of metronidazole while we were there yesterday. No stool with blood today so I am grateful at least we know what we are dealing with and I can start getting him better.
As far as feeding in the separate tub....I totally hear what you are all saying. I've read all the varying opinions on the matter. My concern with feeding him in his enclosure is the risk of him ingesting bedding material. I use aspen shavings. I feel like the risk of him ingesting those outweighs the problems with feeding him in a separate tub.
He is an extremely docile corn. Has never struck at me and seems to do well with the feedings in the tub. We wait until the mouse has traveled about 2/3 down his body before transfer back into his enclosure and then I leave him alone for a couple days.
I welcome all input though.
Thanks again!

[dave himself]

Glad you got everything sorted out

[beezie]

Just an update here on Sterling, my corn snake. His lab fecal tested positive for round worms. He had his first treatment and seems to be responding well. No more bloody poops. I'm so relieved. Thank you for all of your input.
He has since had a nice shed and then I fed him (for the first time in a while as he was refusing when he wasn't feeling well)....so all is good over here.
Quick question....I am keeping him on paper towel with a very simple washable plastic watwe bowl and plastic hide in his enclosure until after his second treatment. I just want to make sure everything is looking good and I can continue to disinfect his habitat well. I have removed the two logs and fake vine from his enclosure and washed them in a diluted bleach / water solution and put them aside. ((Rinsed well, obviously)) Question is.....I know round worm eggs are hardy and will survive on inanimate objects...so would you just throw out the old logs and vine etc and start fresh? I would really rather not do that but I'm keeping them out of his enclosure for now.

[TRD]

Originally Posted by beezie

Just an update here on Sterling, my corn snake. His lab fecal tested positive for round worms. He had his first treatment and seems to be responding well. No more bloody poops. I'm so relieved. Thank you for all of your input.
He has since had a nice shed and then I fed him (for the first time in a while as he was refusing when he wasn't feeling well)....so all is good over here.
Quick question....I am keeping him on paper towel with a very simple washable plastic watwe bowl and plastic hide in his enclosure until after his second treatment. I just want to make sure everything is looking good and I can continue to disinfect his habitat well. I have removed the two logs and fake vine from his enclosure and washed them in a diluted bleach / water solution and put them aside. ((Rinsed well, obviously)) Question is.....I know round worm eggs are hardy and will survive on inanimate objects...so would you just throw out the old logs and vine etc and start fresh? I would really rather not do that but I'm keeping them out of his enclosure for now.

Not sure if round worm eggs survive a bleach bath, most stuff doesn't, but eggs have impenetrable shells.. If you want to be REALLY safe then it's always best to drop the old stuff out, but I don't think that it would be required when cleaned (scrubbed off & rinsed) well. Most materials you can also heat in an oven at 300F or boil in water if you have second thoughts on how clean it is