C oreganus necropsy

RandyRhoads · 08-30-12, 11:24 PM

Thought i'd pretend to know what i'm doing.

I was reading info Kim sent me on IBD

"

Necropsies revealed that the kidneys of 2 palm vipers contained

many pinpoint, chalky white deposits on the capsular

surface and, on section, throughout the parenchyma. Similar
white deposits were present on the pericardium of 1 snake
and the capsular surface of the liver of another snake. One
snake had thickening and hardening of the aorta. The lungs

from 2 of the snakes were

I went through organ by ogran looking for anything like the pinpoint chalky white deposits described here.

All set and ready to go.

Trachea NAD

Tracheal lung (?) NAD

Air sac/ Liver NAD

Heart NAD

Ventricle

Ventricle/Atrium NAD

RandyRhoads · 08-30-12, 11:25 PM

Liver NAD

Stomach - Parasitic infestation, or ingested substrate?

Unkown lesion # 1

Uknown lesion #1 removed showing damaged tissue underneath

Uknown lesion#2

Uknown lesions #1 and #2

RandyRhoads · 08-30-12, 11:26 PM

Inside of lesion #1

My best guess here is the lesion was conected to the spinal cord/nerve tissue causing the neuro issues(?) Just a guess, of course...

Trollbie · 08-30-12, 11:41 PM

You and your necropsies... So no deposits, right?

RandyRhoads · 08-30-12, 11:43 PM

Nope........

Trollbie · 08-30-12, 11:45 PM

That looks like a lot of sand in the tummy

RandyRhoads · 08-31-12, 12:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trollbie

That looks like a lot of sand in the tummy

I hope that's what it is, but i'm thinking more along the lines of parasites. They look a lot like tapeworm eggs to me.

BarelyBreathing · 08-31-12, 12:09 AM

It looks like parasites to me.

iBaman · 08-31-12, 12:42 AM

that...was the coolest thing I've ever seen. sorry for the death, of course...but great info.

shaunyboy · 08-31-12, 08:22 AM

as always you NEVER cease to amaze me Randy

doing your own autopsy was cool

and you got some answers,which is even better

imo,you did good mate

thanks for sharing

cheers shaun

Will0W783 · 08-31-12, 09:50 AM

Wow, great job Randy! That was very thorough and most of the tissues look quite clean. I agree that the stomach contents look like a parasitic infection to me. If a large quantity of sand were ingested, you would see clumping of it all through the intestines. If you have access to a microscope, you can look at the stomach contents under it to see if it is sand or worms. But from the rather sesame-seed shape of the contents, I think it's some kind of parasite...that could have killed the snake.

The lesions are probably tumours, which from their location, may very well have been the cause of neurological issues. It is also possible that they are benign fatty tumours. I dont' think you can really tell the difference without cell culturing and testing for cancer-associated proteins.

Anyway, that was an excellent necropsy, and my guess would be that parasitic infection overwhelmed the snake. It's sad, but it's unfortunately common in wild-caught snakes, and can take years to build up to critical load. I'm dealing with two LTC bush vipers that have whipworms and are probably not going to make it. It's heartbreaking. With the information you have from the necropsy, I think you're best to go ahead and treat the remaining snakes with Panacur.

Panacur is sold as a white paste in most tractor and farm supply stores, and even in Walmart. You want to make sure the active ingredient is fenbendazole, if you're buying the generic kind.

The paste is 100mg fenbendazole/1g paste, and 25g are usually in a tube. With that information, you can assume that there are 2500mg in the tube. This can be diluted with Pedialyte, 25mL to a concentration of 100mg/mL. The normal dosage is 50mg/kg for a snake, so you would give 0.5mL for each kg of weight. Use the clear, unflavored Pedialyte if you can find it. This provides some nice electrolytes that the snake will be low on due to parasites as well as the medication. If the snake will feed readily, inject the Panacur mixture into its f/t prey.