little bugs

I have noticed that today there appears to be tiny bugs that are the shape of a worm in my boas water dish. There was only like three of them and when I saw them I cleaned out the dish right away. Where could they come from? I have a 10 gallon at the moment with some bark at the bottom from the pet store and some astroturf. I did have some sticks in there that I found outside but I took those out.

I tried to google pictures of snake parasites to see if any matched but very few pictures came up.

It is possible that your snake has those parasites inside. They could have come from your snake. Many snakes get parasites even from breeders, because breeders often feed them live prey to get the feeding response. Your snake can also get parasites if you feed it live prey rather than frozen/thawed prey. So if you are feeding your snake live prey, or if you haven't taken a stool sample to the vet yet to check your snake, those worms could be inside your snake.

Needless to say I would take my snake to the vet if I were you, with a stool sample.

Here are some links to good reptile vets:

http://herpvetconnection.com/
http://arav.com/Directory.htm

Roberts and Wendt animal hopsital would be your best bet. Dr. Vicky Wendt is who I take my herps to.

I cleaned out the cage and all seems to good now Ill keep an eye on the water though to see if they show up.

Originally Posted by shivaboa

I tried to google pictures of snake parasites to see if any matched but very few pictures came up.
It is possible that your snake has those parasites inside. They could have come from your snake. Many snakes get parasites even from breeders, because breeders often feed them live prey to get the feeding response. Your snake can also get parasites if you feed it live prey rather than frozen/thawed prey. So if you are feeding your snake live prey, or if you haven't taken a stool sample to the vet yet to check your snake, those worms could be inside your snake.

Jackie, I beg to differ, Ive been feeding my Boas Live since I got into Boas(10 years now) And I have never had a parasite problem internally, did by chance read that on a Melissa Kaplan Site.? No disrespect, I can see if you are feeding diseased Rodents (IE) Dieing mange or other life treating illnesses.That is the only way I would think feeding live would cause that.or it being a wild caught snake. JMO

If you see any more of those little varmints be sure to save them for the vet!
Caden Chapman

Yeah none so far

Originally Posted by DooberRT

Yeah none so far

If you didn't take the animal to the vet ,and it is parasites ,then they will be back on the next life cycle.Wait a few weeks .If what you saw were parasites,then they were the end result.The begining phase may be going on right now as we speak.
If your not going to invest the money to take your animal to the vet ,the least you should do is take a stool sample in and have it tested.
Better safe then sorry.

I a stool sample to the vet and he said all was good