Fecal Smear Pictures . . . can you ID the parasite?

Alrighty all,

Have a look at My site and click on the Fecal Smear link.

Here I have 3 pictures taken from a fresh fecal smear from my untreated female. Your professional opinions count and even if your not a professional the pictures are cool.


Magnification was 430x I think if not it was between 430 - 860x

I've seen BOTH of those, exactly, in my parasites book, but I don't have it at hand, at the moment. I'll see if I can track it down, and get back to you, unless someone else does first.

("Understanding Reptile Parasites"--best book you can possibly invest in).

I have that book, and there are two pictures it looks like it could be, on isnt a possibility cause my gecko would have to of eaten ants, and the specimen would have been huge under 430x. But all the pictures in that book are taken at 100x, I was hoping to get some 1st hand pictures at greater magnification so people like me would have a place to go, and identify.

The first two photos look like some kind of pentastomid larvae to me. The third is not really clear enough to get a good 'make' on the egg, but it could very well be from some sort of fluke.

BYW... are you any relation to Rob Jenkins from Maryland?

Jodys thinking is they were Strongyloides in their larve stage, being it was a fresh fecal smear and thats the only what to get a positive for them.

Nope, truthly I'm not a jenkins at all, I was a schiebel out of butler, pa, and when I got married I took my wifes last name, her realitives are all over namely ohio, and kentucky.

I looked at your pics of the fecal smear, although they are a little dark it does appear to be strongyloides larva and ova. Although if you get get one with a little more lighting (so I can see the coloration of the pic of the ova, pic #3) that would help. I am a vet tech for Zoo Atlanta ( i spend alot of time reading fecals). Those are pretty common in reptiles, we use Panacur for treatment of Strongyloides larva/ova. Make sure to give a follow up dose usually 2-3 weeks from initial dose and then recheck fecal in 1 week after receiving 2nd dose of Panacur. Hope this helps,
Shannon Richards

I'll get beter pictures tonight when I get a fresh sample, the other leos that were sent to a vet came back positive for hookworms, but he's an idiot.

After getting a look at the other pics I can give you a 100%guaranteed identification of them. The ova seen on the smears are Oxyurids or pinworm ova. The larva still resembles strongyloides but the ova definetely are oxyurids. Thanks for sharing!
Shannon Richards

Hmm... that doesn't look very strongyloid-ish to me, I always think of a small pinworm when I hear strongyloid. Was it moving when you looked at it? Could be some artifact that happened to look like a worm or a piece of a mealworm. If it WAS moving, might be a hookworm, or some strange stomach worm (don't discount the possibility of your gecko to not have eaten an ant, ant's are like everywhere).

The egg from Lilly's smear could be a hookworm egg, a pinworm egg, a capillaria egg, or even a coccidia cyst. It really isn't clear enough to get a good ID. Might want to do another fecal on her and get some better pics.

The other eggs do look like oxyurid eggs.

-Dave