Deworming is a must
Whether an animal is CB or not doesn't stop parasites. Some species of parasites are the most widely distributed organism on the planet. This is becuase of thier ability to go unnoticed for long periods of time. Some parasites are species specific and others not. It is probable that if you had a small number of reptiles and they were never in any contact with any other animals that you many keep them parasite free. However you can pick up parasites and bring them into your colony on your clothes, hands/skin, feeder animals, even the air can blow some parasite eggs around. I myself have seen in 2004 an live ascarid come out of a 3 year captive eastern diamondback rattlesnake that had been treated upon capture and quarantine. A dead ascarid come out of a CB GTP that had been in a closed colony that was assembled in only two steps and every animal was quarantined. A dead tapeworm come out of a 5 YEAR!!! captive produced mangrove snake that was the persons only animal venomous or not!!!
In every industry whether it is dogs, cats, cattle, or horses we have developed preventitive care regiments of worming and vaccinations. However many people in the reptile industry think if something is CB then it will never be sick or or have problems. Well the bad news is that many CB animals harbor more stuff than most wild caughts (while in the wild, not at the importers), due to the fact of reduced caging(compounds pathogens/infections organisms), lack of sunlight (no uv sterilization), and poor sanitation by many individuals. Also many people are starting to think that some CB animals may not develope a very complex immune system becuase they do not see all the bacteria/fungi/viruses(problematic, benign, or symbiotic) they would in the wild so when they do come into contact with something in captivity it is much more detremental than in the wild.
With the lack of energy expenditure that CB snakes have and the amount of food we enable them to to have most of them are on the verge of obesity. With this fact we may not see the nutrient depriving effects that worms have. Since we have all been taught that animals with worms will not gain weight, look emaciated, and been less energetic we tend to overlook other factors of detrement that worms perform. Many have migratory larval stages, some through the gut wall(causing ulcerations), through the lung(causes blood clots, blockages to alveoli, possible embolisms), and some into the central nervous system.
While we think our animals may be perfectly fine due to looks there is much more on the inside than we can see-with health and the reptile industry.
Mnay people in the reptile industry also simply treat with fenbendazole and ivermectin and call it good. Well protozoans, ameobas, and tapeworms laugh at those wormers. Metrodiazole will take care of the protozoans but care must be used becuase old data/dosage levels are now considered toxic-it is also extremely hard on indigos/cribos/turtles/torts.
Droncit is another wormer that is overlooked due to its price($3-7 per animal), but it is one of the few that will treat tapeworms and truely kill the scolex(head). Many wormers will stun tapes and they will shed the body segments which are also egg packets but the scolex survives and builds a new body.
Also wormers are supposed to be given in courses of 2-3 sometimes 4 stages depending on the wormer/volume given/and type of animal. Many reptile people are guilty of giving one dose then calling it good. Also a lot of use won't take a 20 dollar ball, or 15 dollar corn to the vet becuase of cost. So when we do get a wormer/antibiotic/any other drug we hang onto it until it is gone, and I have seen many people using out of date drugs. Granted in the real world many drugs are good past thier experiation dates-but for how long? Nobody can tell.
As you stated correctly fecal exams are not always correct, as we all know you should not treat animals for diseases/conditions that are not there to prevent drug resistance by whatever other organisms are present at the time of treatment, but having the label of CB is not an acceptable excuse for ignoring a real threat.
You may have gotten your CB balls from a breeder but did the breeder only have CB animals, did the the breeder practice true pathogen exclusion-not just pathogen control. Was the animal bought at a show where 100's of thousands of reptiles were sitting within yards of it. There are millions of vectors and fomites that transfer pathogens around us daily and the pathogens and infectious organisms are only here today because they have deveolped means to survive, infest, and reproduce.
Hope this helps-an excellent reference book is Klingenburg(spelling?) Guide to understanding reptile parasites.
Ben Cole
