Cryptosporidium serpentis. (or saurophilium)
“Crypto”
The deadly and highly contagious protozoa (disease) that no one wants to talk about:
(Disclaimer: Always consult your veterinarian)
Separating fact and fiction
Myths:
1. If I buy my animal from a reputable breeder my snake wont have crypto and I don’t have to worry about it.
2. If I quarantine 3-6 months and my new snake appears healthy I can safely bring it into my collection.
3. If I keep my snakes enclosure clean and sanitize my hands in between touching animals I won’t spread crypto.
4. If I use F10, clorahexadine, bleach or alcohol I will adequately clean things and it will kill the crypto and it wont spread.
The sad truth is that none of the above statements are true.
- Almost Any breeder can unknowingly or unwittingly sell a snake with crypto as many/most dont test and dont use adequate PPE.
- Crypto can lie dormant for years within a snake’s GI tract and MOST of the time an animal is a-symptomatic (does not have any outward symptoms). None of our crypto positive snakes were symptomatic. NONE. However some snakes do have symptoms: regurgitation, pickiness, swollen abdomen among others.
- Crypto spores can attach to clothing, shoes, skin and any other surface and easily be passed around. Whenever a snake that is positive, defecates (poops) millions to billions of spores are shed. From there it only takes 10 spores to infect a new host! One tongue flick from snake onto any surface where the spores have stuck can lead to infection.
- There is a lot of misinformation out there about how to kill crypto and how to deal with an outbreak. None of the standard cleaning methods are effective against crypto. (for example) Freezing does NOT destroy crypto.
Best Practice to Avoid a Crypto outbreak:
- Ask before you buy: 1. Does the breeder test for crypto. 2. How do they test, 3. how often and 4. who do they test. 5. How do they quarantine? 6. Look at the photos the breeder is posting. Are they wearing PPE? Are the snakes being photographed on a surface that can be sterilized (ie smooth non porous surface or in a gloved hand)? Decide if it is worth the cost emotionally and literally if the answer to these questions is not clear or inadequate. In our experience many to most (but happily not all) breeders don’t bother with testing, and those who have tested and quarantine, do so inadequately.
- Test at least 25% of the established snakes in your collection every 1-3 months for minimum of 12 to 24 months (at least 7 fecal samples per snake) before considering them crypto free. If it is feasible to test your entire collection we would recommend that.
- Keep all new animals in a quarantine (separate rack preferably separate room or at least on the other side of a room from your collection) until 9-24 months or 7 monthly negative tests (depending upon your comfort level).
- Do not handle your snakes with bare hands until you are positive that they are crypto free (see above) and use disposable gloves between all animals and when touching their containers/enclosures. Consider changing clothes and shoes between quarantine and your established clean collection. Assume every animal is infected until cleared. (see below for guidelines on considering your animal “clear”. )
- Never cross feed a rejected prey food to another snake or put a rejected prey item back in the freezer with other feeders. Throw it away.
- Do not share things like tupperware/hides/waterdishes/tubs/enrichment. Each snake should have it’s own unless you can properly clean it in between animals. (see cleaning section). Ideally all items like enrichment and disposed of and never travel between snakes.
- Any clothes that you wear into your quarantine room, to a reptile store, friend’s house with reptiles, or a reptile expo should be removed and washed in a washing machine and dryer that have a steam sanitize/allergy setting and then wash your hands well for 20-30 seconds with soap and water. (See cleaning section)
- With PCR testing: test any new snake monthly for 3-6 months, then every 3 months for the first 12-24 months before accepting them into your collection. Yes MINIMUM 9 months of testing but honestly 12 months is better. and 24 months is best. If doing a gastric lavage at your vet one to two lavages should be enough to clear your animal.
PCR testing:
- RAL (Research Associates Laboratory) COST: $20 for Cryptosporidium serpentis, $25 for Crytopspridum serpentis and varanii (the lizard version but can cross infect snakes) https://www.vetdna.com/test-type/reptiles, and Veterinary Molecular Diagnostics; http://www.vmdlabs.com/herp.html, With PCR testing, you can collect samples and send them in yourself on a monthly basis. Your vet can also use Univeristy of Florida Zoo Medicine https://labs.vetmed.ufl.edu/all-tests/zoo-med-infections/. Do not use anything but PCR testing if using a fecal test. Not all Crypto tests are created equal. Rapid antigen tests are the least accurate of all the tests (home test kits) and cost about the same as a PCR test. Contrarily, gastric lavage done by your vet 3 days after consumption of prey is most reliable but is also most intrusive.
One or two time PCR/fecal testing is not adequate to rule out crypto. Crytpo can lie dormant for extended periods of time. So a “false” negative (where Crypto is not detected) can happen frequently. However a “false positive” where the DNA is detected, but is not actually there can (generally) only happen if: a) samples are incorrectly gathered/handled/processed, b) a non-reliable form of testing is used. Therefore, PCR testing of samples is highly reliable. When a test comes back positive you have crypto. Please see best practice for crypto testing below.
There is no current cure for Crypto, and as far as we have been able to tell it is universally lethal. However, how long it will take until the animal dies varies. It can depend on their condition, immune system, age, and other factors. A couple of studies are looking at Paromomyacin as a possible treatment, but there doesnt seem to be enough research/data out there about this.
If you find a cryptosporidium positive animal in your collection: (Have an active outbreak) –
1. Call your vet. We had one exotic vet tell us to destroy our entire collection immediately and that it was impossible to save any of them (even the crypto negative animals). We had another exotic vet tell us we couldn’t have crypto because our snakes were not symptomatic. So, be aware that MANY vets have outdated/incorrect information re: Cryptosporidium management so please do your own research as well.
2. Decide what your goal is. (this will depend on how many animals you have, what your living/breeding situation looks like and other factors)
- What we do/did: - immediately isolate and/or euthanize infected animals. We euthanized ( :( ) all positive snakes and all snakes that had been exposed via breeding or feeding to the positive snakes.
- Lock down the house/business. No reptiles in or out for at least 6 months or until you have a crypto negative collection for 12 -24 months straight.
- Alert anyone who you have sold/bought/traded/visited of possibility that their animals may be infected.
CLEANING
How to KILL crypto:
It is very very hard to inactivate Crypto. (note we didnt say Kill) As mentioned above, what does NOT work: F10, F10sc, Clorahexadine, Bleach, Alcohol nor ANY of the cleaners sold at ANY reptile store/expo/shop.
Killing Crypto is a COMMITMENT and is laborious and time consuming and in all honesty is exhausting both emotionally and physically.
1. Buy shoe covers or only use one pair of shoes to enter the Crypto zone. Remove them and change back into your non crypto shoes when leaving the Crypto zone.
2. Any clothes that you wear into the “crypto” zone should be placed in a plastic bag and then washed in washer with an Allergy/Steam Sanitize setting both in the washer AND the dryer.
3. Use disposable gloves and change frequently. Be mindful of what you touch and imagine crypto sticking to them. Anytime you touch a surface assume it is contaminated. Change gloves and change gloves again and again.
4. Use a dedicated trash can with a lid for the crypto area for gloves/shoe covers/paper towels etc.
5. Do not use any regular/reusable towels to clean areas. Only use paper towels so they can be thrown away immediately.
6. Throw away all contaminated bedding/tools/branches/hides (anything with a porous surface) that may have come in contact with any suspected or known exposed animals.
7. Wash all remaining items with warm soapy water and rinse well and a lot so that all visible soilage is removed, then allow to air dry. This step will physically wash away many of the spores. (It wont kill them)
8. Soak with 12-13% strength Hydrogen Peroxide and allow to stay wet for at least 4-5 min. We also use RESCUE disinfectant it has AHP but it is unclear if it works as well as straight HP. This step should inactivate the spores but as it is difficult to ensure that all spores are submerged for the allotted time frame it should be followed by the steps below. Wear gloves when using the strong peroxide as it will breakdown any organic surface including skin! It is a very strong caustic chemical so be careful.
9. Put anything that fits in a dishwasher that has a sanitize/steam and high heat setting and run it. Then remove and allow to air dry for 7 days. It should now be clean and free of crypto.
10. Any surface that can’t be run in a dishwasher should be cleaned with steps 1-3 and then a steam cleaning machine with at least 50 psi pressure should be used over the area. You need to keep the nozzle no more than ½ inch from the surface for a min of 2 minutes per section. It takes about 20 min to cover a 36 inch surface area. Now your surface should be crypto free, but leave everything exposed to air for a minimum of another 30-60 days with the item dried out and exposed to air just to be sure (we wait 6 months). Crypto spores do not survive long when dried out. Remember you only need 9 spores to infect an animal so err on the side of caution.
Of Note: Ammonia at 5% can kill spores but it needs 18 hours of direct contact and releases gas fumes that are highly irritating so we dont recommend this method.
Note: This is a synopsis of our understanding and research and experience. Please consult with your veterinarian and reach out with any questions/comments.
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