Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[vetdave]

Cryptosporidium in gecko colonies
Cryptosporidium is a highly pathogenic protozoa that has come to prominence over recent years as a cause great losses in intensive Gecko production and thus filters down to also effect the pet geckos that such enterprises supply. This disease has had a lot of press on various forums of late and many people seem to misunderstand the problems and especially the best ways to control the problem.
Cryptosporidia are single-celled protozoal parasites. There are many different types and ultimately the actual species of Cryptosporidium is all but incidental. The main point about the lifecycle you need to understand is that the adults live in the host and they shed oocysts (eggs) in the faeces in large numbers. Some of these oocysts re-infect the host and rapidly increase the number of organisms in the host animal and the rest are released in to the environment to infect other geckos. The main reason Cryptosporidium can grow to be such a major problem is the vast number or oocysts produced from an infected individual, the ease with which these can be transported around to infect other geckos and the fact that many geckos that are shedding oocysts remain clinically well showing no symptoms of disease at all. Stress to the gecko from say breeding, transport, reboxing etc makes the Gecko vulnerable to the clinical disease.

Clinical Signs
Infection is usually by the ingestion of infected food ie crickets which have eaten infected gecko feces but can be from contaminated water or licking substrate, rocks, faeces etc. transports the oocysts into the host. Once there Cryptosporidial proliferation causes damages to the bowel. The mucous membranes that line the gut are destroyed causing inflammation, dehydration, maldigestion and malabsorbtion. Often the animals initially carry on eating but start to loose weight. This is usually easiest seen on their tail fat reserves initially but progresses to a weak emaciated gecko that hardly has the energy to lift it’s own weight let along chase food. These animals eventually die.
If your vet suspects this or a similar infection they will most likely do a faecal examination. This can be done by the vets themselves but most commonly a fresh faecal sample is sent to a veterinary laboratory for examination for parasites and for bacteriology and sensitivity. Many suspected cases of Cryptosporidium will turn out to have other pathogens that will require specific treatments but a positive result for Cryptosporidium will give a very grave prognosis for that particular gecko and where many other individuals are also maintained by the owner can present even bigger problems. In should also be noted that an individual may harbor Cryptosporidium but not show any signs of disease and have a negative faecal exam result. These animals can not be considered to be Crypto-free!! However if an animal is ill a sample will usually be fairly definitive one way or the other as to the diagnosis.

Treatment
I guess the most important thing to decide to start with is should I be thinking of treating or culling. If it’s a single pet Gecko and in reasonable condition at the time of presentation then treatment can be started. If however this is one of a large scale production careful consideration as to the merits of treatment should be considered before starting. Firstly treatment is only generally successful in animals that are only mildly ill on presentation. Animals with little or no body fat are at the end stage of a disease process that stated some time previously and even with
all the money and drugs available they will mostly still pass away. Treatment is usually with the human drug Humatin as most other anti-protozoal medication is either too toxic and/or have little effect on the Cryptosporidia. Drugs and assist feeding/fluids are usually reasonably effective in improving the geckos condition and many animals will show complete recovery with Crypto negative faecal sample results. However, even with multiple testing I would always consider these animals potentially infected and never mix them back in with ‘clean’ Crypto-free stock. Indeed any animal that was previous housed with a crypto +ve animal should be considered to be similarly infected even if it outwardly seems very healthy.
The other consideration is that Cryptosporidium is a zoonosis which means that potentially it can infect people and other animals if poor hygiene practices are observed. This is another good reason why treatment of confirmed cases should be only undertaken in rare cases and euthanasia is almost certain to be a wiser choice.

How to stop disease spread in a breeding centre
i) Disinfectants: Cryptosporidium is a big problem in large part because the eggs that are passed are very resistant and remain potentially active in the environment for ages. Hot soapy water cleaning is useless. Strong disinfectants such as Trigene, virkon etc are great against bacteria and viruses but have little or no oocyst killing activity. It takes special disinfectants such as the UK marketed cresol based Neopredisan 135-1 (www.vet-tech.co.uk) to kill these and this is therefore obviously the disinfectant of choice for all gecko breeders/importers. Everything must be cleaned between batches especially bowls, hides etc.
ii) Culling and separation: Any animals showing clinical disease should be quickly removed from the breeding stock and culled(or treated) but should never return to the main breeding area or be mixed in with other geckos.
iii) Probably the best method of preventing the production of infected hatchlings is to clean the eggs and remove them to a disease free area. Cryposporidium is not passed through the egg and thus removing all eggs quickly from the laying area, superficially cleaning them and hatching them in a clean area away from the adults. Remove any shells from a hatching area as soon as vacated and change the substrate completely between hatches rather than adding further eggs to mixed hatch date batches. Keep hatchlings in small groups rather than very large groups and try to sell them as soon as they get a few feeds in them.
iv) Cricket control: Remembering back to infection the ingestion of infected crickets is by far the biggest cause of infection spread from cage to cage. Many facilities I have visited have caging that allows for uneaten crickets to escape from one cage and move to another cage. This must be stopped by making each box more secure so as crickets can’t escape and certainly can’t enter another geckos box.
v) Start with clean stock: A) Faecal samples are a good place to start but would prove expensive if done on all geckos in a breeding set-up. In addition, as discussed, geckos in good health may well be contaminated but not shedding the oocysts at the time of sampling. B) Only purchase animals that look to be in good health sounds silly but far too many people buy animals that don’t look good and think they’ll “put some weight on them”. Never introduce animals to your collection that don’t at least look fat and healthy on purchase. C) Purchase animals out the egg…literally. Maybe even buy them in the egg if it came to it. Clean the outside and hatch them yourself? This is the stage that is likely to be the least contaminated of all.

Thoughts
It’s heart breaking when I get a client bring in a little gecko they have purchased as a pet for their children only to find it has Cryposporidium and needs to be euthanased. Everyone but especially big breeders need to do what they can to at least decrease the incidence of this disease and not take account of the losses from the disease in their production targets. The heartbreak this causes people at the pet end of the market does irreconcilable damage to the industry overall and turns thousands of potential lifelong enthusiasts off herpetology at a young age which costs the whole trade in the long run and damages the herpetolgy name as a pet brand.

David Feldmar
BVMS MRCVS
Dec’07
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For more information on all my herping activities please visit the new website at www.prestigepythons.com

[kroakykaren]

Excellent post dave...........Thank you
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[Jas]

Hi Dave, do you have any thoughts on the inclusion in there diet of the edible clays to "flush out" protozoa or does this not work with Cryptosporidium.
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www.Reptilebreeder.co.uk
Gutload Pro-Formula!

[vetdave]

Some protozoa species have burdens in the bowel can be reduced with some diets but Cryptosporidium isn't in the bowel lumen it's in the bowel wall and thus can't be flushed out. Can't help trying I guess.
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For more information on all my herping activities please visit the new website at www.prestigepythons.com

[Dracowoman2]

Thanks Dave, a very inciteful post. Especially as Crypto can affect Royals as well and isn't just limited to geckos. Again apparently the biggest concern for royals is it being in the rats that they are fed.

Thansk for your advice, I may think about changing my disinfectant just to be on the safe side!
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www.draco2.co.uk

"Life without animals isn't life, they give much and take little"

Claire

[JStroud]

Great post Dave, some invaluable information
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Regards James Stroud

[kinyonga]

Is it true that ammonia will kill the oocysts?

Would a steamer kill them if you used it to clean out the cage?

[vetdave]

Think it depends on the ammonia concentration but toxic
at high concentrations so not sure safety vs effectiveness.

They quote 200C to kill oocysts with temperature so
steam would imply only 100c which wouldn't be enough.

Dave
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For more information on all my herping activities please visit the new website at www.prestigepythons.com

[Dracowoman2]

I wish humans had that kind of immunity to things. Again probably due to the over prescribing of antibiotics for every sniffle in the past. I've often said I'd quite happily pay a vet to look after me as well as my animals, they hav a better bedside manner most of the time as well

Anyway, back on topic............Is the Crypto strain the same that affects snakes and Geckos or is it a different strain. I'm really careful about sanitation and scrubbing hands and apply antibacterial hand wash bweteen rooms and tank as all my species are in different rooms, but if ammonia and 100c won't kill the damn things I'm starting to wonder if it isn't entirely fruitless, although for lesser issues it's still worthwhile. Would latex gloves that are changes between each tank help at all, as anything that got on them would obviously end up in the bin, instead of sticking to hands.
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www.draco2.co.uk

"Life without animals isn't life, they give much and take little"

Claire

[Central Scotland Reptiles]

Very informative post Dave, can we have this as a sticky please?

Can i ask, how much would you expect ( ball park figure ) to pay for a faecal examination on a gecko?
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Fraser Gilchrist
Central Scotland Reptiles - "Finding Beauty in the Beasts"