lung worms

[Guest]

Hello i thought this might interest some and imfo would be appreciated from all.In the early 90s i was out as usual in the escarpment country on south coast NSW when in a dry grassy area i caught a juvy diamond curled sunning on dry grass in nov.Uppon inspection it appeared OK but i noticed a very small amount of saliva on its mouth,well it was nice so i decided to keep it for a while as i used to do and observe it.IT ate a mouse and was going ok for two weeks until i inspected it closely again as i could see little bit o9f saliva around the mouth.I got a magnifying glass and upon very close inspection of its mouth could make out very very small clear colored worms.Reading an american herp book i had at the time i gathered they were lung worms of some type that had been injested through eating a lizard that migrate from stomach to mouth and then down windpipe to lungs.The local prefered prey item was guichenoti Garden skink which contain a small white larvae close to their or in their lungs.There is no coppertailskinks or lesuers geckos in the area.Does anyone have similar experience with lung worms or imformation.

 

[serpenttongue]

Oldfella, i've only come across roundworms in wild diamonds.

So anyway what happened? Did you eradicate them? How long were the worms? Were they in large numbers?

By the way, i love it when someone tells a tale from their past herp experiences like this. We should have more of it.

 

[Guest]

Gday serp,i gather the round worms are the red nematodes? that were always present in numbers its not my strong subject these parasites.Many diamond adults i found on the escarpment in the early eighties also had skin worms,though infestations of these became rarer in the nineties.Its the ones i think maybe lungworms that interest me and ive always wondered how many adult spilota must have them and what effect it would have etc.

 

[Guest]

Gday i was looking through some books and one byProf Dr Werner Frank was interesting it is called Boas and other non-venomous snakes it was published in german in 1978 and by tfh in 1979.It states that the naematodes that inhabit the lungs and other tissue areas are harder to get rid of than those that which inhabit the intestinal tract.It goes onto say thatthe presence of lung nematodes can be detected by motile first stage larvae in freshly excreted feces or in oral mucus.The oral mucus reported in this publication was what makes me suspect lung worms (like who am i to argue with the king ,hey pilbara)and the difficulty and lack of knowlege on treatment of lung worms is why i didnt treat it cause i think it comes from the skinks and therefore most have them anyway.Had another book with an account of the internal migration of these worms and cant find it at the moment.Near luchtime hey ha ha.