Crypto: Everything We NEED To Know As Reptile Keepers

[@KatieEllis1235]

Thank you so much for compiling this research and providing us a video! I'm definitely looking forward to watching the others you'll make!

[@ReptilesandResearch]

I'm hoping the series is going to be really helpful!! Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@terrariumchannel]

One of the many reasons I quarantaine. Great topic. Keep em coming :)

[@ReptilesandResearch]

Thanks mate will do😊

[@Nadia-ri5wx]

Very interesting and great info, again hopefully hits home why you should quarantine.

[@ReptilesandResearch]

Yes I hope it really inspires people to quarantine, thanks for watching 😀

[@ReptilesandResearch]

Get the mentioned Interkokask here: amzn.to/3hxKYPG Get yourself tests here: UK: Pinmoore Animal Laboratory www.palsvetlab.co.uk/product/reptile-kits/ USA: Fishead labs fishheadlabs.com/ Mainland Europe: Laboklin laboklin.com/en/home/ Asia: Laboratory of Veterinary Pathology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Azabu University www.azabu-u.ac.jp/english/laboratories/

[@Izzy-vz2lk]

Thank you for the info. What would be the best way to prevent from this ?

[@chloesykes9628]

You helped me with my assignment, thank you ☺️

[@ReptilesandResearch]

Animal management by any chance?

[@nathanrupley]

Thanks for putting this out there. Another reason to think before adding animals to you collection.

[@ReptilesandResearch]

Exactly I’ve spent so much money testing

[@snakemannn1744]

cool ,,,, i do appreciate the education ,,, keep it rollin

[@ReptilesandResearch]

Thanks, will do!

[@TryThisDIYFix]

Cool stuff! Keep up the good work! Just subbed!

[@ReptilesandResearch]

Thank you 😊

[@ithewho6603]

Great video! This helped me to understand it better. And great to have a vet talk about it. Looking forward to the nido video because I'm planning on getting my first snake (ball python) this or the next year. Edit. I wonder if high quality uv wand would kill crypto from surfaces.

[@ReptilesandResearch]

I do not know, there is some research that shows that both uva and uvb can be bactericidal and virucidal, but not enough to sterilise anything. Being a protozoan with oocysts im not sure it would make much difference although i admit i have not researched that. I certainly think having uv in the environment is better than not, few studies showed 30% bactericidal activity, not enough to clean the environment but its doing more than not being there at all.

[@rosemaryazelton2734]

PLEASE HELP: My beloved Astro (leo gecko) passed from crypto, I have a new gecko with a new enclosure, but I have the same lights. Do I scrap them? Disinfect them? Are they fine?

[@MoonstonePlains]

Thank u for this video!

[@ReptilesandResearch]

No problem 😌

[@abherbitter]

The video specifically discussed the limitations of F10 as a disinfectant for this pathogen. But I wonder at what concentration. 1:500 dilution I believe it's recommended for "general disinfectant" but a 1:125 dilution is recommended for resistant pathogens like parvovirus or PBFD.

[@ReptilesandResearch]

Its not oocidal even when neat according to Tariq

[@abherbitter]

Oof, thems tough lil buggers

[@johnschlesinger2009]

Thanks for a most informative video. Might it be possible to test a regurgitated prey item for crypto if an infestation in the stomach is suspected? If this is feasible, it could save an animal from the distress entailed in obtaining a gastric sample.

[@ReptilesandResearch]

Thats an interesting idea, i am unsure of the answer.

[@bearsbeetsbsg8]

Yes you can if you are submitting a swab for DNA testing they will be able to detect it if C. serpentis or C. varanii are present.

[@HelloWorldxx3]

Can this be transfered from Leopard Gecko to ball python? I took in a dying gecko to save it from its owner but I didnt know about crypto and I used only hand washing and normal hand sanitizer and had the gecko in another room. I am so scared I will infect my snake, is this possible? And does it transfer to humans and cats? I am so scared for my family and pets now.

[@ReptilesandResearch]

It could infect your snake, you and your family are fine. It’s the snake and lizard variety of crypto you will most likely come across with reptiles.

[@HelloWorldxx3]

@@ReptilesandResearch And what about cats? What can I do now to keep my snake safe? The gecko died unfortunately and I removed the enclosure and threw everything else away but crypto parasites are not affected by normal hand sanitizer is what I read. So what should I do now, I cant clean everything I touched in my house. I ordered something that can kill the crypto parasites but whats done is done now. I havent touched my snake since. Do you have any advixe here please?

[@darcieclements4880]

While possible it is unlikely as the gecko targeting population s of both serpentis and varanii appear to not do well in snakes. Rather snakes have a slightly different form of each crypto species and can actually clear the lizard forms when infected experimentally. However, not every experimentally infected animal in trials recovered, so do your best to mechanically clean.

[@zichengwen4616]

Hello, I would like to ask you some questions about the diseases of leopard-print geckos. How can I talk to you privately? Veterinarians in our country know very little about such diseases. I hope I can ask you for advice. Thank you.

[@ReptilesandResearch]

Hi im not a vet and legally cant advise on medical issues, but if you post in facebook groups im sure youll find answers

[@af7409]

Another good info video Liam & Tariq 👍 Is there any data compiled on incidence, or spp most affected. I recall some water utilities would screen drinking water supplies for crypto. Would those of us using wetted or even bio active setups be more susceptible to proliferation of the disease (via oral re-infection)?

[@ReptilesandResearch]

I believe there’s a large table in the maders reptile medicine textbook. Bioactive in general make things more susceptible, if you are gonna do it I’d recommend making sure something doesn’t have anything first or you’ll have to scrap it. Downside to bioactive is not being able to disinfect anything since the organic matter neutralises the disinfectant. Quarantine and screening before is really important.

[@af7409]

@@ReptilesandResearch thank you Liam, reference noted. Perhaps a Xmas present idea 😉 I will seriously consider the crypto screening for my BRBs (once funds can allow), and appreciate you raising awareness. Best regards, Andy

[@ReptilesandResearch]

@@af7409 if you dm me on Instagram I’ll sort something out for you

[@af7409]

@@ReptilesandResearch cheers Liam. Am just familiarising with Facebook, will get on to IG at some point. Dragging my feet into the 21st century 😱

[@ReptilesandResearch]

@@af7409 you can also dm the fb page if thats easier

[@MiBackpacking]

This video was so hard to watch 😞 we sadly lost two wonderful royals due to crypto earlier in the year. Our vet was treating for respiratory and unfortunately it ended up being crypto. Thank you so much for helping to educate us about this terrible disease

[@ReptilesandResearch]

I’m sorry to hear that John, I hope this helps others prevent future heartache for themselves

[@darcieclements4880]

I'm currently studying Cryptosporidium serpentis and have read a few hundred papers spanning the entire history of our awareness of this microbe. It is important to understand that the disease and the presence of the organism are not one and the same. A lot of assumptions were made early on that led to crypto being misclassified as similar to coccidiosis, however this was wildly inaccurate and slowed progress dramatically in regards to treatment and understanding as it would not be corrected until DNA sequencing was done. Do not bother treating with meds for coccidiosis, they don't work unless the animal also has coccidiosis, which is actually more common than you might think. During the start of the aids epidemic highly inaccurate assumptions were made because for the first time people were getting sick and dieing of diarrhea where crypto could easily be identified and thus was blamed as the causal agent. However crypto's name comes from how hard it is to detect and what was really happening is that immuno compromised infections were the only ones that were detectable while immunocompetent infections that were non lethal flew under the radar. This also appears to have given rise to the assumption that mammals clear the parasite and reptiles don't. However, chronic asymptomatic humans have recently been found (all we did was look for the very first time on routine biopsies) and further investigation is needed. Currently, it appears that when crypto becomes symptomatic it is actually a sign of a different underlying problem. We were suggesting euthanasia on detection but this came from a misunderstanding of a paper which actually concluded it is a terrible idea to euthanize until we know more, but most people never read far enough to see that final conclusion, stopping at the point where they say that testing was negative on all animals a year after killing all positive infected cases. I know because I have seen the bad citations. The problem of course is detection in healthy animals is absurdly difficult and we don't actually know what the baseline infection rate is and in that study, there easily could have been another disease agent involved. I can't go into every detail here, but it is safe to say we know next to nothing about crypto as an actual disease agent beyond the fact that it becomes detectable and pathogenic in animals and people (humans have our own crypto, we don't get it from snakes) when they are weak or I'll from something else and even then, not always. What I can say for sure right now is that probiotics are likely to play a key role in saving animals with active disease for a number of reasons, including that active disease may be in part a gut biome imbalance. I have seen probiotics work to reverse symptoms rapidly though without a bigger sample size I do not know if the animals that recovered did so on their own or if the probiotic is what saved them. Of the probiotics that I trialed, nutribac worked best with benibac coming in second. Breeders should continue purging on detection with 3 tests on incoming animals plus yearly tests and extreme mechanical cleanliness and no food recycling until we have solid control over this microbe, but pet owners who find a positive animal do not need to slaughter it to protect the other animals in the house because they almost certainly already have it. Instead, just provide probiotics and take care not to spread it to other places by reserving shoes for external reptile activities and cleaning cloths and self before attending such events. It may not be a bad idea to wear shoe covers at events to avoid bringing home crypto as well.

[@darcieclements4880]

And to add, if it is in your house and you were not doing extreme quarantine between animals before you found it, it will take about 5-6 years before you can bring in a new squamate reptile without fear of infecting the new animal. It can take years for an infected animal to test positive and even then you have to get really lucky or test constantly to have a chance at catching it because happy crypto with happy host doesn't make oocytes often. This was the major flaw that paper that gets mis-referenced had concerns over. The biggest danger to an asymptomatic animaln with crypto is "kill it before it dies" mentality in humans something we have sadly fallen for many times in the past resulting in needless extinctions and even genocide. Let's not repeat that history... Fun fact, only 3 confirmed active crypto serpentis disease cases on record for wild animals. One in Australia, one in North America and 1 in Africa. This alone should be enough to raise some red flags on the super lethal narrative.

[@SouthernMedusa]

So the part about if one has it, it’s almost certain all have it, even if you’ve been very methodical in keeping them separate, it’s still completely likely they alll have it? Also, you’re saying in your follow up comment that even if they do have it, euthanasia is not a good answer, because it doesn’t have to be super lethal?

[@ShanelK]

Well this is pretty topical for me. My corn snake (RIP Corn-Dog) died in May and crypto was one of the things he was infected with. We've ended up buying almost all our decor and supplies new, out of fear of contaminating our future snake. Our vet's disinfection recommendation (6% hydrogen peroxide) seems to come from this paper: www.researchgate.net/publication/330109417_Disinfection_Techniques_for_Cryptosporidium . I will be trying all the techniques mentioned that I can, and I'll be putting all the old stuff in quarantine for a year. Crypto is scary stuff.

[@ReptilesandResearch]

Thank you I’ll be looking at this paper, sorry to hear that ☹️ It’s definitely scary for sure