It’s been one year since I was sent a crypto positive snake (serpentis). The majority of my animals have only tested negative since then. Most are on the 4th or 5th test now. The original animal was put down not long after arriving as it tested positive. A second animal developed symptoms a few months later and although it tested negative on both fecal exams and gastric wash I knew it was crypto by the symptoms and it died naturally. The animal in the cage next to it was asymptmatic and euthanized. Because even a known positive animal with full blown symptoms tested negative on both gastric wash and multiple fecal exams , it’s very difficult to know if an animal is truly negative or not. From all of the research I have done, the best, affordable means would be to buy uterine swabs from Continental (not all swabs have material suitable for extraction, so you can’t just purchase a random brand or you may get invalid results) and send those to U of FL. From the studies I’ve looked at, it has a higher detection rate than gastric wash, and is easier and cheaper to perform at scale. The detection rate from gastric swab is approximately the same as gastric biopsy and much cheaper and more practical to do collection wide. That is the next step for my collection and I’m trying to get the swabs ordered through a distributor now
I will also be updating my quarantine policies to include a gastric swabs in additional to fecal tests for crypto going forward. I realize this is expensive but compared to the havoc this disease can cause, I find it cheap in comparison. The problem is for years people have believed they’d know if they had crypto because snakes would be dying. The more I talk to others who have dealt with it, the more I’ve realized it is exactly the opposite. Most people who have it have no idea because the majority of animals are asymptomatic, even for years on end. The second factor is that because we have no idea how long the oocysts persist in the environment, the studies commonly referenced are actually from other species and may or may not be applicable, every pet store, importer, etc, is likely to have contaminated bins/enclosures with animals rotating in and out. Numerous studies show the disease is not rare.