So, I recently acquired 3 baby Candoia paulsoni. Captive born, teenie tiny, super awesome. One of them has several very small raised bumps. Approx 3 of them. They look like little pimples under the scales. A knowledgeable breeder told me it could be parasites unfer the skin, probably due to feeding the babies some unclean feeder (frogs or minnows) which carry lots of things. Just looking for any extra advice on what it could be or what to do about them. His advice was to get them eating and gaining size, and then treat them and remove the lumps. Just throwing it out here for any advice.
Thanks!
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those look like parasites to me.Are you sure that they are CB?
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I think they are captive born, but if the mother is a gravid import she could pass on parasites, no? Or if the breeder feeds infected prey? I have them quarantined from everything else that I own. Just trying to figure out what the best course of action is, and maybe someone else had a similar scenario.
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The assumption that these are from “dirty” feeders is most likely correct. A lot of people start paulsoni on live anoles that are just harvested out of the wild. What you are seeing is most likely some type of nematode encyst.
I would agree with the plan of getting the animals feeding consistently on something cleaner, either F/T anoles that have been frozen a minimum of a month or fully switched to mice pinks. Once they have bulked up a little then you can consider dosing with an antihelminthic, but at that size and age the dosing is going to have to be insanely precise to avoid a potentially lethal overdose.
I would also advocate keeping them in a strict quarantine setup and segregated from the rest of your collection until such time as you can effectively treat them
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This is a common problem with these guys, which has been documented/noted by various candoia keepers. Baby candoia have extremely delicate skin. They seem to form these bumps after sitting on bedding that has been soiled by their own urates, and for whatever reason candoia also happen to produce a lot of it. They make the issue worse by soaking in their water dishes - a lot of the time you’ll see them soaking and find that the bumps are worse. They need humidity but it has to be ambient. The bedding shouldn’t be wet. These bumps are oftentimes fatal, and if they make it through, the bumps will come off with their next shed. There will be scars left behind that may take a long time to heal. Occasionally it leaves behind an open wound. Continue keeping their enclosure clean and it’ll be fine. The big thing is if they were already not good eaters, oftentimes they don’t have the strength to pull through and die. I know this is a late reply but maybe it will help someone else.
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